Cheese is a gentle, satirical fable of capitalism and wealth. A clerk in Antwerp suddenly becomes the chief agent in Belgium and Luxembourg for this red-rinded Dutch delight and is saddled with 370 cases containing ten thousand full-cream cheeses. But he has no idea how to run a business, or how to sell his goods, and he doesn't even like cheese. Steeped in the atmosphere of the 1930s, in a world full of smart operators and and failed businessmen, Cheese gracefully incorporates the rigid class divisions of the time and a man's obsession with status. It is as relevant in our age of Internet investors and dot.com failures as it was when it was written.
i read the dutch version but i couldn't find it on here.
this is one of my favorite books of all time. it gives a great view on the time period and it's incredibly funny. it's very easy to get through being only 150 or so pages, and i couldn't seem to put it down. Willem Elsschot was one of the greats and i can't recommend this book enough!