Max Havelaar of de koffijveilingen der Nederlansche handelmaatschappij cover

Max Havelaar of de koffijveilingen der Nederlansche handelmaatschappij

by Multatuli

**Max Havelaar; or, The Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company** (Dutch: *Max Havelaar; of, De koffi-veilingen der Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappy*) is an 1860 novel by Multatuli (the pen name of Eduard Douwes Dekker), which played a key role in shaping and modifying Dutch colonial policy in the Dutch East Indies in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. In the novel, the protagonist, Max Havelaar, tries to battle against a corrupt government system in Java, which was then a Dutch colony. The novel's opening line is famous: "Ik ben makelaar in koffie, en woon op de Lauriergracht, Nº 37." ("I am a coffee broker, and live on the Lauriergracht, Nº 37."). (Source: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Havelaar))

Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?