Review of 'HET ZWIJGEN VAN MARIA ZACHEA' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
This book is an oral history of a large Catholic family in North Holland, covering the childhood years of the children and then again the final few years of their mother's life when she was bed ridden, and they were all looking after her.
I came to live in the Netherlands in 1992, so in principle the book was of interest in that it largely focussed on the decades before that. The family went from a condition of poverty to wealth, reflecting the transformation of the whole nation in that period.
Despite the potentially interesting topic, the form gave some difficulties. There was one short chapter for each of the 12 children, which meant that it was both rather shallow (only a few pages per child, no room to go into any depth) and in the end rather repetitive. This was exacerbated by the choice to focus on the childhood …
This book is an oral history of a large Catholic family in North Holland, covering the childhood years of the children and then again the final few years of their mother's life when she was bed ridden, and they were all looking after her.
I came to live in the Netherlands in 1992, so in principle the book was of interest in that it largely focussed on the decades before that. The family went from a condition of poverty to wealth, reflecting the transformation of the whole nation in that period.
Despite the potentially interesting topic, the form gave some difficulties. There was one short chapter for each of the 12 children, which meant that it was both rather shallow (only a few pages per child, no room to go into any depth) and in the end rather repetitive. This was exacerbated by the choice to focus on the childhood period and largely ignore what must have been quite dramatic changes as the family grew wealthier. It was also compiled by a niece of the characters and has undoubtedly ended up with only material which was acceptable to those telling the story - if only because that seems to have been her only source. That means that although the father's religious dogmatism and repressive nature repeatedly comes up, there is no exploration as to what caused that and the long term effects on the children are also rather overlooked.
I read the book because it has been selected by the library for this year's "Nederland Leest" (the Netherlands Reads) campaign. I can understand why they chose it, because of the topic covered is ideal for discussion, but I do wish that they have found a book with just a bit more literary quality to it.
