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A review by atticmoth
Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge
informative
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
The strange association that came to mind is Wes Anderson’s animated film Isle of Dogs; which I didn’t have a problem with the content, but the structure was so lazy that it was impossible to overlook. Mary Mapes Dodge’s Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates starts out with a strong enough premise that shouldn’t have been that hard to follow through with: The eponymous Hans Brinker competing in an ice-skating race to win the title Silver Skates. Instead, like Isle of Dogs, most of the narrative follows a quirky ensemble cast that only tangentially relates to the main story. Towards the end of the book, Dodge does return to the race, but over 50% of this book is composed of “meanwhiles”. Perhaps Dodge abandoned the “main” story because it was so sentimentalist and cloying she knew no one would sit through it, so she focused too much energy on the slapstick antics of four or five Dutch boys skating from city to city. And indeed, when she returned to Hans Brinker’s story, I was so annoyed I no longer cared. Hans Brinker represents the worst of Victorian-era moralistic childrens’ literature. The protagonists are so perfect, and their situation so miserable; they toil with such dignity that it almost seems to glamorize poverty. The ending is replete with fortuitous coincidences that wouldn’t make sense in any book; it started to feel like a parody of itself. It’s got the preachy tone of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, but if the entire thing was about Tiny Tim.
Hans Brinker’s main claim to fame is originating the folk tale of the Dutch boy who saved his city from floodwaters by plugging a hole with his finger. In context, it’s a story that one character tells another. The most interesting part of this book was how the Netherlands were presented; I almost want to use the word worldbuilding. Mary Mapes Dodge was American, and wrote for American audiences; a common point of discussion in my book club was how Hans Brinker actually treats Dutch culture with an Orientalist lens. A couple people in the book club are actually Dutch, and said that reading this gave them “a new perspective on Orientalism”. Her portrayal of the Netherlands is quaint and backwards, while simultaneously utopic. There are so many bizarre details that serve to otherize Dutch culture, and it’s an interesting snapshot of what happens when white people exoticize other white people.
Hans Brinker’s main claim to fame is originating the folk tale of the Dutch boy who saved his city from floodwaters by plugging a hole with his finger. In context, it’s a story that one character tells another. The most interesting part of this book was how the Netherlands were presented; I almost want to use the word worldbuilding. Mary Mapes Dodge was American, and wrote for American audiences; a common point of discussion in my book club was how Hans Brinker actually treats Dutch culture with an Orientalist lens. A couple people in the book club are actually Dutch, and said that reading this gave them “a new perspective on Orientalism”. Her portrayal of the Netherlands is quaint and backwards, while simultaneously utopic. There are so many bizarre details that serve to otherize Dutch culture, and it’s an interesting snapshot of what happens when white people exoticize other white people.