At first, I
didnt know what to make of this book. I knew from the cover that
the novels plot was centered on a murder, but I had no clue that
the main character and his family was so involved. Also, when I
thought of World War II, I didnt consider the victims of the
madness that occurred afterwards and the emotional damage that
followed, or how the countries that were occupied by the Nazi party
were decimated, pillaged, and shells of their former glory. I
always thought of the 10+ million that were killed in concentration
camps based on their political standings, sexual orientation, race,
and religion. It opened my mind to the treachery that most likely
occurred in neighborhoods where people knew each other very well
but framed since they
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I also noticed
a recurring theme in most of the books that I have read that are
based on the world wars; most of the time, the series of
unfortunate events that fall upon either the main character or
someone close to them, all connect in a strange and complex way.
For example, Anton eventually meets a man named Cor Takes at a
funeral for one of his
wifes relatives.
As it turns out, Takes was the one responsible for the death of
Fake Ploeg, the man who was found shot dead in front of Antons
house. (Page 108) As the conversation between the two draws on,
Anton learns that Takes
loveinterest was
involved, wounded, and imprisoned under a police station, the same
police station that Anton was being held in after his house was
burned down. Also the same woman that shared his cell, comforted
him, and accidentally smeared blood on his
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Anton also runs
into the woman that lived next door to him and assisted in Fake
Ploegs movement to his front yard, Karin Korteweg. She tells Anton
that her father was haunted by him and moved to Australia in fear
that Anton would exact his revenge. In the end, he took his own
life a few years before Anton and the woman spoke again (page 180).
This came as a bit of a surprise to me, seeing that we, as the
readers, hadnt heard of or seen the pair since the very beginning,
and to find out that the man was so guilty of what he had done and
afraid of what was to come that he took his own life gave the
ending a slightly bittersweet ending. In the end, revenge didnt
need to be taken in any way because all of the would-be enemies in
Antons life either came to terms with what they had done,
apologized, or turned their lives around altogether. I have never
seen an ending comparable to this before in any novel, and I wonder
if there is at least one
familythat lived
through WWII with a similar story. As a reader and an English
student, I can understand why this piece of literature is revered
the way it is. I sincerely thank you for the opportunity of reading
this
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