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Negen open armen #1
Nine Open Arms
The Boon family story and their indefatigable gallows humor are Benny Lindelauf's literary memorial to those persecuted by history.
A ghost story, a fantasy, a historical novel, and literary fiction all wrapped into one, this highly awarded novel for young readers begins with the Boon family's move to an isolated, dilapidated house. Is it the site of a haunting tragedy, as one of the daughters believes, or an end to all their worries, as their father hopes? The novel's gripping language, enriched by Yiddish, German, and Dutch dialect, plunges the reader into the world of a large, colorful, motherless family.
A ghost story, a fantasy, a historical novel, and literary fiction all wrapped into one, this highly awarded novel for young readers begins with the Boon family's move to an isolated, dilapidated house. Is it the site of a haunting tragedy, as one of the daughters believes, or an end to all their worries, as their father hopes? The novel's gripping language, enriched by Yiddish, German, and Dutch dialect, plunges the reader into the world of a large, colorful, motherless family.
256 pages, Board Book
First published January 1, 2004
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472 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
March 8, 2014
What a polished gem of a book! Lindelauf’s book was first published in 2004 in The Netherlands and Australian John Nieuwenhuizen succeeds as the invisible translator who brings this classic to us. It resonates with classic childrens fiction features such as the old, mystery house without a porch so that the children have to almost climb into the front door: or is it the back door? As a surprise for Australian readers expecting green fields, lots of water and windmills, the isolated house is set far away from the town along the dusty dirt road known as the Sjlammbams Sahara, opposite the cemetery and leading to the German border. It’s 1937 but the stories move back and forth to 1863 and not into World War II. There appears to be a tomb in the cellar, the roof leaks and, as there is no running water in the house, three children have to cart water from the well in the cemetery where they find a gravestone with no names. To this setting, the writer brings us a large family who are always on the move and this is obviously a house of last resort. However, for the girls, the major compensation is that the house is large, ‘nine open arms’ wide’ and they have the luxury of a bedroom to themselves.
There are seven children, the three youngest are girls while the four much older boys and their dreamer father, seeking work in the Great Depression, mostly fail to raise the rent and end up in the delusion that they will become successful cigar makers. The focus is on the three girls known by their nicknames: the narrator Fing, the oldest, aged eleven, then Muulke (little mouth/big mouth) and Jess who was only three months old when their mother died. Muulke has already declared that, of the five previous houses that they had lived in during the last four years, three had been cursed and at least two, like this one, ‘contained traces of a tragical tragedy’. Jess suffers from ‘wreckbone’ and is forced to wear a corrective corset that creaks as she walks and she sleeps between her sisters, in the middle of the bed without a mattress on the flat board. She complains that she is not allowed to do anything, ever.
The grandmother, Omar Mei, is in charge and the girls know all the key words in her ‘sermons’. ‘Someone has to be hard in this world’. Their dead ‘mam’ had ‘the heart as soft as a rag doll’. ‘It isn’t for nothing that heart and hard sound so similar’. Little wonder that Omar, with ‘one and a half feet in my grave’ and her ‘swivel eye’, occasionally wonders why she ‘has to be the ogre’ as the father is ‘the opposite of worrying’ with a Micawber-like optimism, ‘believing first, then seeing’. Clearly, Omar has seen all his misadventures before because her ancient crocodile skin suitcase, sits ominously in sight as a warning that so long as it remains unstowed, she may leave them to their own hopeless incompetence. There is an intriguing tension between the girls’ curiosity about the family photographs and stories that the case contains and the threat that its positioning implies. Similarly, when the girls fight, ‘I’ll tell Omar’ has a powerful effect. And fight and squabble they do with Dutch gusto. The translator maintains the earthiness of the characters lives and language by sometimes keeping the Dutch expletive untranslated so that the Glossary lists words for ‘shrew, fishwife, nonsense, blast, damn, coward’ and best of all, ‘owl’s pee – for something insignificant, a trivial matter.’ Jess’s favourite defence response is ‘Get lost’ and Muulke the ‘blabbermouth’, delights when telling of her own fear that her sisters would have ‘pissed your pants three times over.’ There is a wonderful fight at school over who should play the Virgin Mary in the annual parade.
However, the stories are extracted from the suitcase, despite Omar’s protestations that ‘It’s no story for children’ and the intriguing mysteries of the house are revealed. Complicating the family history are the stories of the town cabinet maker’s son, Charlie Bottletop and Nienevee a girl from the despised Traveller family that came from across the German border. The current adventure with Oompah Hatsi, the elective mute ‘button chewer’ dressed in ‘a brass band uniform jacket with dented buttons and sleeves that were too short… and a battered straw hat’ and who communicates with scissor snips, unites past and present. This fantastic character and his history combines magic realism and comedy, suggesting Fellini, Hans Christian Anderson and Dickens and is used brilliantly by the writer to control the tone of his book when a lesser writer would have settled for realism where impoverished, motherless children of a marginalised family with a good for nothing father and a bullying grandmother identify with Travellers and rejects until they finally find the truth about their situation. Instead, Lindelauf constructs a beautiful patchwork quilt that combines earthy reality with tolerance, security, compassion and humour. Like all great childrens literature, this is a book for independent readers of all ages.
There are seven children, the three youngest are girls while the four much older boys and their dreamer father, seeking work in the Great Depression, mostly fail to raise the rent and end up in the delusion that they will become successful cigar makers. The focus is on the three girls known by their nicknames: the narrator Fing, the oldest, aged eleven, then Muulke (little mouth/big mouth) and Jess who was only three months old when their mother died. Muulke has already declared that, of the five previous houses that they had lived in during the last four years, three had been cursed and at least two, like this one, ‘contained traces of a tragical tragedy’. Jess suffers from ‘wreckbone’ and is forced to wear a corrective corset that creaks as she walks and she sleeps between her sisters, in the middle of the bed without a mattress on the flat board. She complains that she is not allowed to do anything, ever.
The grandmother, Omar Mei, is in charge and the girls know all the key words in her ‘sermons’. ‘Someone has to be hard in this world’. Their dead ‘mam’ had ‘the heart as soft as a rag doll’. ‘It isn’t for nothing that heart and hard sound so similar’. Little wonder that Omar, with ‘one and a half feet in my grave’ and her ‘swivel eye’, occasionally wonders why she ‘has to be the ogre’ as the father is ‘the opposite of worrying’ with a Micawber-like optimism, ‘believing first, then seeing’. Clearly, Omar has seen all his misadventures before because her ancient crocodile skin suitcase, sits ominously in sight as a warning that so long as it remains unstowed, she may leave them to their own hopeless incompetence. There is an intriguing tension between the girls’ curiosity about the family photographs and stories that the case contains and the threat that its positioning implies. Similarly, when the girls fight, ‘I’ll tell Omar’ has a powerful effect. And fight and squabble they do with Dutch gusto. The translator maintains the earthiness of the characters lives and language by sometimes keeping the Dutch expletive untranslated so that the Glossary lists words for ‘shrew, fishwife, nonsense, blast, damn, coward’ and best of all, ‘owl’s pee – for something insignificant, a trivial matter.’ Jess’s favourite defence response is ‘Get lost’ and Muulke the ‘blabbermouth’, delights when telling of her own fear that her sisters would have ‘pissed your pants three times over.’ There is a wonderful fight at school over who should play the Virgin Mary in the annual parade.
However, the stories are extracted from the suitcase, despite Omar’s protestations that ‘It’s no story for children’ and the intriguing mysteries of the house are revealed. Complicating the family history are the stories of the town cabinet maker’s son, Charlie Bottletop and Nienevee a girl from the despised Traveller family that came from across the German border. The current adventure with Oompah Hatsi, the elective mute ‘button chewer’ dressed in ‘a brass band uniform jacket with dented buttons and sleeves that were too short… and a battered straw hat’ and who communicates with scissor snips, unites past and present. This fantastic character and his history combines magic realism and comedy, suggesting Fellini, Hans Christian Anderson and Dickens and is used brilliantly by the writer to control the tone of his book when a lesser writer would have settled for realism where impoverished, motherless children of a marginalised family with a good for nothing father and a bullying grandmother identify with Travellers and rejects until they finally find the truth about their situation. Instead, Lindelauf constructs a beautiful patchwork quilt that combines earthy reality with tolerance, security, compassion and humour. Like all great childrens literature, this is a book for independent readers of all ages.
May 2, 2012
Ik wilde in "De hemel van Heivisj" gaan beginnen, toen mijn oog viel op een regeltje op de achterflap: "De hemel van Heivisj is het bloedspannende, zelfstandig te lezen vervolg op Negen Open Armen." en daarom leek het me handiger om dat éérst te gaan lezen.
Het is nota bene een B-boek, maar daar vind ik het zelf véél te moeilijk voor. Een mooi boek, waar ik absoluut even in moest komen, maar op een gegeven moment pakte het me zó, dat ik het haast niet meer weg kon leggen.
Het verhaal speelt zich af in Zuid Limburg en het is daarom ook maar goed dat er achterin het boek vertalingen staan voor woorden als "peetsj", "neetekroed", "boksesjieter"!
Wie van jeugdboeken houdt (en ook voor wie er níet van houdt): LEZEN
Het is nota bene een B-boek, maar daar vind ik het zelf véél te moeilijk voor. Een mooi boek, waar ik absoluut even in moest komen, maar op een gegeven moment pakte het me zó, dat ik het haast niet meer weg kon leggen.
Het verhaal speelt zich af in Zuid Limburg en het is daarom ook maar goed dat er achterin het boek vertalingen staan voor woorden als "peetsj", "neetekroed", "boksesjieter"!
Wie van jeugdboeken houdt (en ook voor wie er níet van houdt): LEZEN
August 10, 2014
It took me quite a while to get into this book, originally published in Dutch a decade ago. But once I got past the first 50 or so pages, the characters drew me in, and I read the rest of it at once. Set in Limburg in 1937, the story revolves around one family and its trials and tribulations. Since there are nine members in the family--four older brothers, three sisters, a father, and a grandmother--they think of the house in which they settle after moving several times as "Nine Open Arms." The three girls hope that this is the last move for them. After all, their well-meaning father is known for dreaming up moneymaking schemes, and they always end up having to move. As is the case for all families, theirs has some traditions and some rituals; for instance, their grandmother has packed away several family photos in an old suitcase they call the Crocodile, and every now and then, she takes out a photograph and tells a story about the individuals in the photo. It turns out that there are truths (but also some lies) hidden within the stories she tells, and the "tragical tragedy" that one of the girls always imagines turns out to be closer to home than they had ever imagined. Ultimately, I enjoyed very much how the author weaves into the narrative stories from different time periods and characters who seem to have nothing in common.
January 17, 2026
Ach mensen, wat een prachtig boek. Vol verhalen, warmte, zorgen, liefde.
En met heerlijk herkenbare Limburgse couleur locale
En met heerlijk herkenbare Limburgse couleur locale
May 18, 2015
The past eleven years I've been a wanderer like Fing's (Josephine's) family. "We were globetrotters within our town. North, south, east, west: we were able to go everywhere but didn't feel at home anywhere, and now it seems we were about to move again." That is a good description of a career as an international teacher. Many counter it by purchasing a home somewhere. At least then it feels like you have roots in a place, even if you are only there a couple of months. This theme of wandering is one of many throughout this story. Others include lies versus truths, disabilities, bullies, lost love, and more. The story is divided into three parts that comes together with a strong ending.
Fing's Dutch father is always starting some new venture that doesn't quite succeed. He's eternally optimistic and and tells his six children to "First believe, then see" and to choose the "opposite of worrying." Their mother is dead and their gruff and loving grandmother, Oma Mei, with a swivel-eye does most of the disciplining, feeding, and caring for the children. The family has arrived at a new home at the end of Sjlammbams Sahara, a road with a house facing the opposite direction of the road and full of secrets. Fing and her sisters start to uncover those secrets and find out why Oma Mei has been lying to them.
The setting is in the Netherlands during the 1930's, while the middle part is a flashback to the 1860's. The last part travels to 1937 and pulls the story together. I struggled the most with the first part because the pacing was slow and the character traits of the girls took awhile to materialize in my brain. It could be my brain though. I wasn't feeling well and had a headache when reading this so try it yourself to see what you think. My reading buddy, Angela, didn't have a problem with the first part but found the flashback weird. Either way we both agree it came together at the end well and had some unique twists.
Jess, Fing's younger sister, has a twisted spine and has to wear a brace. She is teased at school and hates it that she can't perform the same tasks as her older sister. When she makes friends with a bum, it suggests that the two have an understanding of what it means to suffer and be marginalized in society. Rather than calling her disability by a medical term, they call it her wreckbone. The wreckbone becomes a metaphor for suffering that happens in the family mentally as well as physically. The secrets that the grandma is hiding about her husband are not healthy and the father moving all the time looking for his next "successful" career is wearing on the children that need to settle down and make friends. The ending suggests healing and hope for the future.
In the United States and Britain, very few books are translated. Jack Zipes gives a figure in his book, "Relentless Progress: The Reconfiguration of Children's Literature, Fairy Tales, and Storytelling," but it is checked out and I can't look up the exact numbers. Needless to say, I do remember that the market for books in English is the largest and that the statistics quoted for translated books were miniscule in comparison. Hopefully this will change more in the future. Studying other cultures brings tolerance and empathy. We really are not much different from each other and what better way to show that then in a story.
Fing's Dutch father is always starting some new venture that doesn't quite succeed. He's eternally optimistic and and tells his six children to "First believe, then see" and to choose the "opposite of worrying." Their mother is dead and their gruff and loving grandmother, Oma Mei, with a swivel-eye does most of the disciplining, feeding, and caring for the children. The family has arrived at a new home at the end of Sjlammbams Sahara, a road with a house facing the opposite direction of the road and full of secrets. Fing and her sisters start to uncover those secrets and find out why Oma Mei has been lying to them.
The setting is in the Netherlands during the 1930's, while the middle part is a flashback to the 1860's. The last part travels to 1937 and pulls the story together. I struggled the most with the first part because the pacing was slow and the character traits of the girls took awhile to materialize in my brain. It could be my brain though. I wasn't feeling well and had a headache when reading this so try it yourself to see what you think. My reading buddy, Angela, didn't have a problem with the first part but found the flashback weird. Either way we both agree it came together at the end well and had some unique twists.
Jess, Fing's younger sister, has a twisted spine and has to wear a brace. She is teased at school and hates it that she can't perform the same tasks as her older sister. When she makes friends with a bum, it suggests that the two have an understanding of what it means to suffer and be marginalized in society. Rather than calling her disability by a medical term, they call it her wreckbone. The wreckbone becomes a metaphor for suffering that happens in the family mentally as well as physically. The secrets that the grandma is hiding about her husband are not healthy and the father moving all the time looking for his next "successful" career is wearing on the children that need to settle down and make friends. The ending suggests healing and hope for the future.
In the United States and Britain, very few books are translated. Jack Zipes gives a figure in his book, "Relentless Progress: The Reconfiguration of Children's Literature, Fairy Tales, and Storytelling," but it is checked out and I can't look up the exact numbers. Needless to say, I do remember that the market for books in English is the largest and that the statistics quoted for translated books were miniscule in comparison. Hopefully this will change more in the future. Studying other cultures brings tolerance and empathy. We really are not much different from each other and what better way to show that then in a story.
September 2, 2014
Translated from the original Dutch, this book is the story of Fing and her family. Fing’s mother died years ago and since then her father and her grandmother have taken care of them. They are a big family, with Fing’s three older brothers and her two sisters, Muulke and Jess. Fing’s father has decided to start a cigar business, so they move out of town to a big old house that has something very strange about it that Fing can’t quite figure out. They call it Nine Open Arms, because that is how far across it is. The house is near a cemetery, the front door is at the back, and there is a bed in storage that looks like a tombstone. As the girls start a new school, they slowly begin to discover the secrets of Nine Open Arms and of their own community and family.
Delightfully wild and incredibly quirky, this book is one of a kind. From the family that moves constantly, to the cemetery next door where they go to get their water each day, to the crocodile purse that is used to tell family stories, to the controlling grandmother who is dominant but deeply loving in her own way, to the one old story that is the key to understanding it all. This is a richly rewarding read, one that you have to head out on before you even know what journey you are on. It is a book that meanders but each turn is essential to the book in the end, where it all clicks into place.
Told in the first person by Fing, the book unfolds before you, each reveal another piece of the family, another story, another moment that is meaningful. It is a perfectly crafted book that has a plot that moves in its own time, another time, a less modern pace. It ties to the pace of the family, one where things are revealed in their own space. It’s incredibly well done.
Beautifully written, magnificently crafted, this Dutch novel is like nothing you have read before, and that is wonderful! Appropriate for ages 9-12.
Delightfully wild and incredibly quirky, this book is one of a kind. From the family that moves constantly, to the cemetery next door where they go to get their water each day, to the crocodile purse that is used to tell family stories, to the controlling grandmother who is dominant but deeply loving in her own way, to the one old story that is the key to understanding it all. This is a richly rewarding read, one that you have to head out on before you even know what journey you are on. It is a book that meanders but each turn is essential to the book in the end, where it all clicks into place.
Told in the first person by Fing, the book unfolds before you, each reveal another piece of the family, another story, another moment that is meaningful. It is a perfectly crafted book that has a plot that moves in its own time, another time, a less modern pace. It ties to the pace of the family, one where things are revealed in their own space. It’s incredibly well done.
Beautifully written, magnificently crafted, this Dutch novel is like nothing you have read before, and that is wonderful! Appropriate for ages 9-12.
February 10, 2017
“Is it true that some stories only just manage to be born? Or do these stories always seek their own path into the world, and do they always, eventually, find a way of being told?”
What first attracted me to this book was the cover art—a brick house on a deserted road with no front door, combined inside the jacket with a mysterious bed in a field and a lonely table and chairs. Within the first chapter, readers are introduced to the house and its current occupants: a family of nine. ‘Nine Open Arms’ is the nickname the narrator and her two sisters give the house after measuring their own spacious room with outspread arms. This house, thinks their father, will be a great location for his new business venture in cigars. Yet as he and the four sons set to work repairing the house and rolling ‘better-luck-next-time’ cigars, Oma (Grandma) Mei is not so optimistic. She surveys the house with one good eye and one ‘swivel-eye’ and we wonder if she knows more than she will say. Why does the front door face the back, what is the meaning of the ‘tombstone’ bed in the cellar, and who really is the crazy ‘button-chewer’ Oompah Hatsi? At the heart of these mysteries is an enduring and haunting love story that is revealed to readers as we follow this family for a year of their lives.
This captivating story is translated from Dutch, keeping in a few words of original Dutch slang, which gives the book a foreign atmosphere without being confusing. The young narrator’s insightful observations about her situation make it an appealing read for both adults and children.
Elizabeth L. / Marathon County Public Library
Find this book in our library catalog.
April 2, 2016
Unusual and different, which I at times enjoyed and at other times it made me wonder whether the overall relatively slow pace would hold young readers' attention. Definitely a great edition to any library wanting to include in their collection more literature originally published in non-English speaking countries.
December 14, 2013
Sterk geschreven jeugdverhaal over de bittere armoede in het interbellum. Een familie probeert van alles om hun kostje te verdienen. Veel aandacht voor onderlinge verhoudingen in het gezin
en de schrijver heeft zich goed ingeleefd in wat spannend is voor kinderen.
en de schrijver heeft zich goed ingeleefd in wat spannend is voor kinderen.
June 28, 2015
I read this in one sitting - the writing/translation is lyrical*, and I so wanted to find out what happened. And then I found out. And then I wished I hadn't stayed up so late. Meh. Good reading, blah ending.
*It definitely felt like a non-American book.
*It definitely felt like a non-American book.
June 27, 2021
2.5 stars
It took me a while to get into the story and then I grew tired of it pretty quickly, even though it’s not too long and it definitely had its interesting parts, it seemed like it took forever to finish it, maybe because there was just too much dialect.
It took me a while to get into the story and then I grew tired of it pretty quickly, even though it’s not too long and it definitely had its interesting parts, it seemed like it took forever to finish it, maybe because there was just too much dialect.
July 30, 2021
Even nodig om er in te komen, maar leuke karakters en het verhaal komt aan het einde heel mooi samen.
July 11, 2022
Prachtig jeugdboek, dat ook prima door volwassenen (en jongvolwassenen, eigenlijk door iedereen) gelezen kan worden.
Het verhaal speelt zich af in Limburg in de jaren ‘30 van de vorige eeuw en vertelt het verhaal van een gezin dat keer op keer moet verhuizen. Het is bijzonder hoe het verschil in omgang, verhoudingen en tijd zo duidelijk door een auteur naar voren kunnen worden gebracht.
Ik heb ervan genoten.
Het verhaal speelt zich af in Limburg in de jaren ‘30 van de vorige eeuw en vertelt het verhaal van een gezin dat keer op keer moet verhuizen. Het is bijzonder hoe het verschil in omgang, verhoudingen en tijd zo duidelijk door een auteur naar voren kunnen worden gebracht.
Ik heb ervan genoten.
May 4, 2014
*This review also appears on the blog Chasm of Books*
Thank you to Allen and Unwin Australia for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
I found Nine Open Arms to be an interesting read with its own unique charm. Set in the 1930's near the German border, it explores the lives of the people who live in the house named as 'Nine Open Arms'. Set in both the past and present, this book explores how one house can have so much history (and mystery) behind it.
The story follows the lives of Fing, her sisters Jess and Muulke and the rest of their family of nine who moved into the house. The relationship Fing has with her sisters and the differences in their characteristics was done really well. The whole family aspect and trying to stick together when times got tough was also interesting, and heartwarming as well. If you are expecting a novel with a fast pace and action, then this won't be for you. Instead, it focuses more on the words itself, with some lovely descriptions along the way. I did find it a bit hard to get into at first, but the writing style does grow on you with its charms of having 'tragical tragedies' and the significance of why the house is called 'nine open arms' in the first place.
The 'mystery' element of the book was also quite intriguing, and had little bits of the house's history brought in along the way. Eventually, everything does come together and makes sense. The connections with the characters and their actions were made in the end, and fit in with the beautifully written storyline. There was a gradual build-up to all of this, and the story progressed at a slow pace where you may not even realise it is moving forward at all. I did find it a bit slow at times, but for middle-grade readers who are looking for a story that is still engaging, this shouldn't be a problem.
Having the story split up into three parts to make more sense of the back-story to the house was a good addition. It goes back into the 1800's in the middle to do this and explains some of the other important characters. It was a tad confusing to go backwards and forwards in time, but still interesting nonetheless. Another interesting perk to this book was since it is translated from Dutch, there is a glossary of some of the words that are still kept in the novel. I have never read a book that has been translated into English before, but it was very well written.
*CONCLUSION*
In conclusion, although 'Nine Open Arms' wasn't completely to my tastes, I still think it was a beautifully written novel. Middle grade readers who are interested in historical fiction with heart should find this an enjoyable read.
Thank you to Allen and Unwin Australia for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
I found Nine Open Arms to be an interesting read with its own unique charm. Set in the 1930's near the German border, it explores the lives of the people who live in the house named as 'Nine Open Arms'. Set in both the past and present, this book explores how one house can have so much history (and mystery) behind it.
The story follows the lives of Fing, her sisters Jess and Muulke and the rest of their family of nine who moved into the house. The relationship Fing has with her sisters and the differences in their characteristics was done really well. The whole family aspect and trying to stick together when times got tough was also interesting, and heartwarming as well. If you are expecting a novel with a fast pace and action, then this won't be for you. Instead, it focuses more on the words itself, with some lovely descriptions along the way. I did find it a bit hard to get into at first, but the writing style does grow on you with its charms of having 'tragical tragedies' and the significance of why the house is called 'nine open arms' in the first place.
The 'mystery' element of the book was also quite intriguing, and had little bits of the house's history brought in along the way. Eventually, everything does come together and makes sense. The connections with the characters and their actions were made in the end, and fit in with the beautifully written storyline. There was a gradual build-up to all of this, and the story progressed at a slow pace where you may not even realise it is moving forward at all. I did find it a bit slow at times, but for middle-grade readers who are looking for a story that is still engaging, this shouldn't be a problem.
Having the story split up into three parts to make more sense of the back-story to the house was a good addition. It goes back into the 1800's in the middle to do this and explains some of the other important characters. It was a tad confusing to go backwards and forwards in time, but still interesting nonetheless. Another interesting perk to this book was since it is translated from Dutch, there is a glossary of some of the words that are still kept in the novel. I have never read a book that has been translated into English before, but it was very well written.
*CONCLUSION*
In conclusion, although 'Nine Open Arms' wasn't completely to my tastes, I still think it was a beautifully written novel. Middle grade readers who are interested in historical fiction with heart should find this an enjoyable read.
October 20, 2015
The Boon family is moving yet again. The father has decided they are going to start making cigars and moves the family to the country. The house is a ramshackle place with the front door in the back and no porch. There is a lot of room for the big family though and the girls christen it Nine Open Arms for how wide the place is. Sisters Fing, Muulke and Jess love having their own room and not sharing with their four brothers, grandmother and father, but they don't like that there is no running water or that there appears to be a tombstone in the cellar. They also live right across the road from the cemetery where they get their water. While their father and brothers are trying to figure out the cigar business, the girls are trying to discover the secrets of Nine Open Arms.
The story goes between the Boon family in the 1930s and the story of Nienevee and Charley Bottletop in the 1860s. The family learns about the story of the house from Oma Mei and her crocodile, a suitcase filled with pictures from which Oma Mei tells her stories. This book is translated from the Dutch original and for the most part the translation works rather well. I loved the quirkiness of the story and the timeless feel of it. I don't think this is a book that every reader will appreciate though. I am not sure if it is the story itself or the fact that it was originally written in another language for another culture, but there were things that didn't always come through how I imagine the author intended. Of course, since he wasn't writing for an American reader, it might be exactly how he intended. There was just something so charming about this story that I really enjoyed even if there were hiccups in the telling of it.
The story goes between the Boon family in the 1930s and the story of Nienevee and Charley Bottletop in the 1860s. The family learns about the story of the house from Oma Mei and her crocodile, a suitcase filled with pictures from which Oma Mei tells her stories. This book is translated from the Dutch original and for the most part the translation works rather well. I loved the quirkiness of the story and the timeless feel of it. I don't think this is a book that every reader will appreciate though. I am not sure if it is the story itself or the fact that it was originally written in another language for another culture, but there were things that didn't always come through how I imagine the author intended. Of course, since he wasn't writing for an American reader, it might be exactly how he intended. There was just something so charming about this story that I really enjoyed even if there were hiccups in the telling of it.
August 11, 2016
When Fing’s family of nine decides to move to the country so her father can start a cigar business, they find themselves living across from a cemetery in a rickety old house christened Nine Open Arms – a house so full of mystery and secrets that it will either lead to their salvation or worse, downfall.
The book offers much historical insight into 1930s Germany and the 1860s, which allows readers to see how cultural traditions had a great impact on people’s livelihood and manner -- especially on women. There was also a lot of amazing history behind the house, which is a very realistic reflection of the times. There is an aura of mystery surrounding the story because of all the unanswered questions posed throughout most of the book, all leading up to a grand revelation.
Even though the story is translated over from Dutch with some of the language peppered in, there is a glossary at the beginning and list of characters that helps readers and it does not take away from the story. The overarching themes of family and their issues are universal and ones people from all cultures can identify with. "Nine Open Arms" is great for older audiences due to the intricacy of the book and how involved the story is, but it’s a great challenge for middle graders.
The book offers much historical insight into 1930s Germany and the 1860s, which allows readers to see how cultural traditions had a great impact on people’s livelihood and manner -- especially on women. There was also a lot of amazing history behind the house, which is a very realistic reflection of the times. There is an aura of mystery surrounding the story because of all the unanswered questions posed throughout most of the book, all leading up to a grand revelation.
Even though the story is translated over from Dutch with some of the language peppered in, there is a glossary at the beginning and list of characters that helps readers and it does not take away from the story. The overarching themes of family and their issues are universal and ones people from all cultures can identify with. "Nine Open Arms" is great for older audiences due to the intricacy of the book and how involved the story is, but it’s a great challenge for middle graders.
December 5, 2015
Nine Open Arms by Benny Lindelauf, published June 2014.
Genre: Fiction
Format: Hardcover, Print.
Plot: This deeply touching and emotionally entrancing novel takes place in Holland in 1937 and follows the main character of Fing, but also incorporates her family and their past. The novels first part tells how they moved to the house Nine Open Arms and their father's endeavour to make cigars for a living and how they adjust and explore the house and learn just enough to make them curious about its connection to their family, particularly their Oma,who is keeping many secrets and half-truths. The middle part tells the tragic story of two young lovers and is narrated by Oma, but only raises more questions about who they were and what their connection to Fing and the family is. The third part, begins to unveil the answers, about the history of the home, the relationship to the family, who the young lovers were, and why Oma has kept so many secrets about the family.
Considerations: An excellent, but deeply emotional book with many overlays of grief and loss that potential readers should be aware of.
Review: Kirkus Reviews June 2014.
Selection Source: ALASC: Batchelder Awards
Recommended Age: Ages 12 and up.
Genre: Fiction
Format: Hardcover, Print.
Plot: This deeply touching and emotionally entrancing novel takes place in Holland in 1937 and follows the main character of Fing, but also incorporates her family and their past. The novels first part tells how they moved to the house Nine Open Arms and their father's endeavour to make cigars for a living and how they adjust and explore the house and learn just enough to make them curious about its connection to their family, particularly their Oma,who is keeping many secrets and half-truths. The middle part tells the tragic story of two young lovers and is narrated by Oma, but only raises more questions about who they were and what their connection to Fing and the family is. The third part, begins to unveil the answers, about the history of the home, the relationship to the family, who the young lovers were, and why Oma has kept so many secrets about the family.
Considerations: An excellent, but deeply emotional book with many overlays of grief and loss that potential readers should be aware of.
Review: Kirkus Reviews June 2014.
Selection Source: ALASC: Batchelder Awards
Recommended Age: Ages 12 and up.
January 7, 2013
"Negen open armen" is an entertaining read. The book plays in the southern part of The Netherlands and is about a large family (3 sisters and 3 brothers, a father and Granny) moving around following Dad who tries all trades possible, just to fail again and again. The story starts when they are all walking to their next destination -a leaking old remote house close to a graveyeard. There's hints towards tragedy and I feared I had taken up some sort of unrealistic horror-book, but no.
There's two stories intertwined: that of the family settling in and battling misfortune and another story, long gone, of former inhabitants of the house "Negen open armen" (nine open arms"). Personally I think the connecting links in the two stories are a bit far fetched, but the prose is of such high level that 3 stars wouldn't have been enough. There's a clear, strong and new voice in the book and with minimal words the poorness, the fun and the fears are portrayed. I can only marvel at that and take a lesser twist in the plot for a given.
There's two stories intertwined: that of the family settling in and battling misfortune and another story, long gone, of former inhabitants of the house "Negen open armen" (nine open arms"). Personally I think the connecting links in the two stories are a bit far fetched, but the prose is of such high level that 3 stars wouldn't have been enough. There's a clear, strong and new voice in the book and with minimal words the poorness, the fun and the fears are portrayed. I can only marvel at that and take a lesser twist in the plot for a given.
August 17, 2014
A family moves (again), this time to a strange brick house on the other side of town. It seems to face the wrong way, with the front door at the back of the house and no porch step – making the step inside very high. There are three sisters (Fing, Muulke, & Jess, and three brothers, Krit, Piet, and Sjerr). They live with their Dad and Oma Mei (their mum’s mum).
Their dad shifts from job to job and this time he wants to make cigars. The girls older brothers are also to help with the business but they are waiting for the paperwork and they become poorer and poorer as they wait for the permit to arrive.
Oma Mei is the boss of the household and she is cross at her son in law’s lack of business sense, but she deals with the day to day trials.
As this story unravels it reveals many connections between the past and the present between generations.
Something different from a story translated from Dutch for many countries around the world. A story of family loyalty, local history and the connections within them.
Their dad shifts from job to job and this time he wants to make cigars. The girls older brothers are also to help with the business but they are waiting for the paperwork and they become poorer and poorer as they wait for the permit to arrive.
Oma Mei is the boss of the household and she is cross at her son in law’s lack of business sense, but she deals with the day to day trials.
As this story unravels it reveals many connections between the past and the present between generations.
Something different from a story translated from Dutch for many countries around the world. A story of family loyalty, local history and the connections within them.
March 23, 2015
One of this years' Batchelder Award books (for best children's book in translation)this was an intriguing book. Set in 1937 in a province of the Netherlands close to the German border it tells the story of a family of nine who come to a house that seems as if it sits at the end of the world although it's only at the very edge of town. The Boon family is made up of 4 sons, 3 daughters (who are the main characters in the story), their feckless father and their maternal grandmother [Oma Mei] who keeps the family together as they move often and keeps them fed and clothed as well as entertained with stories from her past. These stories which are started when she takes an old photograph out of her little suitcase (called The Crocodile), are what feeds the imagination of the girls both for good and bad. This book does take a little bit of time to get into but I believe strong readers would enjoy it.
February 23, 2015
When a family moves to a new house to start a cigar making factory, a huge rainstorm floods the basement and the roof leaks, they are waiting for a permit to make the cigars, Oma and their father are quarreling, and Jess's back has caused her to lay flat for weeks. The younger children are afraid that the house is cursed. Can Fing and her sisters discover “What’s the opposite of worry?” Their father tells them to try “First believing, then seeing.” Translated from Dutch, this story incorporates some of the expressions and a lot of the culture of this story of a small community on the border of Belgium. Told in 3 sections, the 1930’s, 1860’s and back to the 1930’s, the backstory in the middle is helpful. There is a mystery element which adds some punch to the story, but overall. I don’t know if it would hold the interest of a middle school reader, too mature for elementary
June 15, 2015
Not an easy book to get into initially, but well worth the effort. It provides a perfect antidote to the current stream of North American protagonists with a narcissistic outlook. In part the difficulty of access is due to it being set in an unfamiliar time (1860's to 1930's) and place (Limburg, Netherlands), and therefore not fitting into the YA's usual schema of expectation.
It is however a rewarding book for those who stick to it, dealing with many complex themes in an uncompromising manner...
outsiders, travellers, uneasy love, disability, financial difficulties, homelessness, bullying, parents who don't meet up to children's, society's or even their own expectations. The female characters are strong and feisty, with the men and boys a backdrop - a welcome change.
Probably a book for students who are up for a bit of a challenge.
It is however a rewarding book for those who stick to it, dealing with many complex themes in an uncompromising manner...
outsiders, travellers, uneasy love, disability, financial difficulties, homelessness, bullying, parents who don't meet up to children's, society's or even their own expectations. The female characters are strong and feisty, with the men and boys a backdrop - a welcome change.
Probably a book for students who are up for a bit of a challenge.
May 30, 2017
THIs book has been translated from Dutch with some of the original words left in for flavor. It was an enjoyable story set between the 1930's and the turn of the century. The story is of a family of "half-orphans" whose mother is gone and whose father is a dreamer always headed after the next big "deal" that will get them "the opposite of worrying." Oma (grandma) Pei takes care of them all and the book begins with the family moving yet again to a forlorn house on the edge of town. Tte story and family mysteries unfold in a tale beautifully told. A great book about acceptance, forgiveness and truth.
This would be fine for 4th or 5th grades and up. One caution: there is a scene where teen boys are holding down a girl and threatening violence. It mentions they lift up her skirt, but it goes no further.
This would be fine for 4th or 5th grades and up. One caution: there is a scene where teen boys are holding down a girl and threatening violence. It mentions they lift up her skirt, but it goes no further.
December 29, 2015
This historical fiction book tells the story of Fing and her large family who has lost their mother and travels around with their father who is a hopeless dreamer. His motto is “First believe, then see,” They end up in a strange house near a cemetery and have a time twisting adventure that will really stick with the reader. It takes place in the 1930s in the Netherlands, which I found to be very interesting since I haven't really read a story from this type of setting. This book is actually very humorous, quirky and well written. I enjoyed the characters and the story itself and think that anyone from age 9 and above would get a kick out of it.
reviewed by Mason H. age 13 Denver Mensa
reviewed by Mason H. age 13 Denver Mensa
November 10, 2014
I didn't love this book but I didn't hate it. The unique voice of the author (or translator?) is what stands out in this book to me, as well as the characters themselves. The love story in the backstory of this book could have been much more compelling and hinted at sooner to help lure the reader along. I did enjoy reading a book that takes place in the Netherlands and the translator did a nice job of incorporating some of the original Dutch language in a way that feels natural and authenticates the book.
September 10, 2015
Nine Open Arms, a children's book originally written in Dutch, will remain in my mind for a while I think. This is the story of a large motherless family that moves to a mysterious house "at the end of the world." The story is told in three parts, the first and last by the oldest daughter, Fing and the middle section by Fing's grandmother, Oma Mei. It is the story of tombstone beds, unmarked gravestones, family disagreements, and button-chewers. Nine Open Arms is a mix of ghost story, fantasy, and family drama. You must read it slowly to really absorb all that is taking place.
December 6, 2015
Hmmm... So I'd recommend this book if you were looking for stories about the truths we withhold from family, sometimes for understandable reasons, for stories about love across communities (in this case, "locals" and "travellers", or if you're interested in the choices translators make when trying to hold on to local flavour. I found the narrative too choppy to really enjoy, though the idea of the stories held by the brickwork of an old house is one that appeals hugely to me. An interesting read, but not one that I fell in love with.
June 9, 2015
Dawn, Main patron, June 2015, 5 stars:
Loved Nine Open Arms! Had to read this ahead of my daughter to be sure it was a decent book...great values, great suspense, great mystery threaded throughout the entire story, solved at the end by a very smart young girl! Great character studies of the people of the town, and also great appreciation by the youngsters in the book of their elders and fellow townspeople.
Loved Nine Open Arms! Had to read this ahead of my daughter to be sure it was a decent book...great values, great suspense, great mystery threaded throughout the entire story, solved at the end by a very smart young girl! Great character studies of the people of the town, and also great appreciation by the youngsters in the book of their elders and fellow townspeople.
April 25, 2015
Read Harder read, book in translation....
This is a sweet book with a touch of mystery and a touch of history. I thought it might be complicated with all of the regional language and list of names in the translation notes, but it was not. I think it would still be that way for a young skilled reader.
This is a sweet book with a touch of mystery and a touch of history. I thought it might be complicated with all of the regional language and list of names in the translation notes, but it was not. I think it would still be that way for a young skilled reader.
February 15, 2015
So weird and bizarre! I loved all the Dutch slang that was sprinkled throughout. The story was a little uneven in the beginning-- but I loved when they went back to Charley Bottletop's story. The story of the "wreckbone" was also intriguing and added another layer. So many little twists and turns-- bits of mysteries and oddities. Really, really liked it.
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