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A View of the Ocean
The internationally best-selling novelist, playwright Jan de Hartog, author of The Captain and The Peaceable Kingdom, moves and inspires us with this simple, elegant story of his mother and himself.
She was a quiet, unassuming woman married to a giant of a man, a famous Protestant theologian and pastor, simple, bighearted and big-muscled, who moved through life with gusto a...more
She was a quiet, unassuming woman married to a giant of a man, a famous Protestant theologian and pastor, simple, bighearted and big-muscled, who moved through life with gusto a...more
Hardcover, 112 pages
Published
November 27th 2007
by Pantheon
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Apr 08, 2008
Connie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
everyone who likes reading about China
Recommended to Connie by:
Priscilla Zuck
This is the kind of book you finish and read again. The author has written several novels that reflect his experiences in the 2nd WW, two of my favorites are The Captain and The Commodore (both good enough for saving and rereading.) This book is reflections about his life and parents which are occasioned as he tries to take car of his mother who in her eighties is dying of stomach cancer (before hospice care). If a reader is interested in the reality of experiencing evil in the world, of finding...more
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For all its slimness at 99 pgs, de Hartog’s tribute to his mother is a gem with deep facets. He chronicled memories of his mother and his time spent nursing her as she suffered slowly from terminal cancer, his writing slow in the articulation of all the unspoken yet deeply felt anguish, doubts over his own intentions and inadequacies, and questions as to whether he was doing the right thing till the end.
In many ways this brought back all the complex and unresolved feelings I have till this day a...more
In many ways this brought back all the complex and unresolved feelings I have till this day a...more
Jan de Hartog presents a very moving account of his mother's life, beginning with the enchanting story of meeting the man who was to become her husband and ending with the pivotal experience after her death which changed his life.
She was a gentle survivor with a capacity for tenderness even under extreme stress. Held in a Japanese prison camp in the Dutch West Indies during WWII, she was remembered by many of her fellow prisoners as a kind, gentle person who could persuade their guards to act h...more
She was a gentle survivor with a capacity for tenderness even under extreme stress. Held in a Japanese prison camp in the Dutch West Indies during WWII, she was remembered by many of her fellow prisoners as a kind, gentle person who could persuade their guards to act h...more
This book is a love letter to de Hartog's mother, written posthumously. Although my mom was not a refugee camp survivor, there is no doubt that WWII profoundly affected her life. I found so many parallels to my mother's death from cancer in this book, including that one moment of clarity that de Hartog shared with his mom when she was near death. I appreciate that de Hartog spoke from his heart, not his head when writing this book.
This was published posthumously and tells the story of his parents, especially his mother, including her harrowing pre-hospice death.
I also had an aunt in a similar Japanese concentration camp (my father's cousin, actually, but she was Tante Nelle to me). Who knows? It could have been the same camp as deHartog's mother and she could have returned home on the same vessel.
DeHartog touches the heart! And he writes exquisitely in English which is not his mother tongue.
I also had an aunt in a similar Japanese concentration camp (my father's cousin, actually, but she was Tante Nelle to me). Who knows? It could have been the same camp as deHartog's mother and she could have returned home on the same vessel.
DeHartog touches the heart! And he writes exquisitely in English which is not his mother tongue.
A charming and bittersweet memoir of the author's mother. Just a slim (102-page) volume, it concentrates for the most part on the death of Lucretia de Hartog, and the legacy she almost unwittingly left her son. It was very touching.
this was not a fun book. when i picked it up i didn't realize it would be de hartog's struggle w/his mother's death. and his parents legacies, nazi germany, faith in God. not easy.
worth reading.
worth reading.
Subtle, sublime, and clear; like a New Year’s dawn that knows no time.
what his parents were was more important than what they did.
Nov 21, 2009
Victoria Weinstein
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Ministers, Seekers, Skeptics, Writers
Shelves:
non-fiction
This book was a strange little thing - lyrical, devastating, confessional, deeply private, spiritual, irreverent.
SO preachable, pastors!! De Hartog's father was a famous Dutch Protestant minister, and de Hartog's journey takes him through WWII. His mother, Lucretia, is the central character and will make you consider (or reconsider) the concept of secular sainthood.
It took about an hour to read and I'm sure I'll re-read it again soon.
I can't wait to discover more of his works.
SO preachable, pastors!! De Hartog's father was a famous Dutch Protestant minister, and de Hartog's journey takes him through WWII. His mother, Lucretia, is the central character and will make you consider (or reconsider) the concept of secular sainthood.
It took about an hour to read and I'm sure I'll re-read it again soon.
I can't wait to discover more of his works.
What a good book to read - a hard book to read because I don't think cancer is ever an easy disease to die from - but still a very good book. This is a very small book about Jan De Hartog coming to terms with his mother's mortality as she is dying and finding out some interesting things about himself and his mother as this happens. It makes you really think about the way we have hidden what happens as people die and whether there may not be a better way. De Hartog died himself in 2002.
In its simplicity and seeming artlessness, this short, searing memoir of a mother's death from cancer achieves true pathos even as the author faces his own death, perhaps with acceptance. The unadorned work of an old master is ultimately cause for celebration.
A brief, heartfelt, elegantly written memoir mostly about the death of de Hartog's parents, and especially his mother, who at the end preferred his inept nursing to that of the professionals.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
not exactly what I expected but a good read.
Dutch memoir. Liked.
love-ly
May 07, 2013
Russell
marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013
Lindsey
marked it as to-read
Dec 23, 2012
Quaker
marked it as to-read
Sep 13, 2012
Kelley Tackett
marked it as to-read
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