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A review by johannalm
House on Endless Waters by Emuna Elon
3.0
House on Endless Water, Emuna Elon
Yoel Blum is one of Israel’s most famous writers, and his agent has insisted he visit Amsterdam to promote his most recent novel. Although he and his wife have travelled the world, they’ve never been to Amsterdam because of a promise Yoel made to his now deceased mother to not visit the country of his birth. But, this time, he decides to go.
During the trip he makes a visit to the Jewish Museum where he sees prewar footage of Dutch Jews. Yoel sees the face of his mother and Father in the footage as the video loops over and over. He also sees that his mother is standing with a young girl who looks like his older sister. His mother is also holding a baby, a baby who looks nothing like him. Confused and finally confronted with the past his mother never would address, Yoel spends many weeks in Amsterdam investigating what happened to his family in during WWII.
In an effort to understand who he really is, Yoel’s research not only reveals his family history, but it also exposes the secret networks that helped hide Jewish children, some of whom never reconnected with parents or other family members who survived Hitler’s death camps. It also exposes the Jews who betrayed their own in the hopes of helping their families survive.
Despite the fact that Yoel is a hugely successful writer, has a loving wife, three grown daughters, grandchildren, and had a mother who fiercely loved him, Yoel feels lost now that he doesn’t understand who he is or how he came to be Yoel Blum.
The book is supposed to be a mystery where Yoel slowly discovers his true beginnings. While he’s investigating his past and Amsterdam during the war, he’s also writing the story of this family’s survival and how he, his mother and sister where able to eventually immigrate to Israel.
Meanwhile, I knew after the first few chapters who he really was. Not sure if that was intentional, or if I was among the few who figure it out right away, but it’s annoying to then have to wait for the entire book for Yoel to get there. It’s really a myster about how he came to be his mother’s son and his true origin.
The novel is sad, and learning about the Netherlands during WWII is eyeopening, especially if you are interested in that period. However, the story annoyed me because his sister tells him early on what she remembers about the war, but he doesn’t reveal that conversation. Instead, you know he knows what happened. In other words, the reader knows enough to figure out who he is, he probably knows who he is, but it’s not until the end that it’s actually revealed.
The novel is written in a convoluted way because Yoel himself is writing the story of his beginning while he is figuring it out - so the novel is two parallel and interspersed stories within chapters. The novel about his mothger’s time in Amsterdam is a much more compelling and engaging story than Yoel‘s struggles with his identity. He suffers much throughout the book trying to figure out why his mother always kept their family apart from others and why, even now, he has a hard time connecting to people. When you finally learn about the trauma he faced in early childhood you understand why he’s so annoying and lost as an adult. Maybe his mother should have told him the truth.
Yoel Blum is one of Israel’s most famous writers, and his agent has insisted he visit Amsterdam to promote his most recent novel. Although he and his wife have travelled the world, they’ve never been to Amsterdam because of a promise Yoel made to his now deceased mother to not visit the country of his birth. But, this time, he decides to go.
During the trip he makes a visit to the Jewish Museum where he sees prewar footage of Dutch Jews. Yoel sees the face of his mother and Father in the footage as the video loops over and over. He also sees that his mother is standing with a young girl who looks like his older sister. His mother is also holding a baby, a baby who looks nothing like him. Confused and finally confronted with the past his mother never would address, Yoel spends many weeks in Amsterdam investigating what happened to his family in during WWII.
In an effort to understand who he really is, Yoel’s research not only reveals his family history, but it also exposes the secret networks that helped hide Jewish children, some of whom never reconnected with parents or other family members who survived Hitler’s death camps. It also exposes the Jews who betrayed their own in the hopes of helping their families survive.
Despite the fact that Yoel is a hugely successful writer, has a loving wife, three grown daughters, grandchildren, and had a mother who fiercely loved him, Yoel feels lost now that he doesn’t understand who he is or how he came to be Yoel Blum.
The book is supposed to be a mystery where Yoel slowly discovers his true beginnings. While he’s investigating his past and Amsterdam during the war, he’s also writing the story of this family’s survival and how he, his mother and sister where able to eventually immigrate to Israel.
Meanwhile, I knew after the first few chapters who he really was. Not sure if that was intentional, or if I was among the few who figure it out right away, but it’s annoying to then have to wait for the entire book for Yoel to get there. It’s really a myster about how he came to be his mother’s son and his true origin.
The novel is sad, and learning about the Netherlands during WWII is eyeopening, especially if you are interested in that period. However, the story annoyed me because his sister tells him early on what she remembers about the war, but he doesn’t reveal that conversation. Instead, you know he knows what happened. In other words, the reader knows enough to figure out who he is, he probably knows who he is, but it’s not until the end that it’s actually revealed.
The novel is written in a convoluted way because Yoel himself is writing the story of his beginning while he is figuring it out - so the novel is two parallel and interspersed stories within chapters. The novel about his mothger’s time in Amsterdam is a much more compelling and engaging story than Yoel‘s struggles with his identity. He suffers much throughout the book trying to figure out why his mother always kept their family apart from others and why, even now, he has a hard time connecting to people. When you finally learn about the trauma he faced in early childhood you understand why he’s so annoying and lost as an adult. Maybe his mother should have told him the truth.