Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
This is a very moving story. Famous Israeli author Yoel Blum had sworn to his late mother than he would never visit Amsterdam, the place he was born and where he, his mother and sister escaped from during WWII. But he agrees to go to appease his publisher and makes a discovery that changes his understanding of who he is. Yoel decides to write a novel based on what he’s discovered. The normal dual story line style of this genre is replaced by Yoel in the present day interwoven with his writing of his story. This style may not appeal to all but it is effective. Many people believe that Jewish families in the Netherlands were not impacted as greatly during WWII but House On Endless Waters dispels that myth. A worthwhile read.
Review posted at:
MicheleReader
Review posted at:
MicheleReader
good story, but the writing and structure of the book is really bad. what a disappointment.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A gripping story of a son searching for his mother's story
challenging
mysterious
reflective
sad
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Yoel Blum is an Israeli author who returns to his birthplace Amsterdam, and is shocked to see an image of his mother, father, sister and a baby that he does not know at the Jewish Historical Museum. This sounds like the making of a fantastic book and in fact it could have been, however the author does not use any quotation marks in dialogue which is very annoying. The story is written within a story so you are not sure if it is real or what Yoel is imagining to have happened as he writes the book. Multiple sentences are just repeated over and over. The characters are flat and hard to feel a connection to. Almost five hundred pages of what I consider a very poor writing style.
Wow. Just wow.
The writing is gorgeous; at times it feels like a travelogue as you really get a sense of place. The story is devastating, yet I could not turn away.
The writing is gorgeous; at times it feels like a travelogue as you really get a sense of place. The story is devastating, yet I could not turn away.
Like a slow sunrise or sunset on the water, as depicted on the cover of Emuna Elon's novel, this story is an elegy to those who were lost in the Holocaust from Amsterdam and those who survived. This is also a book within a book, where the main character Yoel Blum, famous Israeli author, discovers something about his past that shocks and unmoors him so that he goes to Amsterdam to write about the past he never knew. Beautifully crafted with both stories, the real and imagined, overlapping as the novel reaches its inevitable conclusion.
3.5 stars. This story is told in an unusual way: a book within a book/story within a story. Two time points mostly set in Amsterdam: the occupation years of WW2 and the present (which I was dying to figure out because the age of the current day protagonist Yoel, if we use the publication year of the book - 2016- as the general timeframe, makes him roughly 75…. An age which doesn’t seem to match the visual I had of him in the present day storyline. But that’s another matter entirely). In any case, as a few others have pointed out in their reviews, this started out slowly, and I almost gave up a few times but finally it picked up steam (or I got used to the style of writing) and the second half of the story was much more urgent and drew me in.
This is a very different story of Holocaust resistance, survival and trauma, based on research and interviews with Dutch Jews who survived.
This is a very different story of Holocaust resistance, survival and trauma, based on research and interviews with Dutch Jews who survived.
It's challenging to rate this book. I did start skimming parts of the book, yet I couldn't fully give up on it as I just had to know what the mystery of his identity was as it played out through deeply heart breaking events.