What do you think?
Rate this book
The Assault
It is the winter of 1945, the last dark days of World War II in occupied Holland. A Nazi collaborator, infamous for his cruelty, is assassinated as he rides home on his bicycle. The Germans retaliate by burning down the home of an innocent family; only twelve-year-old Anton survives.
Based on actual events, The Assault traces the complex repercussions of this horrific incident on Anton’s life. Determined to forget, he opts for a carefully normal existence: a prudent marriage, a successful career, and colorless passivity. But the past keeps breaking through, in relentless memories and in chance encounters with others who were involved in the assassination and its aftermath, until Anton finally learns what really happened that night in 1945—and why.
--penguinrandomhouse.com
Based on actual events, The Assault traces the complex repercussions of this horrific incident on Anton’s life. Determined to forget, he opts for a carefully normal existence: a prudent marriage, a successful career, and colorless passivity. But the past keeps breaking through, in relentless memories and in chance encounters with others who were involved in the assassination and its aftermath, until Anton finally learns what really happened that night in 1945—and why.
--penguinrandomhouse.com
185 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1982
About the author
Harry Mulisch
130 books444 followersHarry Kurt Victor Mulisch along with W.F. Hermans and Gerard Reve, is considered one of the "Great Three" of Dutch postwar literature. He has written novels, plays, essays, poems, and philosophical reflections.
Mulisch was born in Haarlem and lived in Amsterdam since 1958, following the death of his father in 1957. Mulisch's father was from Austria-Hungary and emigrated to the Netherlands after the First World War. During the German occupation in World War II he worked for a German bank, which also dealt with confiscated Jewish assets. His mother, Alice Schwarz, was Jewish. Mulisch and his mother escaped transportation to a concentration camp thanks to Mulisch's father's collaboration with the Nazis. Due to the curious nature of his parents' positions, Mulisch has claimed that he is the Second World War.
A frequent theme in his work is the Second World War. His father had worked for the Germans during the war and went to prison for three years afterwards. As the war spanned most of Mulisch's formative phase, it had a defining influence on his life and work. In 1963, he wrote a non-fiction work about the Eichmann case: The case 40/61. Major works set against the backdrop of the Second World War are De Aanslag, Het stenen bruidsbed, and Siegfried.
Additionally, Mulisch often incorporates ancient legends or myths in his writings, drawing on Greek mythology (e.g. in De Elementen), Jewish mysticism (in De ontdekking van de Hemel and De Procedure), well-known urban legends and politics (Mulisch is politically left-wing, notably defending Fidel Castro since the Cuban revolution). Mulisch is widely read and (according to his critics) often flaunts his philosophical and even scientific knowledge.
Mulisch gained international recognition with the movie De Aanslag (The Assault), (1986) which was based on his eponymous book. It received an Oscar and a Golden Globe for best foreign movie and has been translated in more than twenty languages.
His novel De ontdekking van de Hemel (1992) was filmed in 2001 as The Discovery of Heaven by Jeroen Krabbé, starring Stephen Fry.
Amongst many awards he has received for individual works and his total body of work, the most important is the Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren (Prize of Dutch Literature, an official lifetime achievement award) in 1995.
Mulisch was born in Haarlem and lived in Amsterdam since 1958, following the death of his father in 1957. Mulisch's father was from Austria-Hungary and emigrated to the Netherlands after the First World War. During the German occupation in World War II he worked for a German bank, which also dealt with confiscated Jewish assets. His mother, Alice Schwarz, was Jewish. Mulisch and his mother escaped transportation to a concentration camp thanks to Mulisch's father's collaboration with the Nazis. Due to the curious nature of his parents' positions, Mulisch has claimed that he is the Second World War.
A frequent theme in his work is the Second World War. His father had worked for the Germans during the war and went to prison for three years afterwards. As the war spanned most of Mulisch's formative phase, it had a defining influence on his life and work. In 1963, he wrote a non-fiction work about the Eichmann case: The case 40/61. Major works set against the backdrop of the Second World War are De Aanslag, Het stenen bruidsbed, and Siegfried.
Additionally, Mulisch often incorporates ancient legends or myths in his writings, drawing on Greek mythology (e.g. in De Elementen), Jewish mysticism (in De ontdekking van de Hemel and De Procedure), well-known urban legends and politics (Mulisch is politically left-wing, notably defending Fidel Castro since the Cuban revolution). Mulisch is widely read and (according to his critics) often flaunts his philosophical and even scientific knowledge.
Mulisch gained international recognition with the movie De Aanslag (The Assault), (1986) which was based on his eponymous book. It received an Oscar and a Golden Globe for best foreign movie and has been translated in more than twenty languages.
His novel De ontdekking van de Hemel (1992) was filmed in 2001 as The Discovery of Heaven by Jeroen Krabbé, starring Stephen Fry.
Amongst many awards he has received for individual works and his total body of work, the most important is the Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren (Prize of Dutch Literature, an official lifetime achievement award) in 1995.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 981 reviews
December 19, 2021
De Aanslag = The Assault, Harry Mulisch
It covers 35 years in the life of the lone survivor of a night in Haarlem during World War II when the Nazi occupation forces, finding a Dutch collaborator murdered, retaliate by killing the family in front of whose home the body was found.
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز شانزدهم ماه نوامبر سال2014میلادی
عنوان: ترور (سوء قصد)؛ نویسنده: هری مولیش؛ مترجم: سامگیس زندی؛ تهران، نشر چشمه، سال1396، در190ص، شابک9786002294760؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان هلند - سده20م
نقل از پشت جلد کتاب: (داستان، از آخرين ماههای جنگ جهانی دوم، آغاز میشود؛ جنازه ی يکی از پليسهای همکار «نازی»ها، روبروی خانه ی نوجوان قهرمان داستان، پیدا میشود، و آنها محکوم میشوند، و خانه شان به آتش کشيده میشود؛ پسر را به اردوگاه میبرند...، جنگ پایان مییابد، و او باز میگردد، پی آنچه در آن شب ترسناک، بر او و خانواده اش رفت، و اين حرکت قصه ی زندگی او میشود، و رازهايی که بايد کشف شوند؛ «موليش» در مصاحبه ای میگويند «من خود جنگ دوم هستم؛ نه صرفا راوی اش...)؛ پایان نقل
داستان این کتاب که در سالهای1945میلادی تا سال1981میلادی رخ میدهند، درباره ی پسربچه ای است، که در دوازده سالگی، به خاطر رویدادی خانه و خانواده اش را، از دست میدهد، و مجبور میشود، با دایی و زندایی اش، زندگی کند؛ کتاب شامل یک پیشگفتار، و پنج فصل است، که هر فصل روایت یکی از سالهای زندگی «آنتون» است، و در آن فصل، ضمن بیان رویدادهای شخصی، و رویدادهای تاریخی و مهم آن سال، با کسانی دیدار میکند، که به نحوی، با رویدادی که برایش رخ داده، مرتبط هستند، و در این دیدارها، هر بار، یکی از رازهای آن حادثه ی کذایی، روشن میشود؛
نقلهایی از متن: (وقتی یکی کسی رو دوست داره، همیشه میگه به خاطر این دوستش داره، که اون فوق العاده زیباست، درونش، یا بیرونش، یا هر دو؛ در حالیکه، بقیه ی مردم، چیزی نمیبینن، و معمولاً هم، حق با اونهاست؛ اما کسی که همیشه زیباست، کسیه که عاشقه، چون اون عشقی در دل داره، و با نور اون میدرخشه)؛ رمان سوء قصد – صفحه43؛
نقل دیگر: (خدا همیشه بهترینها رو، زودتر از بقیه، پیش خودش میبره)؛ رمان سوءقصد – صفحه76؛
نقل دیگر: (برای اولین بار چیزی شبیه خشم، درون خودش احساس کرد، چیزی مکنده، حفره ی تاریکی، که هر چیزی درون آن بیفتد، هرگز به قعرش نمیرسد؛ گویی کسی سنگی درون چاهی بیندازد، و دیگر هرگز صدایی نشنود)؛ رمان سوءقصد – صفحه80؛
نقل دیگر: (او شیفته ی توازن ظریفی بود، که وقتی قصابها، چاقویشان را، توی بدن کسی، فرو میکردند، باید حفظ میشد؛ ترازوداری که روی لبه ی شکاف، بین مرگ و زندگی، از موجود بیچاره ای، در بیهوشیش، مراقبت میکند)؛ رمان سوءقصد – صفحه83؛
نقل دیگر: (با خودش فکر کرد، دنیا جهنم است، جهنم؛ حتا اگر فردا بهشت، از آسمان به زمین بیاید، به خاطر همه ی چیزهایی که در گذشته، رخ داده است، بهشتی نخواهد بود؛ دیگر هرگز، چیزی درست نخواهد شد؛ زندگی در این جهان، یک ناکامی بود، یک شکست بزرگ، بهتر بود، که هرگز پدید نمیآمد؛ اگر زمانی برسد، که هیچ چیزی وجود نداشته باشد، و خاطره ی همه ی فریادهای مرگبار محو شود، آن موقع دنیای خوبی خواهد شد)؛ رمان سوءقصد – صفحه152؛
نقل دیگر: (برای شخصیتهای پویا، زمان حال کشتی ای است روی یک دریای پرتلاطم، که با سینه اش امواج آینده را، میشکافد؛ برای مردم منفعل، زمان حال قایقی است، روی یک رودخانه ی آرام، که با جریان آب پیش میرود)؛ رمان سوءقصد – صفحه154؛
نقل دیگر: (او هم پشت به آینده ایستاده بود، و رو به گذشته؛ وقتی او، درباره زمان فکر میکرد، که گاهی اینکار را میکرد، به چشم او حوادث، از آینده نمیآمدند، که از حال بگذرند، و به گذشته سیر کنند؛ وقایع از گذشته وارد حال میشدند، راهی آینده ای نامعلوم)؛ رمان سوءقصد – صفحه155؛ پایان نقلها
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 01/12/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 27/09/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
It covers 35 years in the life of the lone survivor of a night in Haarlem during World War II when the Nazi occupation forces, finding a Dutch collaborator murdered, retaliate by killing the family in front of whose home the body was found.
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز شانزدهم ماه نوامبر سال2014میلادی
عنوان: ترور (سوء قصد)؛ نویسنده: هری مولیش؛ مترجم: سامگیس زندی؛ تهران، نشر چشمه، سال1396، در190ص، شابک9786002294760؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان هلند - سده20م
نقل از پشت جلد کتاب: (داستان، از آخرين ماههای جنگ جهانی دوم، آغاز میشود؛ جنازه ی يکی از پليسهای همکار «نازی»ها، روبروی خانه ی نوجوان قهرمان داستان، پیدا میشود، و آنها محکوم میشوند، و خانه شان به آتش کشيده میشود؛ پسر را به اردوگاه میبرند...، جنگ پایان مییابد، و او باز میگردد، پی آنچه در آن شب ترسناک، بر او و خانواده اش رفت، و اين حرکت قصه ی زندگی او میشود، و رازهايی که بايد کشف شوند؛ «موليش» در مصاحبه ای میگويند «من خود جنگ دوم هستم؛ نه صرفا راوی اش...)؛ پایان نقل
داستان این کتاب که در سالهای1945میلادی تا سال1981میلادی رخ میدهند، درباره ی پسربچه ای است، که در دوازده سالگی، به خاطر رویدادی خانه و خانواده اش را، از دست میدهد، و مجبور میشود، با دایی و زندایی اش، زندگی کند؛ کتاب شامل یک پیشگفتار، و پنج فصل است، که هر فصل روایت یکی از سالهای زندگی «آنتون» است، و در آن فصل، ضمن بیان رویدادهای شخصی، و رویدادهای تاریخی و مهم آن سال، با کسانی دیدار میکند، که به نحوی، با رویدادی که برایش رخ داده، مرتبط هستند، و در این دیدارها، هر بار، یکی از رازهای آن حادثه ی کذایی، روشن میشود؛
نقلهایی از متن: (وقتی یکی کسی رو دوست داره، همیشه میگه به خاطر این دوستش داره، که اون فوق العاده زیباست، درونش، یا بیرونش، یا هر دو؛ در حالیکه، بقیه ی مردم، چیزی نمیبینن، و معمولاً هم، حق با اونهاست؛ اما کسی که همیشه زیباست، کسیه که عاشقه، چون اون عشقی در دل داره، و با نور اون میدرخشه)؛ رمان سوء قصد – صفحه43؛
نقل دیگر: (خدا همیشه بهترینها رو، زودتر از بقیه، پیش خودش میبره)؛ رمان سوءقصد – صفحه76؛
نقل دیگر: (برای اولین بار چیزی شبیه خشم، درون خودش احساس کرد، چیزی مکنده، حفره ی تاریکی، که هر چیزی درون آن بیفتد، هرگز به قعرش نمیرسد؛ گویی کسی سنگی درون چاهی بیندازد، و دیگر هرگز صدایی نشنود)؛ رمان سوءقصد – صفحه80؛
نقل دیگر: (او شیفته ی توازن ظریفی بود، که وقتی قصابها، چاقویشان را، توی بدن کسی، فرو میکردند، باید حفظ میشد؛ ترازوداری که روی لبه ی شکاف، بین مرگ و زندگی، از موجود بیچاره ای، در بیهوشیش، مراقبت میکند)؛ رمان سوءقصد – صفحه83؛
نقل دیگر: (با خودش فکر کرد، دنیا جهنم است، جهنم؛ حتا اگر فردا بهشت، از آسمان به زمین بیاید، به خاطر همه ی چیزهایی که در گذشته، رخ داده است، بهشتی نخواهد بود؛ دیگر هرگز، چیزی درست نخواهد شد؛ زندگی در این جهان، یک ناکامی بود، یک شکست بزرگ، بهتر بود، که هرگز پدید نمیآمد؛ اگر زمانی برسد، که هیچ چیزی وجود نداشته باشد، و خاطره ی همه ی فریادهای مرگبار محو شود، آن موقع دنیای خوبی خواهد شد)؛ رمان سوءقصد – صفحه152؛
نقل دیگر: (برای شخصیتهای پویا، زمان حال کشتی ای است روی یک دریای پرتلاطم، که با سینه اش امواج آینده را، میشکافد؛ برای مردم منفعل، زمان حال قایقی است، روی یک رودخانه ی آرام، که با جریان آب پیش میرود)؛ رمان سوءقصد – صفحه154؛
نقل دیگر: (او هم پشت به آینده ایستاده بود، و رو به گذشته؛ وقتی او، درباره زمان فکر میکرد، که گاهی اینکار را میکرد، به چشم او حوادث، از آینده نمیآمدند، که از حال بگذرند، و به گذشته سیر کنند؛ وقایع از گذشته وارد حال میشدند، راهی آینده ای نامعلوم)؛ رمان سوءقصد – صفحه155؛ پایان نقلها
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 01/12/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 27/09/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
August 13, 2024
النهار بازغ في كل مكان، لكن الليل جاثم هنا. كلَّا، إنه أكثر من ليل..."
أنه ليل لا ينتهي...ماضي لا يريد أن يفارقك..وجع مش قادر تنساه و جرح سايب علامة في قلبك مش حتقدر تتعالج منه مهما حاولت..
إنها الحرب ..و ما أبشعها في كل وقت و كل مكان..
تبدأ أحداث الرواية في هولندا عام ١٩٤٥ في أواخر الحرب العالمية الثانية بعد أن قامت أفراد من المقاومة بقتل شرطي عميل للألمان و انتهي الحال بجثته أمام منزل لعائلة هولندية لا علاقة لها بما حدث و لكن حياتهم ستنقلب رأساً علي عقب بعد هذه الليلة خصوصاً مع بطل الرواية أنطون الذي كان يبلغ من العمر ١٢ عاماً عندما حدث الأعتداء علي أهله وعلي منزله...
الرواية مش عن الحرب وتفاصيلها و لكن عن الحرب و تأثيرها علي من عاشوها...و إزاي بتقدر تكسرك حتي لو لسة واقف علي رجلك..
الرواية مكتوبة بإتقان غير عادي و حتلاقي نفسك مع الانتهاء من كل جزء منها بتعرف جزء جديد من تفاصيل الاعتداء و مش حتعرف الصورة الكاملة إلا في الصفحات الأخيرة للرواية مما جعل العمل مشوق جداً في قراءته و علي الرغم إن الكتاب ٣٠٠ صفحة بس هو من الكتب اللي مستحيل تسيبه إلا لما تخلصه..
عبقرية الكتاب في تفاصيله وفي النتيجة اللي حتوصلها بعد الإنتهاء منه وحتعرف إن مش لازم الشخص المذنب من وجهة نظرك يكون فعلاً مذنب..ممكن يكون له أسباب ودوافع تانية أنت مقدرتش تشوفها أو تفهمها...
"هل الجميع مذنب وغير مذنب؟ هل الذنب
بريء، والبراءة مذنبة؟"
يعيب الرواية إن في بعض التفاصيل في حياة أنطون لم ترسم بعناية بجانب إن كان في جزء فيه كلام عن الأحزاب الهولندية غير مفهوم شوية وحسيته ملوش لازمة ولذلك نزلت التقييم من ٥ إلي ٤ نجوم...
رواية عبقرية..سرد ممتع..ترجمة رائعة...
ينصح بها وجداً كمان...
أنه ليل لا ينتهي...ماضي لا يريد أن يفارقك..وجع مش قادر تنساه و جرح سايب علامة في قلبك مش حتقدر تتعالج منه مهما حاولت..
إنها الحرب ..و ما أبشعها في كل وقت و كل مكان..
تبدأ أحداث الرواية في هولندا عام ١٩٤٥ في أواخر الحرب العالمية الثانية بعد أن قامت أفراد من المقاومة بقتل شرطي عميل للألمان و انتهي الحال بجثته أمام منزل لعائلة هولندية لا علاقة لها بما حدث و لكن حياتهم ستنقلب رأساً علي عقب بعد هذه الليلة خصوصاً مع بطل الرواية أنطون الذي كان يبلغ من العمر ١٢ عاماً عندما حدث الأعتداء علي أهله وعلي منزله...
الرواية مش عن الحرب وتفاصيلها و لكن عن الحرب و تأثيرها علي من عاشوها...و إزاي بتقدر تكسرك حتي لو لسة واقف علي رجلك..
الرواية مكتوبة بإتقان غير عادي و حتلاقي نفسك مع الانتهاء من كل جزء منها بتعرف جزء جديد من تفاصيل الاعتداء و مش حتعرف الصورة الكاملة إلا في الصفحات الأخيرة للرواية مما جعل العمل مشوق جداً في قراءته و علي الرغم إن الكتاب ٣٠٠ صفحة بس هو من الكتب اللي مستحيل تسيبه إلا لما تخلصه..
عبقرية الكتاب في تفاصيله وفي النتيجة اللي حتوصلها بعد الإنتهاء منه وحتعرف إن مش لازم الشخص المذنب من وجهة نظرك يكون فعلاً مذنب..ممكن يكون له أسباب ودوافع تانية أنت مقدرتش تشوفها أو تفهمها...
"هل الجميع مذنب وغير مذنب؟ هل الذنب
بريء، والبراءة مذنبة؟"
يعيب الرواية إن في بعض التفاصيل في حياة أنطون لم ترسم بعناية بجانب إن كان في جزء فيه كلام عن الأحزاب الهولندية غير مفهوم شوية وحسيته ملوش لازمة ولذلك نزلت التقييم من ٥ إلي ٤ نجوم...
رواية عبقرية..سرد ممتع..ترجمة رائعة...
ينصح بها وجداً كمان...
December 13, 2022
[Revised 12/13/22, spoilers hidden]
This book, translated from the Dutch, starts with an incident in 1945 during the German occupation of the Netherlands. A Dutch police official, known for his cruelty and collaboration with the Germans, is shot outside a young boy’s house.
The Germans have no idea who killed the man but someone has to pay, so they invade his house and see a lot of “Jew books” laying around. They make his mother walk back and forth because they believe “they can tell a Jewish woman by how she walks.”
The boy is not killed and is raised by an aunt and uncle. It becomes, first of all, a story of delayed grief -- he never cries about the loss of his family until 20 years later when he is in his thirties. “They [the aunt and uncle] probably thought he was terribly disturbed by the past, dreamed about it every night, but the fact was that he almost never thought about it.”
Secondly, it becomes a story of the gradual revelation of the true nature of the incidents that occurred.
The chapters, identified by years – 1945, 1952, 1956, 1966, 1981 - mark incidents when the main character, formerly the young boy, revisits neighbors, or when he accidentally runs into people involved, such as old neighbors, the son of the man who was shot, and he comes to realize he even met one of the shooters.
World news from these years and reactions in the Netherlands, such as anti-US demonstrations during the Vietnam War, provide a backdrop to the story. In the end, “The whole story was worse than the partial one he had known.”
A good read; a tragic story about good and evil but with a humanistic surprise.
Top photo from prezi.com
Photo of the author from parool.nl
This book, translated from the Dutch, starts with an incident in 1945 during the German occupation of the Netherlands. A Dutch police official, known for his cruelty and collaboration with the Germans, is shot outside a young boy’s house.
The Germans have no idea who killed the man but someone has to pay, so they invade his house and see a lot of “Jew books” laying around. They make his mother walk back and forth because they believe “they can tell a Jewish woman by how she walks.”
The boy is not killed and is raised by an aunt and uncle. It becomes, first of all, a story of delayed grief -- he never cries about the loss of his family until 20 years later when he is in his thirties. “They [the aunt and uncle] probably thought he was terribly disturbed by the past, dreamed about it every night, but the fact was that he almost never thought about it.”
Secondly, it becomes a story of the gradual revelation of the true nature of the incidents that occurred.
The chapters, identified by years – 1945, 1952, 1956, 1966, 1981 - mark incidents when the main character, formerly the young boy, revisits neighbors, or when he accidentally runs into people involved, such as old neighbors, the son of the man who was shot, and he comes to realize he even met one of the shooters.
World news from these years and reactions in the Netherlands, such as anti-US demonstrations during the Vietnam War, provide a backdrop to the story. In the end, “The whole story was worse than the partial one he had known.”
A good read; a tragic story about good and evil but with a humanistic surprise.
Top photo from prezi.com
Photo of the author from parool.nl
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 3, 2021
I typically avoid historical fiction having anything to do with WWII (and that seems to be about the only HF written nowadays) because they're usually too sentimental, intent on maximizing tears and emotions more than stimulating thoughts and ideas. And these novels are rarely wrapped up without some predictable romance taking over the plot: German woman saves Jewish man. Falls in love. Allied soldier saves Jewish woman. Falls in love. Woman nurses wounded soldier back to health. Falls in love. Not my cup of tea.
That said, when my GR friend Hanneke told me about The Assault, I was intrigued and knew it would be the type of historical fiction I DO enjoy. (Thanks, Hanneke!)
Wow, I loved it! It begins at the end of WWII when most of Europe has been liberated from the Nazis. The story is set in Holland where, unfortunately, the Nazis remain. When a Nazi-collaborating policeman is shot in front of his neighbour's house, young Anton and his family watch as those neighbours drag the body in front of their house instead. The Nazis show up, blame Anton's family for the murder of this evil man, burn down their home and take his family into custody.
After spending the night in a jail cell with an unknown woman, Anton is taken to live with his aunt and uncle in another city. He has no knowledge of what happened to his parents and older brother.
The years go by and we see how this event shapes Anton's adult life. Though he tries to not think of the past, it influences everything he does. Gradually Anton learns the truth of that night and with that knowledge comes an awareness that things are not always black and white.
I loved this book because it shows the complexities of war. It forces you to question what is right and what is wrong. Is war ever the right course to take? Is killing ever justified? We are left with the idea that what is best is always the action that causes the least amount of suffering to the fewest number of people (which I totally agree with). It forces us to question what we ourselves would do if placed in extreme situations. We all would like to believe we would be admirable and put others' well-being over our own.... But would we?
As young Anton matures and as he uncovers the truth about the night of the assault on his family, he comes to truly understand that he was not the only person who lost loved ones during the war and that there were those who lost far more than he.
Over the course of decades, Anton meets various people who each shed new light on the events of that horrible night when he lost his family. It was interesting to see how Anton's thoughts changed over time and with each new discovery.
The Assault is my kind of historical fiction because it stimulates thought more than emotion. Sure, you feel things reading this book -- how could you not when reading about the atrocities of war? Of a child losing his family? Of the horrific and unimaginable things the Nazis did? However, those emotions are not at the forefront and you are able to look clearly and concisely at the questions Mr. Mulisch raises. This book is just as much a work of philosophy as it is a novel. Historical fiction fans will not want to pass this one up (unless you only like those tear jerker romance novels).
That said, when my GR friend Hanneke told me about The Assault, I was intrigued and knew it would be the type of historical fiction I DO enjoy. (Thanks, Hanneke!)
Wow, I loved it! It begins at the end of WWII when most of Europe has been liberated from the Nazis. The story is set in Holland where, unfortunately, the Nazis remain. When a Nazi-collaborating policeman is shot in front of his neighbour's house, young Anton and his family watch as those neighbours drag the body in front of their house instead. The Nazis show up, blame Anton's family for the murder of this evil man, burn down their home and take his family into custody.
After spending the night in a jail cell with an unknown woman, Anton is taken to live with his aunt and uncle in another city. He has no knowledge of what happened to his parents and older brother.
The years go by and we see how this event shapes Anton's adult life. Though he tries to not think of the past, it influences everything he does. Gradually Anton learns the truth of that night and with that knowledge comes an awareness that things are not always black and white.
I loved this book because it shows the complexities of war. It forces you to question what is right and what is wrong. Is war ever the right course to take? Is killing ever justified? We are left with the idea that what is best is always the action that causes the least amount of suffering to the fewest number of people (which I totally agree with). It forces us to question what we ourselves would do if placed in extreme situations. We all would like to believe we would be admirable and put others' well-being over our own.... But would we?
As young Anton matures and as he uncovers the truth about the night of the assault on his family, he comes to truly understand that he was not the only person who lost loved ones during the war and that there were those who lost far more than he.
Over the course of decades, Anton meets various people who each shed new light on the events of that horrible night when he lost his family. It was interesting to see how Anton's thoughts changed over time and with each new discovery.
The Assault is my kind of historical fiction because it stimulates thought more than emotion. Sure, you feel things reading this book -- how could you not when reading about the atrocities of war? Of a child losing his family? Of the horrific and unimaginable things the Nazis did? However, those emotions are not at the forefront and you are able to look clearly and concisely at the questions Mr. Mulisch raises. This book is just as much a work of philosophy as it is a novel. Historical fiction fans will not want to pass this one up (unless you only like those tear jerker romance novels).
August 13, 2024
قرأت ذات مرة، أن العقل رحمة بنا يُسدل في بعض الأحيان ستاراً سميكاً من النسيان على الذكريات أو الأحداث المؤلمة. بحيث نتوهم أننا قد نسينا تماما ما حدث. أو يحدث بالفعل عملية "إلغاء" كاملة للحادث او التجربة المؤلمة بالكامل.
توهم "أنطون" ذلك. توهم أنه ألقى وراء ظهره تلك الليلة الرهبية التي قُتل فيها أبيه وأمه وأخيه. وحُرق بيته أمام عينيه. أقنع نفسه بضرورة عيش حاضره فقط. ولكننا على طول تلك الرواية نسمع اجراس ذاكرته وهى تدق بعنف في كل حين. مذكرة إياه بتفصيلة قد ظن أنه نسيها. مذكرة نفسه أن ما حدث له لن يموت داخله مهما حاول.
على من نُلقي ذنب قتل عائلة انطون وتدمير بيته؟
على يد القوات الالمانية النازية؟
أم على يد "تاكيس" رجل المقاومة الذي قتل "فاكه الخائن" قريبا من بيت عائلة انطون؟
أم في يد عائلة "كورتيفيخ" التي ألقت بالجثة أمام منزلهم؟
أم في يد "فاكه" العميل الخائن ومن امثاله ممن باعوا وطنهم للنازيين؟
أم هى ببساطة مشيئة القدر. وما حدث قد حدث وأصبح ثابتا في الزمن الماضي. ومحاسبة المذنب عن تلك المأساة لن تمحو اثار تلك الليلة؟
"هل الجميع مُذنب وغير مُذنب؟ هل الذنب برئ والبراءة مذنبة؟"
هذه الرواية من الروايات النادرة التي حرصت على قراءة كل كلمة بها بتركيزٍ شديد. فكل كلمة لها معنى ول�� تُكتب عبثا. كل خاطرة وكل لمحة تحدث في الحاضر تتصل بشكل قوي بما حدث في الماضي. لم أستطع أن "اكروت" في القراءة كما للأسف افعل معظم الوقت. فهذا العمل يفرض عليك احترام كل حرف كتب فيه.
توهم "أنطون" ذلك. توهم أنه ألقى وراء ظهره تلك الليلة الرهبية التي قُتل فيها أبيه وأمه وأخيه. وحُرق بيته أمام عينيه. أقنع نفسه بضرورة عيش حاضره فقط. ولكننا على طول تلك الرواية نسمع اجراس ذاكرته وهى تدق بعنف في كل حين. مذكرة إياه بتفصيلة قد ظن أنه نسيها. مذكرة نفسه أن ما حدث له لن يموت داخله مهما حاول.
على من نُلقي ذنب قتل عائلة انطون وتدمير بيته؟
على يد القوات الالمانية النازية؟
أم على يد "تاكيس" رجل المقاومة الذي قتل "فاكه الخائن" قريبا من بيت عائلة انطون؟
أم في يد عائلة "كورتيفيخ" التي ألقت بالجثة أمام منزلهم؟
أم في يد "فاكه" العميل الخائن ومن امثاله ممن باعوا وطنهم للنازيين؟
أم هى ببساطة مشيئة القدر. وما حدث قد حدث وأصبح ثابتا في الزمن الماضي. ومحاسبة المذنب عن تلك المأساة لن تمحو اثار تلك الليلة؟
"هل الجميع مُذنب وغير مُذنب؟ هل الذنب برئ والبراءة مذنبة؟"
هذه الرواية من الروايات النادرة التي حرصت على قراءة كل كلمة بها بتركيزٍ شديد. فكل كلمة لها معنى ول�� تُكتب عبثا. كل خاطرة وكل لمحة تحدث في الحاضر تتصل بشكل قوي بما حدث في الماضي. لم أستطع أن "اكروت" في القراءة كما للأسف افعل معظم الوقت. فهذا العمل يفرض عليك احترام كل حرف كتب فيه.
January 19, 2019
أدب الحروب متوحّش، وقراءته مروّعة، ولكنه الأقدر على تقشير الطبقة البراقة التي نغلّف بها صورتنا الذاتية، لكي نرى من خلاله حقيقة الإنسان بلا انحيازات عاطفية ولا مثاليات كاذبة.
تبدأ الرواية في عام ١٩٤٥ أثناء اعتداء الجنود الألمان على بيت عائلة هولندية في عملية انتقامية. تتوقف الرواية عام ١٩٨٢، أقول تتوقف ولا تنتهي، لأن ما يقوله هذا الكتاب، فوق كل شيء، أن أثر الحرب الذي لا يُرى، لا يزول. إنها، أي الحرب، تعشش في مسامك، وتندس تحت جلدك، وتهيمن على جميع خياراتك الصغيرة من دون أن تدري. فهي قادرة على صياغتك من جديد، وتصبح بعدها شخصًا آخر، لا يعرف الشخص الذي كانه قبل "أن يحدث ما حدث".
سوف تتوهم مرارًا بأنك نجوت وأن ما حدث أصبح خلفك. ولكن الحقيقة أنك ستعيش دائمًا وقد أوليت ظهرك للمستقبل، ووجهك للماضي.
أستطيع أن أمضي الليل بطوله وأنا أتناول الفنيات البديعة في هذا العمل؛ الحبكة التي تتكشّف مثل قَدَر، زرع الأدلة البارع، الوجوه المتعددة للحقيقة الواحدة، الشخصيات المركبة والنابضة بالحقيقة..
ولكن أكثر ما أحببته هو التعقيد؛ هو فكرة عدم وجود ضحايا بالمطلق ولا مذنبين بالمطلق. أن الرواية لم تشيطن الجنود الألمان ولم تحوّل المقاومين إلى ملائكة. أن البراءة مذنبة، والذنب بريء..
أهنئ دار الكرمة على الاختيار الموفق.
عمل عظيم.
تبدأ الرواية في عام ١٩٤٥ أثناء اعتداء الجنود الألمان على بيت عائلة هولندية في عملية انتقامية. تتوقف الرواية عام ١٩٨٢، أقول تتوقف ولا تنتهي، لأن ما يقوله هذا الكتاب، فوق كل شيء، أن أثر الحرب الذي لا يُرى، لا يزول. إنها، أي الحرب، تعشش في مسامك، وتندس تحت جلدك، وتهيمن على جميع خياراتك الصغيرة من دون أن تدري. فهي قادرة على صياغتك من جديد، وتصبح بعدها شخصًا آخر، لا يعرف الشخص الذي كانه قبل "أن يحدث ما حدث".
سوف تتوهم مرارًا بأنك نجوت وأن ما حدث أصبح خلفك. ولكن الحقيقة أنك ستعيش دائمًا وقد أوليت ظهرك للمستقبل، ووجهك للماضي.
أستطيع أن أمضي الليل بطوله وأنا أتناول الفنيات البديعة في هذا العمل؛ الحبكة التي تتكشّف مثل قَدَر، زرع الأدلة البارع، الوجوه المتعددة للحقيقة الواحدة، الشخصيات المركبة والنابضة بالحقيقة..
ولكن أكثر ما أحببته هو التعقيد؛ هو فكرة عدم وجود ضحايا بالمطلق ولا مذنبين بالمطلق. أن الرواية لم تشيطن الجنود الألمان ولم تحوّل المقاومين إلى ملائكة. أن البراءة مذنبة، والذنب بريء..
أهنئ دار الكرمة على الاختيار الموفق.
عمل عظيم.
July 6, 2022
رواية تُدين الحروب والفاشية بكافة أشكالها للكاتب الهولندي هاري موليش
يتتبع فيها حدث مقتل عميل نازي في هولندا أواخر الحرب العالمية الثانية
ويتناول الجوانب الأخلاقية والانسانية التي تتوارى زمن الحروب في محاولات البقاء على قيد الحياة
قتل البشر تبعا للأيديولوچيات وشهوة السلطة والقوة
أجواء العنف والفوضى والتساؤل عن جدواها بعد مرور السنين
أما لحظات الفقد والألم فتظل في الذاكرة ولا أمل في الهروب منها
يتتبع فيها حدث مقتل عميل نازي في هولندا أواخر الحرب العالمية الثانية
ويتناول الجوانب الأخلاقية والانسانية التي تتوارى زمن الحروب في محاولات البقاء على قيد الحياة
قتل البشر تبعا للأيديولوچيات وشهوة السلطة والقوة
أجواء العنف والفوضى والتساؤل عن جدواها بعد مرور السنين
أما لحظات الفقد والألم فتظل في الذاكرة ولا أمل في الهروب منها
September 4, 2021
Unconditional Love Doesn’t Cut It
The Winter of 1944-45 was a national tragedy for The Netherlands. As the allied armies advanced through France and Belgium, the country, particularly the Northern provinces of Holland, were isolated behind the German lines. More as a matter of spite rather than strategy or even revenge, the Germans starved the Dutch population while they carried out massive oppression and retaliatory executions of civilians in response to the growing Resistance.
Anton, Mulisch’s young teenage protagonist, is a victim of this deprivation and violence. His parents and brother are assassinated, and his house in Haarlem burned to ashes because a collaborator is murdered on the street in front of it. Although he does not witness the killings and is reasonably kindly treated by the Dutch police and German Army officers, he is, of course, traumatised by his experience.
Mulisch wrote his book just at the time that the American medical profession was formulating its condition of PTSD for soldiers who had been involved in the American War in VietNam. Two of the key criteria for diagnosis of the condition are the intensely pointed avoidance of thought about the traumatic “stressor” events; and the equally intense reactions to even the most subtle reminders of these events in everyday life. Mulisch compares the condition to that of divorce, an extreme and sudden break in one’s life that cannot be confronted rationally.
In Mulisch’s account, it is not just Anton but also a very large part of the Dutch population that is simply unable to reveal much less discuss their agonising experiences in the final months of the war (W.G. Sebald’s analysis of the allied carpet bombing of Germany has a similar theme: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...). Anton can’t bear to hear about the war, return to Haarlem, or acknowledge his own feelings of fear for years into adulthood. There is simply no one to talk with. Everything will pass, he believes, if he only forgets. The discontinuity in his existence is too extreme to cope with.
As with similar personal tragedies like rape, physical abuse, and intra-familial isolation, the victim cannot bear to report or even recognise the relevant events. The existential threat represented by this discontinuity - the obvious fragility of life, the arbitrary circumstances of survival, the superficiality of ‘civilisation’ and its justice - overwhelms any attempt to deal with it except by hiding it somewhere buried in the most inaccessible part of the mind. From which it emerges in any number of apparently self-destructive ways.
There are, of course, millions of Antons, with untold thousands being created every day through civilian as well as military violence, by domineering parents, law-makers, and corporate executives. These people have little awareness of the profound and lasting effects their actions have on those other than their immediate victims, or on themselves. Perhaps because they too have been subject to the same arbitrary violence and injustice such actions are taken as normal, perhaps even heroic.
Even more remarkable is that perpetrators are so often defended by those closest to them. One of the most grim comments by Anton after listening to the defence of the murdered collaborator during a chance meeting with his son is chilling in its implications: “How could anyone embroil himself in such a web of lies? Love was what caused it all—love, through thick and thin.” Yet it is at this moment that Anton starts his slow recovery. Obviously, despite its emotional depth, this is not a novel of sentiment and easy salvation.
Postscript: At the end of the book, in the centre of Amsterdam Anton is caught up in an enormous demonstration against nuclear arms. This was 1981 when I lived on the Herengracht. Although I wasn’t part of the demonstration, I did get caught up in its dispersal by the police in the evening. Having been let out of a restaurant behind whose shuttered entrance I had passed a couple of hours unaware of external events, I made a dash for home. Only to encounter a phalanx of riot police followed by a motorised water cannon moving toward me on the Speigelstraat. I was the only one on the street, but that mattered not at all to the green horde with its baton-banging clatter. They were doing a job and they clearly were going to finish it. I had the presence of mind to jump into a recessed house-entrance just as they reached me. They neither hesitated nor even looked my way as they trundled past in perfect formation. I must be having one of Anton’s post-traumatic moments.
The Winter of 1944-45 was a national tragedy for The Netherlands. As the allied armies advanced through France and Belgium, the country, particularly the Northern provinces of Holland, were isolated behind the German lines. More as a matter of spite rather than strategy or even revenge, the Germans starved the Dutch population while they carried out massive oppression and retaliatory executions of civilians in response to the growing Resistance.
Anton, Mulisch’s young teenage protagonist, is a victim of this deprivation and violence. His parents and brother are assassinated, and his house in Haarlem burned to ashes because a collaborator is murdered on the street in front of it. Although he does not witness the killings and is reasonably kindly treated by the Dutch police and German Army officers, he is, of course, traumatised by his experience.
Mulisch wrote his book just at the time that the American medical profession was formulating its condition of PTSD for soldiers who had been involved in the American War in VietNam. Two of the key criteria for diagnosis of the condition are the intensely pointed avoidance of thought about the traumatic “stressor” events; and the equally intense reactions to even the most subtle reminders of these events in everyday life. Mulisch compares the condition to that of divorce, an extreme and sudden break in one’s life that cannot be confronted rationally.
In Mulisch’s account, it is not just Anton but also a very large part of the Dutch population that is simply unable to reveal much less discuss their agonising experiences in the final months of the war (W.G. Sebald’s analysis of the allied carpet bombing of Germany has a similar theme: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...). Anton can’t bear to hear about the war, return to Haarlem, or acknowledge his own feelings of fear for years into adulthood. There is simply no one to talk with. Everything will pass, he believes, if he only forgets. The discontinuity in his existence is too extreme to cope with.
As with similar personal tragedies like rape, physical abuse, and intra-familial isolation, the victim cannot bear to report or even recognise the relevant events. The existential threat represented by this discontinuity - the obvious fragility of life, the arbitrary circumstances of survival, the superficiality of ‘civilisation’ and its justice - overwhelms any attempt to deal with it except by hiding it somewhere buried in the most inaccessible part of the mind. From which it emerges in any number of apparently self-destructive ways.
There are, of course, millions of Antons, with untold thousands being created every day through civilian as well as military violence, by domineering parents, law-makers, and corporate executives. These people have little awareness of the profound and lasting effects their actions have on those other than their immediate victims, or on themselves. Perhaps because they too have been subject to the same arbitrary violence and injustice such actions are taken as normal, perhaps even heroic.
Even more remarkable is that perpetrators are so often defended by those closest to them. One of the most grim comments by Anton after listening to the defence of the murdered collaborator during a chance meeting with his son is chilling in its implications: “How could anyone embroil himself in such a web of lies? Love was what caused it all—love, through thick and thin.” Yet it is at this moment that Anton starts his slow recovery. Obviously, despite its emotional depth, this is not a novel of sentiment and easy salvation.
Postscript: At the end of the book, in the centre of Amsterdam Anton is caught up in an enormous demonstration against nuclear arms. This was 1981 when I lived on the Herengracht. Although I wasn’t part of the demonstration, I did get caught up in its dispersal by the police in the evening. Having been let out of a restaurant behind whose shuttered entrance I had passed a couple of hours unaware of external events, I made a dash for home. Only to encounter a phalanx of riot police followed by a motorised water cannon moving toward me on the Speigelstraat. I was the only one on the street, but that mattered not at all to the green horde with its baton-banging clatter. They were doing a job and they clearly were going to finish it. I had the presence of mind to jump into a recessed house-entrance just as they reached me. They neither hesitated nor even looked my way as they trundled past in perfect formation. I must be having one of Anton’s post-traumatic moments.
February 17, 2024
" الحياة جحيم ، جحيم ! حتى لو استقرت الجنة على الأرض في الغد ، لن تكون جنة بعد كل ماحدث في الماضي. الأمور لن تعود إلى نصابها قط. الحياة على هذه الأرض فشل ذريع، خيبة كبيرة ، وكان من الأفضل أن لا تنشأ أصلا. عندما تنتهي وتختفي معها ذكرى صرخات الموت ، سيعود العالم حينذاك فحسب إلى عهده من الخير "
" صورة الغلاف: جثة فاكه كريست الذي اغتيل في عملية للمقاومة في شارع فيستر خراخت ٢٥ اكتوبر ١٩٤٤ ، مصور مجهول "
في أواخر الحرب العالمية الثانية، وبينما هولندا مازالت محتلة، تقتل مجموعة من المقاومين شرطيا عميلا،
( فاكه بلوخ ، المفتش العام للشرطة ، من أكبرالمجرمين والخائنين في مدينة هارلم ونواحيها )
وتنتهي الجثة لسبب غامض امام منزل عائلة ستينفايك فما الذي سيحدث معهم ؟ وكيف ستتأثر حياة العائلة المكونة من الأب والام والابن الاكبر بيتر والأصغر انطون
" أنطون الذي كان مايزال صغيرا على التفكير في الماضي ، كل حدث كان يعيشه ، يطغى على ما يسبقه من أحداث ويكاد يلغيها من ذاكرته "
يقرر أنطون بعد ما حدث معه النسيان وأن يكمل حياته ولا يفكر فيما حدث ، فما حدث قد حدث ولن يعيد شئ عائلته
" لقد ارتحلت عائلته إلى منطقة قلما يفكر فيها ، ولكن أحيانا في لحظات غير متوقعة تظهر شذرات منها : عندما ينظر عبر النافذة في المدرسة أو في المقصورة الخلفية للترام : إنها بؤرة مظلمة من البرد ، والجوع ، وإطلاق الرصاص ، والدم ، وألسنة اللهب ، والصراخ ، والزنازين ، بؤرة كائنة في أعماق نفسه وتكاد تكون محكمة الإغلاق . كان يبدو له في تلك اللحظات وكأنه يتذكر حلما ، لكنه لا يعرف ما الذي حلم به بقدر ما يعرف ان كابوسا جثم على صدره "
احداث ومصادفات كثيرة ، تسبب كل حدث في حدوث الآخر ، مما يجعلك تتسائل مع أنطون من المذنب في كل ماحدث ؟؟ من يتحمل ذنب ما حدث ؟ على من نلقي اللوم!! لكل قصة جوانب عديدة، وكل شخص سيري الحكاية من وجهه نظره .
" هل الجميع مذنب وغير مذنب ؟ هل الذنب برئ ، والبراءة مذنبة ؟
مع كل فترة من حياة انطون يحدث شئ اويلتقي شخص يعيد له ذكريات من الماضى ويجبره على تذكر أجزاء مما حدث .
" ولكن ماذا يهم ؟ كل شئ يؤول إلى النسيان . الصرخات تخمد ، والأمواج تركد ، والشوارع تقفر ، وكل شئ يعود إلى السكون "
وسنتعرف خلال الرواية ايضا على تأثير ماحدث على عائلة بلوخ الذي تم قتله .
حدث واحد قد يغير حياتك للأبد . حدث واحد قد يغير حياة شخص أمامك بالكامل وقد يجعلك تتسائل مع كل تصرف وكل تفكير وكل اهتمام او إهمال يقوم به ، هل كانت حياته وتصرفاته ستكون بنفس هذا الشكل لو لم يحدث هذا الشئ !!
هل لو لم يتم قتل بلوخ ومكان إيجاد جثته أمام منزل أنطون والأحداث التي حدثت معه ومع عائلته بعدها هل كانت شخصية أنطون واهتماماته ستختلف ؟!!
هل النجاة فعلا كما تبدو لنا ام أن رؤيتنا للنجاة لم تكن سوى نوع من الهروب والإنكار حتى لانواجه الحقيقة ؟؟ نغمض أعيننا وذاكرتنا وأفكارنا لنهرب ونوهم أنفسنا بالنجاح والنجاة لكن في الحقيقة نحن نعيش في كذبة كبيرة ووهم أكبر صنعناه بإيدينا لنستطيع الإستمرار في الحياة . نظن أننا نسينا وتعافينا مما حدث لنا وما رأيناه ولكن في الواقع كل شئ مر بنا يختبئ فقط قليلا ويوهمنا انه غير موجود في الوقت الذي يظل تأثيره بداخلنا لا يختفي ولا يموت . وقد يطفو على السطح مرة أخرى مع حدث صغير .
" الآن يجب أن يعرف كل شئ ، ثم يدفنه إلى الأبد ، ويقلب عليه صخرة ولا يعود إلى التفكير فيه قط "
كلما ظننا اننا استطعنا الهروب والنسيان، نلتقي بأشياء تعيد لنا كل شئ ربما على دفعات أو مرة واحدة ، وهذا ما كان يحدث مع أنطون الذي ظن انه يعيش حاضره فقط وانه نسى ماضيه لتطل كل فترة ذكرى من ماضيه تربك له حاضره .
"ضحية ؟ طبعا هو ضحية وإن كان لايزال حيا يرزق ، ولكن في الوقت نفسه يشعر بأن ما حدث قد حدث لشخص آخر غيره "
٨ / ٩ / ٢٠٢١
" صورة الغلاف: جثة فاكه كريست الذي اغتيل في عملية للمقاومة في شارع فيستر خراخت ٢٥ اكتوبر ١٩٤٤ ، مصور مجهول "
في أواخر الحرب العالمية الثانية، وبينما هولندا مازالت محتلة، تقتل مجموعة من المقاومين شرطيا عميلا،
( فاكه بلوخ ، المفتش العام للشرطة ، من أكبرالمجرمين والخائنين في مدينة هارلم ونواحيها )
وتنتهي الجثة لسبب غامض امام منزل عائلة ستينفايك فما الذي سيحدث معهم ؟ وكيف ستتأثر حياة العائلة المكونة من الأب والام والابن الاكبر بيتر والأصغر انطون
" أنطون الذي كان مايزال صغيرا على التفكير في الماضي ، كل حدث كان يعيشه ، يطغى على ما يسبقه من أحداث ويكاد يلغيها من ذاكرته "
يقرر أنطون بعد ما حدث معه النسيان وأن يكمل حياته ولا يفكر فيما حدث ، فما حدث قد حدث ولن يعيد شئ عائلته
" لقد ارتحلت عائلته إلى منطقة قلما يفكر فيها ، ولكن أحيانا في لحظات غير متوقعة تظهر شذرات منها : عندما ينظر عبر النافذة في المدرسة أو في المقصورة الخلفية للترام : إنها بؤرة مظلمة من البرد ، والجوع ، وإطلاق الرصاص ، والدم ، وألسنة اللهب ، والصراخ ، والزنازين ، بؤرة كائنة في أعماق نفسه وتكاد تكون محكمة الإغلاق . كان يبدو له في تلك اللحظات وكأنه يتذكر حلما ، لكنه لا يعرف ما الذي حلم به بقدر ما يعرف ان كابوسا جثم على صدره "
احداث ومصادفات كثيرة ، تسبب كل حدث في حدوث الآخر ، مما يجعلك تتسائل مع أنطون من المذنب في كل ماحدث ؟؟ من يتحمل ذنب ما حدث ؟ على من نلقي اللوم!! لكل قصة جوانب عديدة، وكل شخص سيري الحكاية من وجهه نظره .
" هل الجميع مذنب وغير مذنب ؟ هل الذنب برئ ، والبراءة مذنبة ؟
مع كل فترة من حياة انطون يحدث شئ اويلتقي شخص يعيد له ذكريات من الماضى ويجبره على تذكر أجزاء مما حدث .
" ولكن ماذا يهم ؟ كل شئ يؤول إلى النسيان . الصرخات تخمد ، والأمواج تركد ، والشوارع تقفر ، وكل شئ يعود إلى السكون "
وسنتعرف خلال الرواية ايضا على تأثير ماحدث على عائلة بلوخ الذي تم قتله .
حدث واحد قد يغير حياتك للأبد . حدث واحد قد يغير حياة شخص أمامك بالكامل وقد يجعلك تتسائل مع كل تصرف وكل تفكير وكل اهتمام او إهمال يقوم به ، هل كانت حياته وتصرفاته ستكون بنفس هذا الشكل لو لم يحدث هذا الشئ !!
هل لو لم يتم قتل بلوخ ومكان إيجاد جثته أمام منزل أنطون والأحداث التي حدثت معه ومع عائلته بعدها هل كانت شخصية أنطون واهتماماته ستختلف ؟!!
هل النجاة فعلا كما تبدو لنا ام أن رؤيتنا للنجاة لم تكن سوى نوع من الهروب والإنكار حتى لانواجه الحقيقة ؟؟ نغمض أعيننا وذاكرتنا وأفكارنا لنهرب ونوهم أنفسنا بالنجاح والنجاة لكن في الحقيقة نحن نعيش في كذبة كبيرة ووهم أكبر صنعناه بإيدينا لنستطيع الإستمرار في الحياة . نظن أننا نسينا وتعافينا مما حدث لنا وما رأيناه ولكن في الواقع كل شئ مر بنا يختبئ فقط قليلا ويوهمنا انه غير موجود في الوقت الذي يظل تأثيره بداخلنا لا يختفي ولا يموت . وقد يطفو على السطح مرة أخرى مع حدث صغير .
" الآن يجب أن يعرف كل شئ ، ثم يدفنه إلى الأبد ، ويقلب عليه صخرة ولا يعود إلى التفكير فيه قط "
كلما ظننا اننا استطعنا الهروب والنسيان، نلتقي بأشياء تعيد لنا كل شئ ربما على دفعات أو مرة واحدة ، وهذا ما كان يحدث مع أنطون الذي ظن انه يعيش حاضره فقط وانه نسى ماضيه لتطل كل فترة ذكرى من ماضيه تربك له حاضره .
"ضحية ؟ طبعا هو ضحية وإن كان لايزال حيا يرزق ، ولكن في الوقت نفسه يشعر بأن ما حدث قد حدث لشخص آخر غيره "
٨ / ٩ / ٢٠٢١
October 24, 2024
Strong in psychological portraits of (survivor) guilt and morality in relation to the actions required during the Second World War. A bleak and dark world is sketched, leaving the main character permanently unmoored
This is rightly a Dutch classic 🇳🇱
Anton Steenwijk, 12 years old, lives in Haarlem during the war. The opening scene is very well written and immediately transports you to the claustrophobic environment of the war and family life that exists in a continuous fear and seemingly perpetual cold and hunger.
After this night, the whole of Anton his life seems focussed on who can be blamed for the events that hit his family during that night. Some J.D. Salinger like coincidences are used by Harry Mulisch, with Anton meeting a former classmate during an Amsterdam uproar and another fortuitous encounter during a funeral.
In general Anton his move into the upper-class, including buying a house behind the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and him frequently meeting ministers and mayors, forms an interesting commentary of lack of upward mobility in the current day and age.
Despite his success, Anton remains unmoored, with difficult relationships with women. Questions of morality and blame, victims and perpetrators and (survivor) guilt seem to haunt his life.
An impressive work, still very much readable and relevant today.
Dutch quotes:
Het leven zou zijn als zulke avonden waarin hij vergeten werd, zo geheimzinnig en oneindig
In zijn droom was het altijd vrede
Pas als er weer Adolfs verschijnen zal de Tweede Wereldoorlog werkelijk achter de rug zijn.
Wie het heeft gedaan, heeft het gedaan
De wereld hield op bij mijn huis
Echt wel duister, met een inval, gevangenis en alles
Schuld, politionele acties, armoede
Een begin verdwijnt nooit, zelfs niet met het einde
Natuurlijk was hij een fascist maar een goede, uit overtuiging, het moest anders worden in Nederland
God bestaat niet en ik misschien ook wel niet
Was iedereen schuldig en onschuldig?
This is rightly a Dutch classic 🇳🇱
Anton Steenwijk, 12 years old, lives in Haarlem during the war. The opening scene is very well written and immediately transports you to the claustrophobic environment of the war and family life that exists in a continuous fear and seemingly perpetual cold and hunger.
After this night, the whole of Anton his life seems focussed on who can be blamed for the events that hit his family during that night. Some J.D. Salinger like coincidences are used by Harry Mulisch, with Anton meeting a former classmate during an Amsterdam uproar and another fortuitous encounter during a funeral.
In general Anton his move into the upper-class, including buying a house behind the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and him frequently meeting ministers and mayors, forms an interesting commentary of lack of upward mobility in the current day and age.
Despite his success, Anton remains unmoored, with difficult relationships with women. Questions of morality and blame, victims and perpetrators and (survivor) guilt seem to haunt his life.
An impressive work, still very much readable and relevant today.
Dutch quotes:
Het leven zou zijn als zulke avonden waarin hij vergeten werd, zo geheimzinnig en oneindig
In zijn droom was het altijd vrede
Pas als er weer Adolfs verschijnen zal de Tweede Wereldoorlog werkelijk achter de rug zijn.
Wie het heeft gedaan, heeft het gedaan
De wereld hield op bij mijn huis
Echt wel duister, met een inval, gevangenis en alles
Schuld, politionele acties, armoede
Een begin verdwijnt nooit, zelfs niet met het einde
Natuurlijk was hij een fascist maar een goede, uit overtuiging, het moest anders worden in Nederland
God bestaat niet en ik misschien ook wel niet
Was iedereen schuldig en onschuldig?
![Profile Image for [P].](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/users/1486240560i/40516522._UY200_CR13,0,200,200_.jpg)
October 18, 2015
There’s a popular argument for the existence of God, which is that the world, as we see and experience it, is complexly ordered, and so someone must be responsible for this order. Which is nice and logical, of course, but, rightly or wrongly, when I look at the world I don’t see harmony, I see chaos, especially where humanity is concerned. When I think about human existence it strikes me as overwhelmingly random. Without exception, you’re thrown into a situation over which you have no control whatsoever, a situation – whether good or bad – that is unstable, where with each passing second something could happen that could alter the fabric of your life. And this, at least partly, is what Harry Mulisch’s acclaimed Dutch novel is about.
The Assault spans decades in the life of Anton Steenwijk. It opens in 1945, a time when ‘almost all of Europe had been liberated and were once more rejoicing’; but this is Holland, and the Nazis are, unfortunately, still hanging around. Despite the war, the atmosphere in the Steenwijk household is peaceful, domestic; the family are spending the evening together; the eldest son is doing his homework, with the help of his father; the mother is unravelling a sweater. Later, they start to play a board game. Then, with no warning, six gunshots punctuate the night like the sound of the flapping of giant moth wings, and everything changes. Mulisch emphasises the normality of the situation prior to the shots almost as a way of lulling you into a false sense of security, the same false sense of security that the family themselves feel. Moreover, it is necessary that you believe that this is a normal family, that you understand that this – the assault that occurs – could happen to anyone, that remarkable things can and do happen to unremarkable people.
[Nazi collaborator and police officer Fake Krist lays dead in Haarlem, Netherlands, after being shot by the resistance]*
Of course, you now want to know what the assault is. The details of the tragedy, which is partly based on a true story, are not important, not in relation to this review, anyway. What interests me is what I touched upon in the introduction, which is just how unpredictable life is. One event, one moment…no warning, and nothing is ever the same again. Anton, the Steenwijk’s youngest son, and only twelve at the time, is uprooted from Haarlem, and moved to Amsterdam; he is adopted by his aunt and uncle. More significantly, he carries the event around with him, is influenced by it, even when he thinks that he is paying it no mind, because in avoidance of something one still has a relationship with it. Towards the middle of the novel, Mulisch introduces another important character, Cor Takes, who interacts with Anton as an adult. He is more obviously affected by the assault, he, year-on-year, has it at the forefront of his mind, he makes no effort to let it go. Yet it is the case that both characters cannot escape it, or the war in Holland as a whole, they are tied to it; it is simply that they deal with that in different ways. The horrible truth of the matter is that one does not live with war or tragedy for the duration of the conflict or incident, one lives with it forever; this is, I think, Mulisch’s point.
You might ask, how do I know this? How do I know that one lives with tragedy long after the event, that it becomes part of you? Well, it isn’t something I have learnt from literature, that’s for sure. I’ve had my own experiences, which I won’t go into here, and I have known many people – refugees, rape victims, trafficked women, etc – who have suffered more than I. And I saw their story in The Assault, in Anton Steenwijk’s behaviour and mindset. Mulisch’s book is, for me, the most believable, and powerful, exploration of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that I have encountered in fiction. As noted, Anton rarely acknowledges the past to himself, and yet his choices, his actions, scream about it. For example, he studies medicine, because ‘he was fascinated by the delicate equilibrium that must be maintained whenever the butchers plant their knives in someone – this balancing on the edge between life and death.’ And I don’t think it takes a genius to understand why he might have an interest in death, in pain, and, as an anesthesiologist, consciousness and memory. Likewise, Anton chooses a wife that, he admits to himself, in some vague way reminds him of the woman with whom he shared a cell so soon after the assault.
One of the most moving passages in the book is when Anton is at the theatre watching The Cherry Orchard, Anton Chekhov’s famous last play, and he suddenly experiences an intensely painful flashback. The play is not, of course, at all concerned with war and yet Steenwijk sees something in it, in an innocuous scene involving a family sat around a table, that reminds him of his own family and that awful night in 1945. This kind of thing is, sadly, very familiar to me. As are the nightmares that Anton experiences. Indeed, I know a young woman who all but avoids sleep because she cannot cope with the terrible nightmares she suffers as a result of what once happened to her. Even if I thought the rest of his book was dogshit [I don’t], I would applaud Mulisch – who lived through world war two himself, who lost his grandmother in the gas chambers – for all this, for going there and nailing it in such a sensitive way.
[A performance of The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov]
One thing that I do want to make explicit is that The Assault is such a brave and intelligent novel. Even in relation to something like the Nazi occupation of a country, Mulisch does not blindly take sides, he does not look for easy answers or explanations. For example, the resistance man, Takes, admits to killing and cutting up [literally into pieces] Nazis or collaborators, he longs to murder an old woman who ratted him out. There’s no romanticising of freedom fighters here, folks. In fact, Takes comments that many people only joined the resistance because they knew that Hitler was losing; and while I would rather not believe this, I do, unfortunately, find it very easy to believe.
Mulisch also pulls no punches in relation to the dead body that inspires the assault. When Fake Ploeg is shot a neighbour moves the corpse so that it it is outside the Steenwijk’s house, knowing full-well what this means, what will happen when the Nazis find it there. Moreover, Peter Steenwijk goes outside intent on moving it again [this scene is, in fact, grimly amusing], either back to from where it came, or to another house. Again, he knows what the consequences will be when it is found. Mulisch is not afraid to acknowledge the ruthlessness of people caught in life or death situations. Better them, than us. Even though all are innocent. Every one of us would like to think that we would not do such a thing, that we would not condemn someone else in order to save ourselves, but it is impossible to say with any certainty how one would behave in such a situation.
You may have noticed that I have not so far not indulged in any criticism, and the reason for this is that The Assault is almost without blemish. The most I could say in this regard is that the scene between Anton and the woman in the dark prison cell is slightly cringeworthy. I just, I don’t know, struggled to get on board with a wounded woman babbling on about poetry and love, while feeling up a young boy’s face. A more serious complaint would be that there is a hell of a lot of contrivance, or coincidence in the book. Anton meets Takes, who played a major role in the assault, at a funeral, for example; in fact, he overhears him talking about it. This is many years after the event, of course. Yet one could argue that these coincidences are all part of, are evidence of Mulisch’s ideas about living with war and the impossibility of escaping one’s past. Throughout his life, Anton consistently bumps into people that are connected to the war, because it is simply a fact that everyone was involved in it in some way, you didn’t have a choice, it was unavoidable, it was there, on your doorstep, like Fake Ploeg’s dead body.
---
*I usually wouldn't post something like this, but as the same picture is featured on the front cover of the book I feel more comfortable with it
The Assault spans decades in the life of Anton Steenwijk. It opens in 1945, a time when ‘almost all of Europe had been liberated and were once more rejoicing’; but this is Holland, and the Nazis are, unfortunately, still hanging around. Despite the war, the atmosphere in the Steenwijk household is peaceful, domestic; the family are spending the evening together; the eldest son is doing his homework, with the help of his father; the mother is unravelling a sweater. Later, they start to play a board game. Then, with no warning, six gunshots punctuate the night like the sound of the flapping of giant moth wings, and everything changes. Mulisch emphasises the normality of the situation prior to the shots almost as a way of lulling you into a false sense of security, the same false sense of security that the family themselves feel. Moreover, it is necessary that you believe that this is a normal family, that you understand that this – the assault that occurs – could happen to anyone, that remarkable things can and do happen to unremarkable people.
[Nazi collaborator and police officer Fake Krist lays dead in Haarlem, Netherlands, after being shot by the resistance]*
Of course, you now want to know what the assault is. The details of the tragedy, which is partly based on a true story, are not important, not in relation to this review, anyway. What interests me is what I touched upon in the introduction, which is just how unpredictable life is. One event, one moment…no warning, and nothing is ever the same again. Anton, the Steenwijk’s youngest son, and only twelve at the time, is uprooted from Haarlem, and moved to Amsterdam; he is adopted by his aunt and uncle. More significantly, he carries the event around with him, is influenced by it, even when he thinks that he is paying it no mind, because in avoidance of something one still has a relationship with it. Towards the middle of the novel, Mulisch introduces another important character, Cor Takes, who interacts with Anton as an adult. He is more obviously affected by the assault, he, year-on-year, has it at the forefront of his mind, he makes no effort to let it go. Yet it is the case that both characters cannot escape it, or the war in Holland as a whole, they are tied to it; it is simply that they deal with that in different ways. The horrible truth of the matter is that one does not live with war or tragedy for the duration of the conflict or incident, one lives with it forever; this is, I think, Mulisch’s point.
You might ask, how do I know this? How do I know that one lives with tragedy long after the event, that it becomes part of you? Well, it isn’t something I have learnt from literature, that’s for sure. I’ve had my own experiences, which I won’t go into here, and I have known many people – refugees, rape victims, trafficked women, etc – who have suffered more than I. And I saw their story in The Assault, in Anton Steenwijk’s behaviour and mindset. Mulisch’s book is, for me, the most believable, and powerful, exploration of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that I have encountered in fiction. As noted, Anton rarely acknowledges the past to himself, and yet his choices, his actions, scream about it. For example, he studies medicine, because ‘he was fascinated by the delicate equilibrium that must be maintained whenever the butchers plant their knives in someone – this balancing on the edge between life and death.’ And I don’t think it takes a genius to understand why he might have an interest in death, in pain, and, as an anesthesiologist, consciousness and memory. Likewise, Anton chooses a wife that, he admits to himself, in some vague way reminds him of the woman with whom he shared a cell so soon after the assault.
One of the most moving passages in the book is when Anton is at the theatre watching The Cherry Orchard, Anton Chekhov’s famous last play, and he suddenly experiences an intensely painful flashback. The play is not, of course, at all concerned with war and yet Steenwijk sees something in it, in an innocuous scene involving a family sat around a table, that reminds him of his own family and that awful night in 1945. This kind of thing is, sadly, very familiar to me. As are the nightmares that Anton experiences. Indeed, I know a young woman who all but avoids sleep because she cannot cope with the terrible nightmares she suffers as a result of what once happened to her. Even if I thought the rest of his book was dogshit [I don’t], I would applaud Mulisch – who lived through world war two himself, who lost his grandmother in the gas chambers – for all this, for going there and nailing it in such a sensitive way.
[A performance of The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov]
One thing that I do want to make explicit is that The Assault is such a brave and intelligent novel. Even in relation to something like the Nazi occupation of a country, Mulisch does not blindly take sides, he does not look for easy answers or explanations. For example, the resistance man, Takes, admits to killing and cutting up [literally into pieces] Nazis or collaborators, he longs to murder an old woman who ratted him out. There’s no romanticising of freedom fighters here, folks. In fact, Takes comments that many people only joined the resistance because they knew that Hitler was losing; and while I would rather not believe this, I do, unfortunately, find it very easy to believe.
Mulisch also pulls no punches in relation to the dead body that inspires the assault. When Fake Ploeg is shot a neighbour moves the corpse so that it it is outside the Steenwijk’s house, knowing full-well what this means, what will happen when the Nazis find it there. Moreover, Peter Steenwijk goes outside intent on moving it again [this scene is, in fact, grimly amusing], either back to from where it came, or to another house. Again, he knows what the consequences will be when it is found. Mulisch is not afraid to acknowledge the ruthlessness of people caught in life or death situations. Better them, than us. Even though all are innocent. Every one of us would like to think that we would not do such a thing, that we would not condemn someone else in order to save ourselves, but it is impossible to say with any certainty how one would behave in such a situation.
“Not until people are called Adolf again will the Second World War be really behind us. But that means we’d have to have a third world war, which would mean the end of Adolfs forever.”
You may have noticed that I have not so far not indulged in any criticism, and the reason for this is that The Assault is almost without blemish. The most I could say in this regard is that the scene between Anton and the woman in the dark prison cell is slightly cringeworthy. I just, I don’t know, struggled to get on board with a wounded woman babbling on about poetry and love, while feeling up a young boy’s face. A more serious complaint would be that there is a hell of a lot of contrivance, or coincidence in the book. Anton meets Takes, who played a major role in the assault, at a funeral, for example; in fact, he overhears him talking about it. This is many years after the event, of course. Yet one could argue that these coincidences are all part of, are evidence of Mulisch’s ideas about living with war and the impossibility of escaping one’s past. Throughout his life, Anton consistently bumps into people that are connected to the war, because it is simply a fact that everyone was involved in it in some way, you didn’t have a choice, it was unavoidable, it was there, on your doorstep, like Fake Ploeg’s dead body.
---
*I usually wouldn't post something like this, but as the same picture is featured on the front cover of the book I feel more comfortable with it
February 8, 2023
ادبیات ضد جنگ و کتابهای جنگ جهانی دوم رو دوست دارم. بهترین کتابهایی هم که خوندم در همین ژانر قرار داشتند.
کتاب سو قصد، برخلاف بقیه کتابهای جنگ جهانی دوم، ما رو به آغاز جنگ نمیبره. داستان این کتاب از ماههای آخر جنگ جهانی دوم شروع میشه، از یک زمستان سخت.
در یک شب سرد زمستانی، در آخرین ماههای جنگ، وقتی که سرما و قحطی همه جا رو فرا گرفته، یک خانوداه چهار نفری در حالی که از گرسنگی و سرما رنج میبرن، صدای چند شلیک رو بیرون از خونهشون میشنون.
این شلیکها، شروع ماجرای قهرمان نوجوان کتابه. همین چند شلیک، سرنوشت این کودک رو تا آخر عمر تغییر میده!
نکته جالب دیگه که خیلی از کسانی که کتاب رو خوندن هم بهش اشاره کردن، اینه که در جنگ هیچ کس مقصر نیست.
هر دو طرف برای بقا و طبق دستوراتی که بهشون داده شده، میجنگن و این خود جنگه که به صورت دومینو-وار اتفاقات تلخ رو بر سر راه افراد قرار میده.
به این صورت که، شخص اول دستوری رو دریافت میکنه و بهش عمل میکنه. شخص دوم عکسالعمل نشون میده. دامنه این اتفاقات، شخص سوم رو درگیر ماجرا میکنه و حالا خانوادههای بیگناه این افراد هم درگیر یک سلسله اتفاقات ناخوشایند میشن. و الی آخر...
درکل، جنگ برنده ندارد.
اگر ادبیات ضد جنگ، به ویژه جنگ جهانی دوم رو دوست دارید، توصیه میکنم این کتاب رو بخونید.
کتاب سو قصد، برخلاف بقیه کتابهای جنگ جهانی دوم، ما رو به آغاز جنگ نمیبره. داستان این کتاب از ماههای آخر جنگ جهانی دوم شروع میشه، از یک زمستان سخت.
در یک شب سرد زمستانی، در آخرین ماههای جنگ، وقتی که سرما و قحطی همه جا رو فرا گرفته، یک خانوداه چهار نفری در حالی که از گرسنگی و سرما رنج میبرن، صدای چند شلیک رو بیرون از خونهشون میشنون.
این شلیکها، شروع ماجرای قهرمان نوجوان کتابه. همین چند شلیک، سرنوشت این کودک رو تا آخر عمر تغییر میده!
نکته جالب دیگه که خیلی از کسانی که کتاب رو خوندن هم بهش اشاره کردن، اینه که در جنگ هیچ کس مقصر نیست.
هر دو طرف برای بقا و طبق دستوراتی که بهشون داده شده، میجنگن و این خود جنگه که به صورت دومینو-وار اتفاقات تلخ رو بر سر راه افراد قرار میده.
به این صورت که، شخص اول دستوری رو دریافت میکنه و بهش عمل میکنه. شخص دوم عکسالعمل نشون میده. دامنه این اتفاقات، شخص سوم رو درگیر ماجرا میکنه و حالا خانوادههای بیگناه این افراد هم درگیر یک سلسله اتفاقات ناخوشایند میشن. و الی آخر...
درکل، جنگ برنده ندارد.
اگر ادبیات ضد جنگ، به ویژه جنگ جهانی دوم رو دوست دارید، توصیه میکنم این کتاب رو بخونید.
July 22, 2020
“الحرب لم تكن سوى كومة كبيرة من القذارة”
هاري موليش.
هاري موليش.
Read
August 10, 2020This novel is constructed very simply.
It concerns an incident that occurs near Haarlem, in The Netherlands, during the Hunger Winter towards the end of WWII. The main character Anton Steenwyck, is a boy of twelve at the time of the incident.
The novel is divided into five episodes plus a prologue. The incident occurs in the first episode. Each subsequent episode takes place years after the original event and in each one Anton meets someone else who was involved with the incident and each meeting obliges the reader to reevaluate the event.
A theme might be the way that WWII away from the so to speak 'official' battlefields, was a set of civil wars, none of which resolved anything and which are still playing out in Europe to this day (though not always as intensely or with as much bloodshed).
As a humble reader I wondered as I wandered how far we are meant to take the revelations as reliable given that Anton was as mentioned twelve at the time of the incident and the later revelations are made up to almost forty years later (The first meeting is a mere seven years after the event, but that is already quite a while I think for fallible human memory and our biased, powerfully inventive intelligences-but maybe my wandering wonderings are not relevant to the author's intentions. I was slightly suspicious too that a former neighbour recognised him without hesitation forty years later).
The style of writing seemed to me to be simple, appropriate to the thought of a twelve year old, but this struck me as inappropriate in the later episodes when Anton was a university student; until eventually the style felt about right again. But then again the author is outsourcing complexity to the reader. The reader has to reappraise the original incident; Who was right and who was wrong, or were they all victims of circumstance attempting to do the right thing according to their ideals?
I enjoyed that Anton becomes an anaesthetist, while each episode is about the rediscovery of his personal pain. This gives the novel the dynamic of an ancient Greek tragedy - once the questions start to asked There is no wayout other than to go through pain. Perhaps though anaesthesia is not about escaping pain but managing it. The adult, and hopefully the reader will see things differently than the twelve year old.
It concerns an incident that occurs near Haarlem, in The Netherlands, during the Hunger Winter towards the end of WWII. The main character Anton Steenwyck, is a boy of twelve at the time of the incident.
The novel is divided into five episodes plus a prologue. The incident occurs in the first episode. Each subsequent episode takes place years after the original event and in each one Anton meets someone else who was involved with the incident and each meeting obliges the reader to reevaluate the event.
A theme might be the way that WWII away from the so to speak 'official' battlefields, was a set of civil wars, none of which resolved anything and which are still playing out in Europe to this day (though not always as intensely or with as much bloodshed).
As a humble reader I wondered as I wandered how far we are meant to take the revelations as reliable given that Anton was as mentioned twelve at the time of the incident and the later revelations are made up to almost forty years later (The first meeting is a mere seven years after the event, but that is already quite a while I think for fallible human memory and our biased, powerfully inventive intelligences-but maybe my wandering wonderings are not relevant to the author's intentions. I was slightly suspicious too that a former neighbour recognised him without hesitation forty years later).
The style of writing seemed to me to be simple, appropriate to the thought of a twelve year old, but this struck me as inappropriate in the later episodes when Anton was a university student; until eventually the style felt about right again. But then again the author is outsourcing complexity to the reader. The reader has to reappraise the original incident; Who was right and who was wrong, or were they all victims of circumstance attempting to do the right thing according to their ideals?
I enjoyed that Anton becomes an anaesthetist, while each episode is about the rediscovery of his personal pain. This gives the novel the dynamic of an ancient Greek tragedy - once the questions start to asked There is no wayout other than to go through pain. Perhaps though anaesthesia is not about escaping pain but managing it. The adult, and hopefully the reader will see things differently than the twelve year old.
January 26, 2024
"حتي الخير ينطوي على جانب من الشر في هذه الدنيا. لكن الجانب الآخر موجود أيضا."
غلاف الرواية صورة حقيقة لاغتيال فاكه كريست في عملية للمقاومة في هولندا.
تبدأ الرواية بوصف للحي الهاديء في أطراف مدينة هارلم وأسامي المنازل البرجوازية "قصر النعيم" و"فوق الخيال" و "خالي الهموم" و "موقع ممتاز".
وللسخرية أن المأساة تبدأ من "خالي الهموم" حيث يخلو المنزل من كل شيء عدا الهموم أو بصورة أدق يبقي ركام المنزل دليلا على مصاحبة الهموم.
تبدأ الأحداث باغتيال المقاومة "فاكه بلوخ" أمام منزل "فوق الخيال" ولأننا في زمن انتهاء الحرب وانتقام الألمان من أي شخص لأي سبب فكان على سكان "فوق الخيال" إنقاذ حياتهم وإبعاد الجثة عن منزلهم واختاروا منزل "خالي الهموم" الذي يسكنه أسرة مكونة من أب وأم وشابين أحدهما في السابعة عشرة والآخر في الثانية عشرة ومن هنا تُفتح أبواب القتل والإنكار والصدمة والحقائق ولماذا بالذات "خالي الهموم".
يحرق الألمان "خالي الهموم" ويقتلوا ساكنيه ماعدا بطل الرواية أنطون وينتقل للعيش مع خاله وزوجته بعد ليلة في مركز الشرطة مع فتاة مجهولة ستظل تسكن خياله مدى حياته.
يعود لزيارة ساكني "موقع ممتاز" الذي لو كان الزمن أسعف أخيه في نقل الجثة أمامهم لكانوا اختفوا في شتاء المجاعة.
يتناسى أنطون فقدان منزله وأسرته ويقرر أن ما حدث فقد حدث ولا سبيل لتصحيحه وإعادة أهله للحياة فتمر الحياة ويبقى صوت الشابة المسجونة في عقله إلى أن تجيء الفرصة ويتعرف عليها.
ومثلما يلقي البحر كل ما تفقده السفن من أشياء إلى الشاطيء تستمر الحياة في تذكير أنطون بأحداث شهر يناير في شتاء المجاعة عام 1945 وتعود لتضربه في رأسه كاشفة عن الصورة الكاملة لحقيقة ما حدث ففي كل عقد مر على أنطون يعلم حقيقة ما تخص أسرته وسبب فقدانه لهم.
وتكتمل الصورة ليعلم السبب الحقيقي وراء انزواء قاطني "قصر النعيم" عن سكان الحي.
أربع منازل في كل منهم حدث رئيسي يساهم في تشكيل حياة أنطون وعليه أن يعلم كل سبب والقرار يعود له أن يدفن الماضي أو يظل أسيرا له.
الرواية تتنقل بين الأزمنة الرئيسية التي حدثت فيها المأساة وأسبابها ونتائجها ونحن نرافق أنطون في كل فترة من عمره وحياته.
"الحياة جحيم !
حتى لو استقرت الجنة على الأرض في الغد، لن تكون جنة بعد كل ما حدث في الماضي.
الأمور لن تعود إلي نصابها قط.
الحياة على هذه الأرض فشل ذريع، خيبة كبيرة، وكان من الأفضل أن لا تنشأ أصلا.
عندما تنتهي وتختفي معها ذكرى صرخات الموت، سيعود العالم حينذاك فحسب إلي عهده من الخير"
تم تحويل الرواية لفيلم يحمل نفس الاسم في عام 1986..
استمتعوا...
دمتم قراء… ❤️❤️❤️
October 10, 2022
إنها رواية عن القدر ، عن الصدفة، عما يمكن أن تفعله حادثة صغيرة في مكان ما بواسطة أشخاص ما على حياة آخرين ومستقبلهم ونفسياتهم وتجاربهم في الحياة، رواية تذهب بعيداً خلف الأحداث ترتطم بصخور الواقع الصلدة التي تأبى أحياناً على التفسير، قصة لها أبعاد كثيرة، حكايا متداخلة وخيوط تنكشف صدفة كما حدث الاعتداء صدفة ، تنكشف الحقيقة ويظهر الجلاد والبريء والضحية والنادم وتتراكم التفسيرات والنتائج كما تتراكم موجة بفعل حجر يلقى في الماء، هنا العالم عبارة عن صدى مخيف من الأحداث من الوقائع التي تأبى على النسيان في حياة انسان وقع له ما وقع من مصائب يشيب لها الولدان ويعجز الواحد عن تصديق البشاعة والقسوة والرعونة التي يكتسبها الناس وقت الحرب، نكتشف هنا لعبة القدر، القدر ليست نكتة، بل حكاية تتكرر في حياة كل منا، خاصة في الاحداث الكبيرة، تشتبك الخيوط وتعود لتتلاقى في نهاية المطاف، نسميه صدفة ولكنه قدر تخبئه الأيام لنا، وتعد السنون ، كأنها كمائن للذاكرة، هي لا تعالج شيئاً، بل تعطي تفسيرات قد تريحنا أو تصعقنا أو تجعلنا نتذكر مرارة الوجع..
رواية أليمة موجعة، عن الحرب عن الحب، عن النسيان عن قسوة الانسان، عن قسوة الاشياء الصغيرة وهي تطأ بثقلها بقية العمر، أشياء بسيطة تحدث بثوانٍ معينة دون أخرى، بسنتمرات متواضعة بعيدة عن أخرى، تقلب كل شيء، العالم بلا شك مخلوق من الأشياء الصغير، ولعبة القدر تكمن في تفاصيل التفاصيل لا في الأحداث الكبيرة، هذا ما تخبرنا به الرواية ..
قصة عائلة هولندية تسكن في شارع يحتوي على أربع بيوت فقط، تقع هذه القصة في زمن الاحتلال النازي لهولندا، حين يقتل عميل للنازيين من قبل المقاومين الهولنديين أمام أحد المنازل الأربعة، فتتحول هذه المأساة أو لنقل هذا الاعت��اء إلى كارثة حقيقة، تجلب العديد من المآسي، تظهر الجانب الخفي من الحرب، الخوف من الانتقام الوحشي، وهو أشد أنواع الخوف، في ليلة مظلمة باردة، يتحول الشارع كله إلى خوف، خوف يشبه لحظة انتظار الاعدام، ثم تتابع الأحداث، وتتلاقى الشخصيات الضحايا، الجلادون، الابرياء، الأنذال ، وتعثر الحكاية على طريقها الى التسرب، تتسرب الحكاية فتغدو مثل أحجية بليدة يتم حلها.. مأساة مضحكة ومبكية، غرابة، دهشة وشعور بالمرارة والعطف في ذات الوقت..
رواية أليمة موجعة، عن الحرب عن الحب، عن النسيان عن قسوة الانسان، عن قسوة الاشياء الصغيرة وهي تطأ بثقلها بقية العمر، أشياء بسيطة تحدث بثوانٍ معينة دون أخرى، بسنتمرات متواضعة بعيدة عن أخرى، تقلب كل شيء، العالم بلا شك مخلوق من الأشياء الصغير، ولعبة القدر تكمن في تفاصيل التفاصيل لا في الأحداث الكبيرة، هذا ما تخبرنا به الرواية ..
قصة عائلة هولندية تسكن في شارع يحتوي على أربع بيوت فقط، تقع هذه القصة في زمن الاحتلال النازي لهولندا، حين يقتل عميل للنازيين من قبل المقاومين الهولنديين أمام أحد المنازل الأربعة، فتتحول هذه المأساة أو لنقل هذا الاعت��اء إلى كارثة حقيقة، تجلب العديد من المآسي، تظهر الجانب الخفي من الحرب، الخوف من الانتقام الوحشي، وهو أشد أنواع الخوف، في ليلة مظلمة باردة، يتحول الشارع كله إلى خوف، خوف يشبه لحظة انتظار الاعدام، ثم تتابع الأحداث، وتتلاقى الشخصيات الضحايا، الجلادون، الابرياء، الأنذال ، وتعثر الحكاية على طريقها الى التسرب، تتسرب الحكاية فتغدو مثل أحجية بليدة يتم حلها.. مأساة مضحكة ومبكية، غرابة، دهشة وشعور بالمرارة والعطف في ذات الوقت..
February 13, 2018
There is an immediacy that is heart rending as the Germans enter their home. Time in the present is excruciatingly fearful told through Mulisch’s pressurized details.
Rationed war time goods disappearing the family lives in bleakness. The war has ended but not yet in this Dutch land. In the middle of the deserted street, in front of Mr. Korteweg’s house lay a bicycle with its upended front wheel still turning…” Beside the bicycle is the corpse of a fascist sympathizer, a German policeman, shot and killed. Someone from the Korteweg’s house transfers the body to the front of twelve year old Anton’s house. Now the target of reprisal. And yet…And yet the father sits at the kitchen table reading the Jewish Philosopher Spinoza stepping into a different realm of time.
Time is crucial in this novel. The means by which it moves and transfers, how it winds in on itself. At moments how it stands still.
“Everything was still-and yet time went by. It was as if everything grew radiant with the passage of time, like pebbles at the bottom of a brook.”
Premonitions of what will happen with-to Anton in the future; time slipping and weaving. We are situated in the present-the now-looking back on 1945.
The trickiness of trauma is forthright here. There are times when one goes through a trauma and is knocked unconscious and therefore the memory of the trauma is wiped away. It is no longer retrievable. No longer exists within the brain. Others are less lucky and must grapple forever with what lies within consciousness, now their enemy. They as enemies of themselves. This horrid trauma that forced itself upon Anton and his family, effects Anton’s life in his attempt to suppress it, block it off, which means his blocking himself off from himself. Mulisch, through the novelistic weaving of his plot is sensitive and explicit in how it also changes many lives.
The language is attuned to the contents, its pitch and mood. As Anton grows up it fell flat as though Mulisch ran out of things to say. The narrator even slipped from reliable to unreliable with words such as, probably, etc. peppering the narrative. I felt jilted and felt that I shouldn’t have to pay for all the rest of the words; not in money or time. Fortunately I had a moving spiritual experience; the ghost of my ignorance floated before my eyes. Unblinking, it reminded me of its constant presence even in the face of my liveliest tricks. I was able to hear and see from its whispered breath on my mirror that indeed the language was flattened and slowed due to the craftsmanship of Mulisch. In his hands the language acutely portrayed Anton’s abandonment of his self and the halting pace of life, as well as the irremovable stains of betrayal to the truth.
I didn’t remove that ghostly breath from the mirror. Although, I claim my right that there were moments where personal biography thinned out the passage(s) but this was overwhelmingly rebutted by the return of fiction where the language exploded into passion, especially in confrontations with people from his past.
Obviously this is a 5 star book. One that I will remember, that will haunt me, that I will continue to think about wanted or not. So, what happened to that other star? I keep my stars locked in a safe. The only answer is that it lost one tenth of a star for on P. 66 letters were missing or faded along the left boundary. This was important since every word in this book was so crucial. But here is the sadness. My sadness. The book drew to a stunning and startling conclusion. Only it was two pages before the ending. Read all the way through the last two pages printed as though we the readers hadn’t and wouldn’t catch on and understand, deflated the structure. The edifice tumbled down.
I highly recommend, The Assault, but please stop reading two pages from the end. In my edition, The Pantheon Modern Writers paperback. P. 180. Also it is Author’s Kindness Week and to remember how difficult it is to end a story. Even great writers sometimes need a little bit of assistance.
Time to go clean up mirror until next time.
Rationed war time goods disappearing the family lives in bleakness. The war has ended but not yet in this Dutch land. In the middle of the deserted street, in front of Mr. Korteweg’s house lay a bicycle with its upended front wheel still turning…” Beside the bicycle is the corpse of a fascist sympathizer, a German policeman, shot and killed. Someone from the Korteweg’s house transfers the body to the front of twelve year old Anton’s house. Now the target of reprisal. And yet…And yet the father sits at the kitchen table reading the Jewish Philosopher Spinoza stepping into a different realm of time.
Time is crucial in this novel. The means by which it moves and transfers, how it winds in on itself. At moments how it stands still.
“Everything was still-and yet time went by. It was as if everything grew radiant with the passage of time, like pebbles at the bottom of a brook.”
Premonitions of what will happen with-to Anton in the future; time slipping and weaving. We are situated in the present-the now-looking back on 1945.
The trickiness of trauma is forthright here. There are times when one goes through a trauma and is knocked unconscious and therefore the memory of the trauma is wiped away. It is no longer retrievable. No longer exists within the brain. Others are less lucky and must grapple forever with what lies within consciousness, now their enemy. They as enemies of themselves. This horrid trauma that forced itself upon Anton and his family, effects Anton’s life in his attempt to suppress it, block it off, which means his blocking himself off from himself. Mulisch, through the novelistic weaving of his plot is sensitive and explicit in how it also changes many lives.
The language is attuned to the contents, its pitch and mood. As Anton grows up it fell flat as though Mulisch ran out of things to say. The narrator even slipped from reliable to unreliable with words such as, probably, etc. peppering the narrative. I felt jilted and felt that I shouldn’t have to pay for all the rest of the words; not in money or time. Fortunately I had a moving spiritual experience; the ghost of my ignorance floated before my eyes. Unblinking, it reminded me of its constant presence even in the face of my liveliest tricks. I was able to hear and see from its whispered breath on my mirror that indeed the language was flattened and slowed due to the craftsmanship of Mulisch. In his hands the language acutely portrayed Anton’s abandonment of his self and the halting pace of life, as well as the irremovable stains of betrayal to the truth.
I didn’t remove that ghostly breath from the mirror. Although, I claim my right that there were moments where personal biography thinned out the passage(s) but this was overwhelmingly rebutted by the return of fiction where the language exploded into passion, especially in confrontations with people from his past.
Obviously this is a 5 star book. One that I will remember, that will haunt me, that I will continue to think about wanted or not. So, what happened to that other star? I keep my stars locked in a safe. The only answer is that it lost one tenth of a star for on P. 66 letters were missing or faded along the left boundary. This was important since every word in this book was so crucial. But here is the sadness. My sadness. The book drew to a stunning and startling conclusion. Only it was two pages before the ending. Read all the way through the last two pages printed as though we the readers hadn’t and wouldn’t catch on and understand, deflated the structure. The edifice tumbled down.
I highly recommend, The Assault, but please stop reading two pages from the end. In my edition, The Pantheon Modern Writers paperback. P. 180. Also it is Author’s Kindness Week and to remember how difficult it is to end a story. Even great writers sometimes need a little bit of assistance.
Time to go clean up mirror until next time.
August 10, 2024
Although I am not a fan of war books, I so much enjoyed this story. It kept me entertained and captivated until the last page to find out why certain things happened. Great story, well written and fits well in Dutch war history.
September 3, 2023
_
همه چیز با شنیدن چند صدای شلیک شروع می شود، جنازه ای توی خیابان افتاده که مربوط به یکی از پلیس های هلندی است که در جنگ جهانی دوم با ارتش آلمان و نازی ها کمک میکرده و به همین دلیل مورد سوء قصد قرار می گیرد، صاحب خانه ای که جنازه روبروی آن جنازه بر روی زمین افتاده بود، برای فرار از دست نازی ها جنازه را جلوی درب خانواده استینوایک می اندازند. فرصتی نمانده، پسر بزرگتر برای جا به جایی جسد حرکت می کند ولی دیر شده و آلمان ها سر می رسند. پسر کوچکتر را به پاسگاه می برند و خانه آن ها را منفجر می کنند و پدر و مادر را هم اعدام می کنند.
.
این کلیت داستان است ولی جزئیات کاملا متفاوت است که سالها طول می کشد تا واقعیت بر ملا شود. واقعیتی که نشان از سادگی دارد.
پسر کوچکتر در پاسگاه پلیس با زنی که سوء قصد را انجام داده، هم سلول می شود و در آن شرایط بحرانی آن زن تاثیری آرامبخش و خاطره انگیز بر پسر میگذارد که پس از گذشت سالیان و روشن شدن واقعیت، نمی تواند از او متنفر باشد.
.
پسر کوچکتر با اشخاص مرتبط با دو طرف این سوء قصد به صورت تصادفی دیدار می کند و ماجرا را از زبان آن ها هم می شنود. پسرِ پلیسِ کشته شده و مردی که هم دست زن در آن شب بود.
واقعا نمی شود کسی را مقصر شناخت، همه چیز به جنگ و فضای نفرت انگیز و رعب آور آن بر می گردد تا یک سری اتفاقات باعث از بین رفتن پدر، مادر و برادر بزرگتر شود. جنگ برای طرفین طبعاتی در پیش خواهد داشت. پس از کشف حقایق و اینقدر ساده کشته شدن آدم ها در این اتفاق، حس بیزاری و تنفر از جنگ و بانیان جنگ در شما چندین برابر می شود. این اتفاق زمانی می افتد که جنگ در اروپا به پایان رسیده و هلند هم در انتظار تخلیه نیروهای آلمانی، در اصل جنگی هم در میان نبود و همه چیز از عواقب جنگ بود.
.
کتاب از نوجوانی آنتون شروع می شود و با زندگی او تا کهنسالی همراه می شویم. کتاب با جنگ و کشتار آغاز می شود و با نفرت همگانی و تظاهرات گسترده بر علیه جنگ به پایان می رسد. این کتاب خود جنگ است.
.
توضیحات بیشتر درمورد کتاب باعث از بین رفتن لذت کشف حقایق می شود. اگر جنگ دغدغه شما هم هست، بخوانیدش.
.
همه چیز با شنیدن چند صدای شلیک شروع می شود، جنازه ای توی خیابان افتاده که مربوط به یکی از پلیس های هلندی است که در جنگ جهانی دوم با ارتش آلمان و نازی ها کمک میکرده و به همین دلیل مورد سوء قصد قرار می گیرد، صاحب خانه ای که جنازه روبروی آن جنازه بر روی زمین افتاده بود، برای فرار از دست نازی ها جنازه را جلوی درب خانواده استینوایک می اندازند. فرصتی نمانده، پسر بزرگتر برای جا به جایی جسد حرکت می کند ولی دیر شده و آلمان ها سر می رسند. پسر کوچکتر را به پاسگاه می برند و خانه آن ها را منفجر می کنند و پدر و مادر را هم اعدام می کنند.
.
این کلیت داستان است ولی جزئیات کاملا متفاوت است که سالها طول می کشد تا واقعیت بر ملا شود. واقعیتی که نشان از سادگی دارد.
پسر کوچکتر در پاسگاه پلیس با زنی که سوء قصد را انجام داده، هم سلول می شود و در آن شرایط بحرانی آن زن تاثیری آرامبخش و خاطره انگیز بر پسر میگذارد که پس از گذشت سالیان و روشن شدن واقعیت، نمی تواند از او متنفر باشد.
.
پسر کوچکتر با اشخاص مرتبط با دو طرف این سوء قصد به صورت تصادفی دیدار می کند و ماجرا را از زبان آن ها هم می شنود. پسرِ پلیسِ کشته شده و مردی که هم دست زن در آن شب بود.
واقعا نمی شود کسی را مقصر شناخت، همه چیز به جنگ و فضای نفرت انگیز و رعب آور آن بر می گردد تا یک سری اتفاقات باعث از بین رفتن پدر، مادر و برادر بزرگتر شود. جنگ برای طرفین طبعاتی در پیش خواهد داشت. پس از کشف حقایق و اینقدر ساده کشته شدن آدم ها در این اتفاق، حس بیزاری و تنفر از جنگ و بانیان جنگ در شما چندین برابر می شود. این اتفاق زمانی می افتد که جنگ در اروپا به پایان رسیده و هلند هم در انتظار تخلیه نیروهای آلمانی، در اصل جنگی هم در میان نبود و همه چیز از عواقب جنگ بود.
.
کتاب از نوجوانی آنتون شروع می شود و با زندگی او تا کهنسالی همراه می شویم. کتاب با جنگ و کشتار آغاز می شود و با نفرت همگانی و تظاهرات گسترده بر علیه جنگ به پایان می رسد. این کتاب خود جنگ است.
.
توضیحات بیشتر درمورد کتاب باعث از بین رفتن لذت کشف حقایق می شود. اگر جنگ دغدغه شما هم هست، بخوانیدش.
.
February 11, 2018
الحياة جحيم، جحيم! حتى لو استقرت الجنة على الأرض غدا؛ لن تكون جنة بعد كل ما حدث.
في أواخر الحرب العالمية الثانية، وبينما هولندا ما زالت محتلة، تقتل مجموعة من المقاومين شرطيا عميلا، وتنتهي الجثة لسبب غامض امام منزل عائلة "ستينفايك"، فيحرق المنزل ولا ينجو من العائلة إلا "أنطون" ابن الاثنى عشر عاما.
رواية مستوحاه من قصة حقيقية، مليئة بالصراعات النفسية والتشويق تطرح العديد من الأسئلة التي تستحق التأمل عن من المذنب ومن البريء.
ترجمة "أمينة عابد" ممتعة ورائعة
صورة الغلاف؛ لجثة "فاكه كريست" العميل الذي اغتيل من المقاومة، التقطت من مصور مجهول في اكتوبر 1944 ضمن احداث الحرب العالمية الثانية..
في أواخر الحرب العالمية الثانية، وبينما هولندا ما زالت محتلة، تقتل مجموعة من المقاومين شرطيا عميلا، وتنتهي الجثة لسبب غامض امام منزل عائلة "ستينفايك"، فيحرق المنزل ولا ينجو من العائلة إلا "أنطون" ابن الاثنى عشر عاما.
رواية مستوحاه من قصة حقيقية، مليئة بالصراعات النفسية والتشويق تطرح العديد من الأسئلة التي تستحق التأمل عن من المذنب ومن البريء.
ترجمة "أمينة عابد" ممتعة ورائعة
صورة الغلاف؛ لجثة "فاكه كريست" العميل الذي اغتيل من المقاومة، التقطت من مصور مجهول في اكتوبر 1944 ضمن احداث الحرب العالمية الثانية..
September 2, 2021
نحن نتعامل مع الألم بطرق مختلفة، بعضنا يأبى النسيان، و بعضنا الآخر ينسى ليكمل حياته و يعيش.
هكذا فعل أنطون، الذي فقد والديه و أخيه بيتر في لحظة واحدة الى الأبد على يد الألمان، كان ذنبهم ان جارهم جر جثة انسان خائن الى امام بيتهم، لينقذ سحاليه اللعينة. نعم فضل انقاذ السحالي، مما كلف ثلاثة اشخاص حياتهم، و احراق بيتهم، و تشريد ابنهم، الذي لحسن حظه كان صغيرا، مما شفع له عند الالمان و نقلوه الى عهدة خاله.
كان انطون يتجنب الالم، بعدم الحديث عنه و نسيانه، لكن في كل مناسبة، كان يتذكر و يتألم بدون ارادته، فذكريات والديه و بيته، و ذكريات تلك السجينة التي رعته ليلة فقدان والديه، ما فتأت تغادر خياله و أحلامه.
ح��ول الكاتب تصوير قصة مؤلمة من تاريخ مؤلم عاشته البشرية، فوفق بها و نجح، قصة انطون هي قصة شخص يعيش بيننا، نحس بأننا نعرفه، يحمل ألمه و ينساه ليكمل حياته.
هكذا فعل أنطون، الذي فقد والديه و أخيه بيتر في لحظة واحدة الى الأبد على يد الألمان، كان ذنبهم ان جارهم جر جثة انسان خائن الى امام بيتهم، لينقذ سحاليه اللعينة. نعم فضل انقاذ السحالي، مما كلف ثلاثة اشخاص حياتهم، و احراق بيتهم، و تشريد ابنهم، الذي لحسن حظه كان صغيرا، مما شفع له عند الالمان و نقلوه الى عهدة خاله.
كان انطون يتجنب الالم، بعدم الحديث عنه و نسيانه، لكن في كل مناسبة، كان يتذكر و يتألم بدون ارادته، فذكريات والديه و بيته، و ذكريات تلك السجينة التي رعته ليلة فقدان والديه، ما فتأت تغادر خياله و أحلامه.
ح��ول الكاتب تصوير قصة مؤلمة من تاريخ مؤلم عاشته البشرية، فوفق بها و نجح، قصة انطون هي قصة شخص يعيش بيننا، نحس بأننا نعرفه، يحمل ألمه و ينساه ليكمل حياته.
February 21, 2021
Harry Mulisch was born in Haarlem, Netherlands and lived in Amsterdam from 1958 until his death in 2010. His father was from Austria-Hungary and emigrated to the Netherlands after the First World War. During the German occupation in World War II his father worked for a German bank, which also dealt with confiscated Jewish assets, while his mother, Alice Schwarz, was Jewish. Mulisch and his mother escaped transportation to a concentration camp thanks to Mulisch's father's collaboration with the Nazis, but his maternal grandmother died in a gas chamber.
His novel, The Assault, opens in Netherlands near the end of World War II. The narrative focuses on the persistence of memory in his protagonist, Anton Steenwijk. Five episodes from Anton Steenwijk's life are described in this novel, representing five stations of his life: from 1945, 1952, 1956, 1966, and 1981. It is the first that is the most significant, describing the assault of the novel's title. It is his memory of this assault, the massacre of his family, that permeates and shapes the rest of his life in ways that he has difficulty comprehending. The narrative presents episodes in Anton's life; each episode overshadowed by his memories of the assault.
At one level, the book can be read as a detective story, reminiscent of Simenon, with intriguing twists and turns and a definite solution. It is also a morality tale (though one that doesn't point out any easy moral), a dark fable about design and accident, strength and weakness, and the ways in which guilt and innocence can overlap and intermingle. What impressed me was the authors ability to convey Anton's feelings of alienation and isolation from others. His struggle, often due to his memories, to overcome these feelings color all of the subsequent episodes.
“The process of putting Haarlem behind him resembled the changes a man goes through when he divorces. He takes a girl friend to forget his wife, but just doing that prolongs the connection with the wife. Possibly things will work out only with the next girl friend - although the third one has the best chance. Boundaries have to be continuously sealed off, but it's a hopeless job, fore everything touches everything else in this world. A beginning never disappears, not even with the ending.”
Told against the backdrop of shifting Dutch post-war society, centered around significant points in that history -- the reaction to the events in Budapest in 1956, the release of Willy Lages (head of the Gestapo in Holland), anti-nuclear protests in 1981 -- Mulisch paints a canvas of the difficulties of Dutch society in coming to terms with the events of the war. There are no easy answers for Mulisch, no simple blame to assign, even where it first appears there might be. Mulisch, using a taut and subtle style, explores questions of guilt and innocence, heroism and cowardice in this spellbinding and moving novel. While very different in style and tone from Wolfgang Koeppens' Death in Rome, Mulisch's novel is just as effective in portraying the lasting impact of the War on Europe. The Assault is one of the best novels I have read, in fact it is one of the finest examples of European postwar fiction.
Mulisch also gained international recognition with the film adaptation of The Assault. It received an Oscar and a Golden Globe for best foreign movie in 1986.
His novel, The Assault, opens in Netherlands near the end of World War II. The narrative focuses on the persistence of memory in his protagonist, Anton Steenwijk. Five episodes from Anton Steenwijk's life are described in this novel, representing five stations of his life: from 1945, 1952, 1956, 1966, and 1981. It is the first that is the most significant, describing the assault of the novel's title. It is his memory of this assault, the massacre of his family, that permeates and shapes the rest of his life in ways that he has difficulty comprehending. The narrative presents episodes in Anton's life; each episode overshadowed by his memories of the assault.
At one level, the book can be read as a detective story, reminiscent of Simenon, with intriguing twists and turns and a definite solution. It is also a morality tale (though one that doesn't point out any easy moral), a dark fable about design and accident, strength and weakness, and the ways in which guilt and innocence can overlap and intermingle. What impressed me was the authors ability to convey Anton's feelings of alienation and isolation from others. His struggle, often due to his memories, to overcome these feelings color all of the subsequent episodes.
“The process of putting Haarlem behind him resembled the changes a man goes through when he divorces. He takes a girl friend to forget his wife, but just doing that prolongs the connection with the wife. Possibly things will work out only with the next girl friend - although the third one has the best chance. Boundaries have to be continuously sealed off, but it's a hopeless job, fore everything touches everything else in this world. A beginning never disappears, not even with the ending.”
Told against the backdrop of shifting Dutch post-war society, centered around significant points in that history -- the reaction to the events in Budapest in 1956, the release of Willy Lages (head of the Gestapo in Holland), anti-nuclear protests in 1981 -- Mulisch paints a canvas of the difficulties of Dutch society in coming to terms with the events of the war. There are no easy answers for Mulisch, no simple blame to assign, even where it first appears there might be. Mulisch, using a taut and subtle style, explores questions of guilt and innocence, heroism and cowardice in this spellbinding and moving novel. While very different in style and tone from Wolfgang Koeppens' Death in Rome, Mulisch's novel is just as effective in portraying the lasting impact of the War on Europe. The Assault is one of the best novels I have read, in fact it is one of the finest examples of European postwar fiction.
Mulisch also gained international recognition with the film adaptation of The Assault. It received an Oscar and a Golden Globe for best foreign movie in 1986.
January 7, 2019
I loved the way Harry Mulisch set the first scene in the novel. Almost nothing seemed to herald what would happen next. Family gathered at the table, father reading treatise of Jewish philosopher Spinoza, mother unraveling an old sweater while older son is doing his homework. And there is a younger son yet, Anton. Picture like from these old Flemish masters. Calm and peaceful. Except for the six gun shots that suddenly break the silence of the night. And from that moment nothing would ever be the same. You could expect these shots, after all is wartime yet and though huge part of the Europe is freed already but Holland unfortunately not.
I was wondering at what direction Mulisch's novel would lead from there. Would it be a tale of revenge and seeking for justice or perhaps dwelling at moral and ethical dilemmas. Because when shots subsided there was a dead body left on the lawn before a house, but it was not the house of Anton's family. Only at some point inhabitants of the other house moved the corpse there. And you may imagine to what effect.
Anton walks through life seemingly unscathed by events from the past though very likely he's in kind of shock and rather wipes tragic events from his memory than copes with them. He moves from native Haarlem to his uncle's house in Amsterdam, undertakes study, then works, has wife, in fact is married twice and has two children from both marriages.
On his way with time meets some participants of the events in 1944. Meetings, quite accidental, shed light on what happened that fateful night. And the way Mulisch gradually unravels mystery reads almost like first rate noir. But Mulisch does something more and goes further. The novel is psychologically nuanced in probing motives if and what one could do to save their life, in seeking logic in illogic situation and keeping calm when world went mad. And the final explanation feels like punch to your guts.
March 29, 2022
“Suikast” II. Dünya Savaşı sonrası oluşan savaş romanları veya filmleri içinde farklı bir yere konulmalı. Çünkü romanın yazarı Harry Mulisch çocukluğunu iki ateş arasında kalarak geçirmiş bir insan. Bir tarafta Nazilerle işbirliği yapan Avusturyalı katolik bir bankacının oğlu, diğer taraftan ailesinin Holokost'tan kurtulan tek üyesi olan Yahudi bir annenin oğlu, yani Yahudi Harry Mulisch. Babasının işbirliği yapması kendisi dahil ailesinin yaşamında savaş içinde önemli kazanımlar sağlamış ancak Holokost gerçeği ise hep gözünün önünde kalmıştır.
Bu romanında da yazar, SS’lerle işbirliği yapan Hollanda Polisi ile direnişçiler arasında duygusal ve etik gel-gitler yaşaması, yukarıda belirttiğim iki ateş altında kalmanın açık bir göstergesidir. Harry Mulisch’in bu romanı savaş sonrasının en ciddi ve çözül(e)meyen sorunlarından biri olan Nazilerin, onların yerel işbirlikçileri ve yerel güvenlik güçlerinin durumu, yani yargılanıp yargılanmamalar��, emir kulu veya kader kurbanı mı, yoksa bilinçli birer ırkçı ve hatta katil oldukları mı sorularının gölgesi altında yazdığını düşünüyorum.
Edebiyat adına söyleyeceklerim, çok rahat okunan, duygu sömürüsüne kaçmayan, gerçekçi ve sorgulayıcı yönü ağır basan iyi bir metin olduğudur. Hele bir finali var ki insanı ters köşeye yatırıyor. Okunmasını öneririm.
December 22, 2018
رواية غير تقليديّة، وهي من الأعمال التي يمكن قراءتها في جلسة واحدة .
July 28, 2016
All of us, I think, even if we don't have a deeply profound sense of the bittersweetness of life, carry something inside us that haunts us, and we carry those things and react to their presence according to our ability to process and place them into a healthy context -- though sometimes it is hard to quite know whether "healthy" is something genuine, arbitrary or just an artificial coping strategy. These lingering demons can include great regrets, an embarrassment or moment of public humiliation, or a lost love. We bear up stoically and move ahead even as these saddening passengers continue to take the ride with us, reminding us at intervals of varying duration that they are still here, and likely always will be, thank you very much. And we probably think that these demons are so awful that no one else can possibly understand them, or, consequently, us. Most of our demons, though, are garden-variety. There are plenty of other people, we tend to forget, who have gone through much much worse. Far worse. What they carry inside them, we can't quite imagine.
In Harry Mulisch's deceptively laconic, and sometimes diffident novel, The Assault, Amsterdam is peopled with those carrying such demons. It is a generational graveyard of walking skeletons, those trying to build a sane future in the ruins of an urban charnel house in which the ghosts of World War II, even if they are not literal ones, float and exist in memory and pass before the eyes of the haunted as surely as the very real city itself; a city that is ever-changing yet which can never change enough to ever let its phantoms fade.
It would seem that the story of Anton, a 12-year-old boy whose parents and brother are taken from him in a cruel twist of fate at the very end of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in 1945, is a minor tragedy, as tragedies go in the grand scheme of a total war. It is a brief episode, barely a squeak in the din of the collective scream.
But it's an event that involves many, as it happens, as all wars do, and it leaves behind a network of closely and distantly related people, all working at cross-purposes in a world where survival begets it own imperatives and consequences that reverberate for the rest of people's lives.
In this sweeping tale, everyone has his or her own story -- regardless of the commonality of the war experience -- and those disparate pieces of the puzzle are held by many. And Mulisch takes his time assembling the picture for us, bringing out the puzzle pieces only as Anton finds them. Anton, like so many war victims, has decided to suppress his memories, to not pursue the truth about the fate of his family, to err on the side of starting over, acting as if his first life was just a distant fairy tale. Others, however, carry the war like an open wound, such as the resistance fighter, Cor Takes, a man who played a key role in the chain of events that affected the fate of Anton's family. When Anton meets Takes, years after the war, almost by sheer chance, the pieces of the puzzle suddenly emerge, and are presented to him almost against his will. While Anton has ignored his memory and favored disinterest, Takes has done the opposite. For him, the war never ended; he lives with it, bitterly and passionately every day, stoking a hatred that never dies and informs his life in the present, constantly. As Anton says to him, sarcastically and without sympathy, "The War is still on; right, Takes?"
As the story proceeds, haunting, blunted memories become sharpened again, and connections begin to form. All the things that Anton did not want to know become known. And despite his own suppression of memory, his thinking patterns and emotions are informed by the war. His own wife, Saskia, becomes a surrogate for a woman he never saw, a prisoner who comforted him in the murky blackness of a prison cell on his darkest night of the war in 1945. Her spectre, one that preoccupies Takes particularly as well, provides the story a powerful sense of the irrational and the romantic and the need to find an anchor in the midst of chaos within the context of love.
The book movies along very slowly, taking Anton through decades of his life as he attains success and all its desired domestic and public trappings. Along the way there are lovely passages as he reflects on disparate issues and seemingly unrelated features of his world. In some ways, the book seems to skate too easily over a vast span of time as it intermixes past and present. Fortunately, it never panders to easy sentimentality even as we crave some emotional catharsis. Its revelations about the war are slow to emerge. This is to Mulisch's credit, because he saves the big guns for the end.
The book explores many heavy issues without lingering too long over them, giving us just enough to ponder them on our own. Memory, our perception of time, and the twists of fate that can occur so cruelly if only for other factors being otherwise, are deftly touched on. So is the nature of morality in wartime. The notion of fighting evil with evil is well examined, and the book raises interesting moral questions about collateral damage, acceptable civilian casualties/losses for a greater cause, and the sacrifice of the innocent. These are notions that continue to inform our geopolitical challenges today.
At times, the book has the feeling of a Graham Greene novel, with slight noirish thriller elements; its moral ambiguities and shadowy characters seem like something out of The Third Man and any number of Greene books in which time and circumstance have left its protagonists rootless and desperately seeking rootedness in an unforgiving universe. The book evokes the helplessness of people caught up in events too big for them, in which the only response is to hunker down and wait things out, hoping the devil passes your door until the clock runs out. It also reminds us that what we see, what we think and what we know may have nothing to do with the truth.
For most of the way, I have to admit I was not quite sure what I felt about this book, and for a long time I kept it at an emotional arm's length. It seemed like it did not want me in its personal space. The protagonist's disinterest became my own.
But it all serves a grand purpose, and Mulisch's calculating dolings come in speedier succession, capped with a rapid series in the final pages that demystify the story while mystifying its overall meaning. The final revelation, which comes in the last three pages, hit me with the force of a bludgeon, and it was so shattering that it left me literally holding my hand over my mouth as tears burst forth.
There is much more that can be said about this book. Its examination of memory, of the true character and motivations of people, and of the way things circle back on themselves deserve more comment than I can pithily expound on here.
The book is poetic, beautifully written, and thoughtful. And those who stick it out will be rewarded with a finale of tremendous power -- one that finds light and hope from the darkest of times.
(KR@KY 2016)
In Harry Mulisch's deceptively laconic, and sometimes diffident novel, The Assault, Amsterdam is peopled with those carrying such demons. It is a generational graveyard of walking skeletons, those trying to build a sane future in the ruins of an urban charnel house in which the ghosts of World War II, even if they are not literal ones, float and exist in memory and pass before the eyes of the haunted as surely as the very real city itself; a city that is ever-changing yet which can never change enough to ever let its phantoms fade.
It would seem that the story of Anton, a 12-year-old boy whose parents and brother are taken from him in a cruel twist of fate at the very end of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in 1945, is a minor tragedy, as tragedies go in the grand scheme of a total war. It is a brief episode, barely a squeak in the din of the collective scream.
But it's an event that involves many, as it happens, as all wars do, and it leaves behind a network of closely and distantly related people, all working at cross-purposes in a world where survival begets it own imperatives and consequences that reverberate for the rest of people's lives.
In this sweeping tale, everyone has his or her own story -- regardless of the commonality of the war experience -- and those disparate pieces of the puzzle are held by many. And Mulisch takes his time assembling the picture for us, bringing out the puzzle pieces only as Anton finds them. Anton, like so many war victims, has decided to suppress his memories, to not pursue the truth about the fate of his family, to err on the side of starting over, acting as if his first life was just a distant fairy tale. Others, however, carry the war like an open wound, such as the resistance fighter, Cor Takes, a man who played a key role in the chain of events that affected the fate of Anton's family. When Anton meets Takes, years after the war, almost by sheer chance, the pieces of the puzzle suddenly emerge, and are presented to him almost against his will. While Anton has ignored his memory and favored disinterest, Takes has done the opposite. For him, the war never ended; he lives with it, bitterly and passionately every day, stoking a hatred that never dies and informs his life in the present, constantly. As Anton says to him, sarcastically and without sympathy, "The War is still on; right, Takes?"
As the story proceeds, haunting, blunted memories become sharpened again, and connections begin to form. All the things that Anton did not want to know become known. And despite his own suppression of memory, his thinking patterns and emotions are informed by the war. His own wife, Saskia, becomes a surrogate for a woman he never saw, a prisoner who comforted him in the murky blackness of a prison cell on his darkest night of the war in 1945. Her spectre, one that preoccupies Takes particularly as well, provides the story a powerful sense of the irrational and the romantic and the need to find an anchor in the midst of chaos within the context of love.
The book movies along very slowly, taking Anton through decades of his life as he attains success and all its desired domestic and public trappings. Along the way there are lovely passages as he reflects on disparate issues and seemingly unrelated features of his world. In some ways, the book seems to skate too easily over a vast span of time as it intermixes past and present. Fortunately, it never panders to easy sentimentality even as we crave some emotional catharsis. Its revelations about the war are slow to emerge. This is to Mulisch's credit, because he saves the big guns for the end.
The book explores many heavy issues without lingering too long over them, giving us just enough to ponder them on our own. Memory, our perception of time, and the twists of fate that can occur so cruelly if only for other factors being otherwise, are deftly touched on. So is the nature of morality in wartime. The notion of fighting evil with evil is well examined, and the book raises interesting moral questions about collateral damage, acceptable civilian casualties/losses for a greater cause, and the sacrifice of the innocent. These are notions that continue to inform our geopolitical challenges today.
At times, the book has the feeling of a Graham Greene novel, with slight noirish thriller elements; its moral ambiguities and shadowy characters seem like something out of The Third Man and any number of Greene books in which time and circumstance have left its protagonists rootless and desperately seeking rootedness in an unforgiving universe. The book evokes the helplessness of people caught up in events too big for them, in which the only response is to hunker down and wait things out, hoping the devil passes your door until the clock runs out. It also reminds us that what we see, what we think and what we know may have nothing to do with the truth.
For most of the way, I have to admit I was not quite sure what I felt about this book, and for a long time I kept it at an emotional arm's length. It seemed like it did not want me in its personal space. The protagonist's disinterest became my own.
But it all serves a grand purpose, and Mulisch's calculating dolings come in speedier succession, capped with a rapid series in the final pages that demystify the story while mystifying its overall meaning. The final revelation, which comes in the last three pages, hit me with the force of a bludgeon, and it was so shattering that it left me literally holding my hand over my mouth as tears burst forth.
There is much more that can be said about this book. Its examination of memory, of the true character and motivations of people, and of the way things circle back on themselves deserve more comment than I can pithily expound on here.
The book is poetic, beautifully written, and thoughtful. And those who stick it out will be rewarded with a finale of tremendous power -- one that finds light and hope from the darkest of times.
(KR@KY 2016)
October 15, 2022
4.5
-
با اینکه تا اینجای زندگی هیچ وقت فرق اسم هایی که روی
یه سری حزب ها هست و نفهمیدم و هر موقع باهاشون برخورد میکنم توی کتاب
مجبورم گوگل کنم ولی توی این کتاب اگ قرار بود هر ده صفحه یبار یادم بره
کلا نمیفهمیدم داستان از چه قرار بود.
-
حقیقتا نه اسم کتاب و قبلا شنیده بودم نه اسم نویسنده رو
ولی نویسنده داستان رو جوری نوشته بود و هندل کرده بود
که توی هر لحظه اش
احساست آدم یه تکونی میخورد :دی
راضی ام از انتخابم!
-
با اینکه تا اینجای زندگی هیچ وقت فرق اسم هایی که روی
یه سری حزب ها هست و نفهمیدم و هر موقع باهاشون برخورد میکنم توی کتاب
مجبورم گوگل کنم ولی توی این کتاب اگ قرار بود هر ده صفحه یبار یادم بره
کلا نمیفهمیدم داستان از چه قرار بود.
-
حقیقتا نه اسم کتاب و قبلا شنیده بودم نه اسم نویسنده رو
ولی نویسنده داستان رو جوری نوشته بود و هندل کرده بود
که توی هر لحظه اش
احساست آدم یه تکونی میخورد :دی
راضی ام از انتخابم!
January 19, 2024
(4.4) A couple years ago I took a trip to the Netherlands. Visiting both Amsterdam and Haarlem gave me an interesting point of view when reading this as this is where the book's central locations are. Mulisch's descriptions put me back in both places and I was reading from an empirical perspective.
This book starts with an unfortunate event at the tail end of WWII in Haarlem in 1945 and ends in Amsterdam in 1981 with a realization of that initial event. Mulisch weaves storyline into storyline with sometimes outrageous coincidences, but overall left you wanting more.
I know he was a prolific writer, but I think only a handful of his books have been translated into English. If anyone has any recommendations on where to go from here, feel free to comment.
This book starts with an unfortunate event at the tail end of WWII in Haarlem in 1945 and ends in Amsterdam in 1981 with a realization of that initial event. Mulisch weaves storyline into storyline with sometimes outrageous coincidences, but overall left you wanting more.
I know he was a prolific writer, but I think only a handful of his books have been translated into English. If anyone has any recommendations on where to go from here, feel free to comment.
November 4, 2019
Jaren geleden dat ik De aanslag las en nu dus opnieuw. Mooi, nog steeds, geschreven in sobere zinnen met een subtiele onderhuidse spanning en filosofischer dan ik me herinnerde.
(Een jonge vrouw in een donkere cel in 1945 spreekt tegen de 12-jarig Anton die net door de Duitsers is opgepakt.)
'Het licht, ja, maar het licht is niet alleen het licht. Ik bedoel, ik heb vroeger eens een gedicht willen schrijven, waarin het licht vergeleken werd met de liefde, - nee, de liefde met het licht. Ja, dat kan natuurlijk ook, je kunt natuurlijk ook het licht met de liefde vergelijken. Dat is nog mooier, want het licht is ouder dan de liefde.
In dat gedicht wilde ik de liefde vergelijken met het soort licht, dat je vlak na zonsondergang soms tegen de bomen ziet hangen: van dat toverachtige licht. Dat is het licht, dat in iemand zit die van iemand anders houdt. De haat is de duisternis, dat is niet goed. Hoewel, de fascisten moeten we haten en dat is wel goed. Hoe kan dat eigenlijk? Ja, dat is omdat wij ze haten in naam van het licht, terwijl zij alleen maar haten in naam van de duisternis. Wij haten de haat, en daarom is onze haat beter dan de hunne. Maar daarom hebben wij het ook moeilijker dan zij. Voor hen is alles heel eenvoudig, maar voor ons is het ingewikkeld. Wij moeten een beetje in ze veranderen om ze te bestrijden, een beetje niet onszelf zijn, terwijl zij daar geen last van hebben; zij kunnen ons zonder problemen kapotmaken. Wij moeten eerst onszelf een beetje kapotmaken eer we hen kapot kunnen maken. Zij niet, zij kunnen gewoon zichzelf blijven, daarom zijn ze zo sterk. Maar omdat er geen licht in ze zit, zullen ze het uiteindelijk toch verliezen. Het enige is, dat wij moeten oppassen dat we niet te veel in ze veranderen, dat we onszelf niet te veel kapotmaken, want dan zullen ze het uiteindelijk toch nog gewonnen hebben....'
August 14, 2018
Anton Steenwijk is 13 years old, when the German occupants murder his entire family in retribution for the killing of a Dutch collaborator in front of their house. Anton could escape and is taken by German soldiers to the home of his uncle in Amsterdam, where he grows up trying to forget about the past.
But these events haunt him and like a puzzle pieces of information let him understand what really happened back in 1945. These insights are closely coupled with critical periods in the history of the post war Netherlands, the aftermath of the Indonesian independence war and the Budapest upraising, the Provo movement and the peace movement. In the foreground Anton lives a happy and successful life, gets married, has two children. It feels, however, as if he played a drama on a stage. Mulisch gives us the explanation. While normal people live with their faces directed towards the future and leave the unchangeable past behind, people like Anton cannot take off their view from the past, which his still blurred and open to change, changes which deeply effect their present and future.
A friend told me on Goodreads that this novel is a compulsory lecture in Dutch schools. I wished it would be read more also here in Germany, where the Shoah of the Jewish people sometimes overshadows the struggles and suffering of the people in the occupied countries. This would help to deepen the friendship and understanding of the nations.
But these events haunt him and like a puzzle pieces of information let him understand what really happened back in 1945. These insights are closely coupled with critical periods in the history of the post war Netherlands, the aftermath of the Indonesian independence war and the Budapest upraising, the Provo movement and the peace movement. In the foreground Anton lives a happy and successful life, gets married, has two children. It feels, however, as if he played a drama on a stage. Mulisch gives us the explanation. While normal people live with their faces directed towards the future and leave the unchangeable past behind, people like Anton cannot take off their view from the past, which his still blurred and open to change, changes which deeply effect their present and future.
A friend told me on Goodreads that this novel is a compulsory lecture in Dutch schools. I wished it would be read more also here in Germany, where the Shoah of the Jewish people sometimes overshadows the struggles and suffering of the people in the occupied countries. This would help to deepen the friendship and understanding of the nations.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 981 reviews