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A review by carott3n
Kruistocht in spijkerbroek by Thea Beckman
5.0
This book!!!!! I'm looking up medieval pilgrimages to hike as we speak. I love Thea Beckman's writing style, its familiar, its comforting. Throughout her books she maintains themes of unspoilt nature, comparing pre and post industrialization, and the power and importance of community. Reading this after Kinderen van Moeder Aarde was a trip, since they're so similar thematically but one takes place far into the future and one far in the past.
Her storytelling skills are unmatched. In the book you become one of the children, you understand their plight and feel like you've truly journeyed on this pilgrimage with them. She also is able flesh out a character, and make them distinct and memorable, within, like, a sentence! A feat for a book that has what feels like a hundred characters. She also doesn't over-romanticize or sugar coat anything. Kids die, almost on every page! But the candidness with which she writes, makes it feel more grounded in the reality of the middle ages, helped along by it being rooted in real historical events. You can tell she's done her research.
The only notes I'll give is that Dolf seemed to spend very little time thinking about the 20th century, and comparing it to the time he found himself in. In fact, he hardly seemed to miss it. I see why she made this creative choice, but I found it slightly unrealistic, and made me forget where we originally started from. Also, I feel like the last third of the book, after they'd reached Genua, wasn't very necessary. There's so much build up until that point, and its foreshadowed as the end of their journey, but then suddenly its not and they go much further. I felt this minimised the impact of the climax of the book. However, I have no notes on the ending, none at all!
All in all literally a ground breaking, world shaking book. I want to move to the Netherlands so I can find people who have read this book too and talk to them about it. This is certainly not the end of my journey into Dutch fiction! (note, I did read this in Dutch, but it feels more natural to write an English review)
Her storytelling skills are unmatched. In the book you become one of the children, you understand their plight and feel like you've truly journeyed on this pilgrimage with them. She also is able flesh out a character, and make them distinct and memorable, within, like, a sentence! A feat for a book that has what feels like a hundred characters. She also doesn't over-romanticize or sugar coat anything. Kids die, almost on every page! But the candidness with which she writes, makes it feel more grounded in the reality of the middle ages, helped along by it being rooted in real historical events. You can tell she's done her research.
The only notes I'll give is that Dolf seemed to spend very little time thinking about the 20th century, and comparing it to the time he found himself in. In fact, he hardly seemed to miss it. I see why she made this creative choice, but I found it slightly unrealistic, and made me forget where we originally started from. Also, I feel like the last third of the book, after they'd reached Genua, wasn't very necessary. There's so much build up until that point, and its foreshadowed as the end of their journey, but then suddenly its not and they go much further. I felt this minimised the impact of the climax of the book. However, I have no notes on the ending, none at all!
All in all literally a ground breaking, world shaking book. I want to move to the Netherlands so I can find people who have read this book too and talk to them about it. This is certainly not the end of my journey into Dutch fiction! (note, I did read this in Dutch, but it feels more natural to write an English review)