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thevagabondlawyer 's review for:
All Ships Follow Me: A Family Memoir of War Across Three Continents
by Mieke Eerkens
dark
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
I read somewhere that memory is a wound and some things are released only by the act of writing. And I wonder if Meike Eerkens, the author of All Ships Follow Me, is writing her family's story to clean, to heal that wound or else the grangene of decay will eat her alive.
"All Ships Follow Me" tells a fascinating story of intergenerational family trauma that is both profoundly sad and hopeful.
Mieke Eerkens, the daughter of a Dutch father born and raised in colonial-era Indonesia, who later became a prisoner of war during the Japanese invasion, and a Dutch mother whose parents sympathized with the Nazis during the German occupation in the Netherlands.
Mieke is attempting to understand her family's shared guilt, the legacy of shame, and the ever-changing roles of villains and victims in their narrative.
Honest, unflinching, and reflective, "All Ships Follow Me" provides a space for those labeled as outcasts to understand their past and move forward.
Finishing the book evoked a profound sadness, not sentimentally, but in challenging the prevailing monolithic narrative that stereotypes colonialists, sympathizers, or collaborators. How do we comprehend seemingly senseless choices? How can we bring coherence to discordant narratives? How do we convince convince the world that the roles of villains and victims often change places it is dizzying?
Mieke Eerkens achieved what she needed to do—exposing her story, writing her truth, and, I believe, finding her place.
"All Ships Follow Me" tells a fascinating story of intergenerational family trauma that is both profoundly sad and hopeful.
Mieke Eerkens, the daughter of a Dutch father born and raised in colonial-era Indonesia, who later became a prisoner of war during the Japanese invasion, and a Dutch mother whose parents sympathized with the Nazis during the German occupation in the Netherlands.
Mieke is attempting to understand her family's shared guilt, the legacy of shame, and the ever-changing roles of villains and victims in their narrative.
Honest, unflinching, and reflective, "All Ships Follow Me" provides a space for those labeled as outcasts to understand their past and move forward.
Finishing the book evoked a profound sadness, not sentimentally, but in challenging the prevailing monolithic narrative that stereotypes colonialists, sympathizers, or collaborators. How do we comprehend seemingly senseless choices? How can we bring coherence to discordant narratives? How do we convince convince the world that the roles of villains and victims often change places it is dizzying?
Mieke Eerkens achieved what she needed to do—exposing her story, writing her truth, and, I believe, finding her place.