Harry Mulisch

Roman

De Aanslag

It is the winter of 1945, the last dark days of the war in occupied Holland. A Nazi collaborator, infamous for his cruelty, is assassinated as he rides home on his bicycle. The Germans arrive within minutes, and in brutal retaliation burn a nearby house and massacre an innocent family. Only the youngest son, twelve-year-old Anton Steenwijk, survives.

A novel of great emotional ans psychological intensity, The Assault traces the complex repercussions of this nightmarish event on Anton's life. Determined to forget, Anton 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 the other actors in the drama - until Anton finally learns what really happened that night when his family was killed, and why.

The Assault subtly and brilliantly explores the eternal questions of guilt and innocence, heroism and cowardice. And it introduces to the American scene a major European writer - Harry Mulisch.
(front flap)

The Assault

roosmarijn

i read this in dutch, but it’s nowhere on goodreads so lol here we are

okay prepare yourself...
this book was; very boring and awkwardly written, it was harsh and abrupt to the point where i wanted to slam the book into the wall and the diction was amazingly confusing and obscure which led to me being distanced from the book in a way that made me want to tear the pages out

so first of all, well done mulisch for making me dislike a book that’s not even 200 pages long and where in the end nothing whatsoever happened except for the fact that i came to hate all the characters and want to cry

am i being a bit harsh and irrational?
-probably
do i have the knowledge and experience to review a book that is somehow accepted and soaked up in the dutch society as a ‘omg-this-book-is-something-every-student-has-to-read’ kind of book????
-ahahahahaha probably not
will any of those things withhold me from writing and posting this review and/or writing a statement for my test about this book???
-NOPE

disclaimer: there areeeee good things about this book (even tho they’re unsaid) that’s why i gave it 2 stars and not just 1, i’m just not in the mood to write about the things that were ‘okayish’ i’ll do that in the test my teacher has in store for me

*micdrop*



(spoiler, my teachers got MAD at me for writing this review, lol)

Harry Kurt Victor Mulisch

Een man, die als jongen in de Tweede Wereldoorlog door een misverstand zijn familie verloor, wordt op verschillende momenten in zijn leven met de schuldvraag geconfronteerd.

roman

De aanslag

Dorianne Vervoort

Wauw. 
Dit boek is echt goed. 
Telkens als je denkt iets te weten, verschijnt er een nieuwe wending. 
Het boek is ook erg goed geschreven, het leest als een trein.

Jasper 

alba

Juniper

Sanne

Floris Verloop

heleen de boever

Jolanda Schobers

Anna

Rebekka

Roel Vandenhoeck

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.

The Assault traces the complex repercussions of this nightmarish event 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 1944, and why.
(back cover)

De Aanslag Roman