The admiral's baby

by Laurens van der Post

Presents the personal story of a World War II POW who stays behind in Indonesia in August 1945 to help preserve peace and ends up overseeing the same Japanese who had held him in captivity and ordered his execution

320 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1996

About the author

Sir Laurens Jan van der Post was a 20th Century South African Afrikaner author of many books, farmer, war hero, political adviser to British heads of government, close friend of Prince Charles, godfather of Prince William, educator, journalist, humanitarian, philosopher, explorer, and conservationist.

Reviews

[Chrissie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am currently reading Revolt in Paradise. As I read I keep thinking that I have already read about the Japanese invasion of Indonesia in WW2...... Yes, it too was a memoir, a memor about a remarkable man who had Dutch descent but was raised in Sout Africa. What I rmember most acutely was that I admired his ability to understand the different mentalities of the Japanese, the Indonesians and the British. He worked under Mountbatten. He tried to avoid unecesary deaths. The Dutch, as colonialists, were NOT presented in a favorable manner! This too comes across loud and strong in the book I am currently reading. After being interned in a Japanese prisoner of war camp, it was he who was made the British representative responsible for the departure of the Japanese; that they left in an orderly fashion. He was there to clean up the mess as best he could! He was an honorable person who did so much and yet who has gotten very little recognition. This book is definitely worth reading along with Revolt in Paradise. Both are very well written and engaging. The Admiral's Baby is sometimes a bit meandering, but having left the book you highly admire who you have read about and are definitely interested in reading more books by the author. He has written many about South Africa. Nevertheless, the focus of the two books are a bit different. Van der Post's concerns the aftermath of WW2, military decisions and the Japanese invaders. K'Tut Tantri's is more about the cultural life of the Balinese and the Indonesian Revolution. I am not yet done with the latter, but I had to mention this book, The Admiral's Baby. I am glad I read it before reading Revolt in Paradise.

[Nate · Rating 1 out of 5]

I grabbed it from a lending library at work because the synopsis sounded interesting. Once I started reading I couldn't really follow the book and found it uninteresting. I tried to finish the book but just found myself slimming it and not into it at all.

[Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting British side of the story of the struggle for independence for the former Dutch East-Indies. Van der Post who was a South African from Dutch decent is an officer in the British Army who gets the job as a liaison officer after the surrender of the Japanese. He doesn't like the Dutch who want to get law and order back, after the British-Indian army made a mess of the situation, but forgets that his British friends are even worse in handling their own colonial past.
This book is an interesting read, but only if your interested in, and know already something about, the pre- and post war history of Indonesia. The author who was liked in English circles (prince Charles and Margaret Thatcher) but is certainly not my favourite. He is a fantasist and a serial adulterer, who fathered a child with a 14 year old girl and nowadays we would call him a pedophile.

[Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

an interesting, erudite, but at times rambling, especially in the first half, recollection of this remarkable man's involvement in a precarious period of national development in Indonesia, immediately after WWII.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oddly structured. Some interesting points. Some humbug.