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A review by andrewspink
Het water bewaart ons by Haro Kraak
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
fast-paced
4.0
There is a lot to like about this book. For a start, it is beautifully written, with many strking sentances. The landscape of the mainland is described as "flat boxes of the industrial farms, greenhouses, data centres and distribution centres that break the horizon like Morse codes" (platte dozen van de megastallen, kassen, datacenters end distributiehallen... die als morecodes de horizon onderbreken). Another one "the island lived from the answers, questions were superfluous".
It is also very gripping, with all sorts of twists in the plot, most of which were unexpected. It is something of a Dutch Handmaids Tale, with a rather dystopian view of what would happen if the SGP were to take power in a small isolated community.
The book is set in the near future, when things and not quite like they are now. The author introduces that with more and more clues. First they are sailing across the Zuiderzee, then we hear that Gruttos (Godwits) are almost extinct, and so on until the reader builds up a picture of what has happened.
The book manages to combine a page-turning plot with throught-provoking ideas about society; an unusual combination. Definitely recommended.
It is also very gripping, with all sorts of twists in the plot, most of which were unexpected. It is something of a Dutch Handmaids Tale, with a rather dystopian view of what would happen if the SGP were to take power in a small isolated community.
The book is set in the near future, when things and not quite like they are now. The author introduces that with more and more clues. First they are sailing across the Zuiderzee, then we hear that Gruttos (Godwits) are almost extinct, and so on until the reader builds up a picture of what has happened.
The book manages to combine a page-turning plot with throught-provoking ideas about society; an unusual combination. Definitely recommended.