Here some stuff about the books I read. For now I'm mostly using the bits I write for my Dutch online bookgroup so the text is usually mostly in Dutch but the quotes from English books are in the original.

woensdag 17 maart 2010

[BB] The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank ~ Ellen Feldman (2005)

Na het overlijden van Miep Gies dacht ik aan dit boek dat in mijn
nog-te-lezen stapels schuilt sinds ik het mee naar huis heb genomen
van de laatste Grote Boekenbeurs in Utrecht. Vlot geschreven 'wat
als' verhaal over het mogelijk leven van de 'Peter van Daan' uit de
dagboeken, als hij de oorlog overleefd had. Hij is van plan om zijn
hele verleden ver achter hem te laten en een nieuwe leven in de US te
beginnen. Dat lukt hem aardig, totdat het dagboek een bestseller
wordt. Fascinerend verhaal over (van de blurb): "the power of
stories, the meaning of history and the possiblity of coming to terms
with an unbearable burden of memory". Een aanrader. Ik heb ook ineens
zin om het Anne Frank huis weer te bezoeken. Ben daar laatst geweest
bijna precies 20 jaar geleden met mijn vader. Hij was hier op bezoek
kort na de dood van mijn moeder en wilde graag daarnaartoe want hij
had (uiteraard) ooit het boek gelezen. (Hey, ik heb mijn gewoonte om
boeken 'na-te-reizen' niet van een vreemde misschien...)

elma
--
I felt the familiar flash of panic. The house would not be there. In
its place would be smoking ruins.
--
they hustle their children off to sleep, certain they will be there
the next morning.
--
his voice now was elaborately casual.
--
we were so sure we had a future, we were beginning to build a past
--
I could not help glancing around me, though there was nothing illegal
about leaving a book for some bored commuter or curious traveler to
pick up. (ha, eentje voor de bookcrossers! ;-)
--
obscenely full shopping carts.
--
Though I did not understand the words, something in me responded to
the inconsolable cadence, but what soul does not keen to a minor-key
dirge?
--
[she] had announced[...] that the rabbit had died. The words were a
code but I understood them immediately. Every husband [in America]
knew what they meant. I wondered if any of them[...] found it
peculiar that we used the language of death to announce the coming of
life. (heeft iemand anders ooit van dit gehoord? Een rare manier
voor een vrouw om te vertellen dat ze zwanger is. Ik ken het helemaal
niet, maar dan spreek ik ook geen vloeiend Americanese...)
--
An ordinary, garden-variety tattoo, like millions of others. At least
there had been millions of others at one time. These days there were
fewer of them around [...] The fact that others had died with theirs
did not mean I had to live with mine.
--
a cat who had been trained to walk across a stage, and knock over a
saucer of milk, and do any numbr of nifty tricks on command. (Huh?
een kat die je wat kan leren? nee toch?!)
--
"I believe that the worldwide acclaim given her story cannot be
explained unless we recognize in it our wish to forget the gas
chambers and our effort to do so by glorifying the ability to react
into an extremely private, gentle, sensitive world, and there to cling
as much as possible to what have been one's usual daily attitudes and
activities, although surrounded by a mailstrom apt to engulf one at
any moment." (uit 'The Ignored Lesson of Anne Frank' by Bruno
Bettelheim)
--
But he had kept her momory alive. He had burnished it until it shone
like a beacon, or, some were beginning to say, a klieg light blinding
people to the bloodier truths of the past.
+++++

1 opmerking:

  1. Hi Elma, I'm glad you found my blog -- and you left me a record number of comments! Thank you so much. I wish I could read or speak Dutch but despite my Dutch name, I cannot. :( Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope you continue to enjoy your reading group!
    Marieke

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