This novella evokes the pressure and rapture of physical effort, teamwork and achievement. It follows two oarsmen, David and Anton (the narrator), while they are being trained as a coxless pair by a mysterious German coach in the golden Amsterdam summer of 1939.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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A novel of extraordinary subtlety from readers and writers alike have much to learn... This is a marvellous book, in every respect. -- Daily Mail, 2001
An impressively sustained evocation of a lost time and lost happiness... A daring first novel. -- Times Literary Supplement, 2001
Rarely have sport and literature combined so seamlessly to produce such an absorbing and satisfying novel as this small miracle of a book. -- The Guardian, 2001 --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
An impressively sustained evocation of a lost time and lost happiness... A daring first novel. -- Times Literary Supplement, 2001
Rarely have sport and literature combined so seamlessly to produce such an absorbing and satisfying novel as this small miracle of a book. -- The Guardian, 2001 --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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I last heard the planes half an hour ago. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
A dutch boy discovers a passion for rowing on the river alongside which he grew up, in 1930's Holland. As he and another boy are recognised for their talent as a coxless pair, and trained by a mysterious German coach, they set their sights on the Olympic Games due to be held in 1940. Like the river upon which the boys pursue their dreams, the book has many darker undercurrents. It is written almost as a memory of golden days gone by, now swept away by a war-torn Europe. The boys' passion for rowing comes from a passion for the river itself and the freedom it offers them. The river is central throughout the story. The arrival of war is a personal tragedy. This story is much more than a tale of sporting achievement. It mingles such themes as friendship, social isolation, class, coming of age and the despair of war with an inspiring story of two young men, bonded by friendship as well as by teamwork, who find brief but true freedom on the water.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In very effective and atmospheric prose, this novel describes the destructive impact of WWII on an Amsterdam rowing club, and particularly on one of its members, a shy but fanatical adolescent, who is hand-picked to become the reluctant star of the club. Despite never mentioning battles, hardship, Nazi's, razzias etc, van den Brink manages to make a very deep and lasting impression, at least partly because of the sharp contrast between the pre-war, dream-like memories and the stark, densly described present. This would make a great script for a movie or play.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.8 out of 5 stars
8 reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The magic of superlative writing
12 Sep 2001
By Grady Harp
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
When an author can create a completely absorbing novel, peopled with finely tuned characters that stir us with tension and competition and longing, a novel that uses as its base a sport that few readers know enough about to connect, then that author has displayed credentials of an impressive talent. ON THE WATER spends alomst every page in the preparation, practice and execution of a two man crew boat. He gradually pulls us into that boat with an understanding of the rules of the game and the rigors of the men who row. Then, subtly and with great tenderness he unveils his two young men of polar diferences and weaves a story of the power of sporting competion and the greater power of finding a soulmate. This bonding between lower class gentile Anton and upper class Jew David is engineered by a German Doctor in 1939. This beautiful story of an exploration of place and love is set in the last summer before Hitler destroys Europe. We are left to guess the fate of David while we discover the solitary wandering Anton who tells the story five years later along the banks of the river where they spent the most beautiful time of their lives. This novel gleams with magical poetry and introduces an author (and translator) who seems destined to find an important role in the 21st Century of literature. Read this book!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A beautiful, very Dutch book
10 Jan 2004
By Linda Oskam
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Anton lives in a new neighbourhood near the Amstel river in Amsterdam in the 1930's. From his early childhood onwards, the river attracts him and when he is about 14 years' old he becomes a member of the rowing club on the other side of the Amstel. Anton is an outsider: the other member are from higher social classes, his father works in the public transport branch. He is also an outsider in other aspects: he observes the others and doubts himself.
But then one day the eccentric Dr. Schneiderhahn chooses Anton and David for the coxless two. In Anton's view David is his very antipole: he is self-confident and outgoing. Slowly but surely the two boys become a perfect team. In the summer of 1939 they start competition rowing and they win one race after another. It becomes more and more apparent that they have a chance to participate in the 1940 Olympics in Finland. At the end of the year they promise each other to go on as a team in the next year.
The book is written as a oppressive retrospective of Anton who finds himself on the pier of the derelict rowing club in 1944. the reader knows what has happened between 1939 and 1944 and the typically Jewish name David strongly suggests that history has not been kind to him. A beautiful book in sensitive prose.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A beautiful, very Dutch book
16 Mar 2002
By Linda Oskam
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Anton lives in a new neighbourhood near the Amstel river in Amsterdam in the 1930's. From his early childhood onwards, the river attracts him and when he is about 14 years' old he becomes a member of the rowing club on the other side of the Amstel. Anton is an outsider: the other member are from higher social classes, his father works in the public transport branch. He is also an outsider in other aspects: he observes the others and doubts himself.
But then one day the eccentric Dr. Schneiderhahn chooses anton and David for the coxless two. In Anton's view David is his very antipole: he is self-confident and outgoing. Slowly but surely the two boys become a perfect team. In the summer of 1939 they start competition rowing and they win one race after another. It becomes more and more apparent that they have a chance to participate in the 1940 Olympics in Finland. At the end of the year they promise each other to go on as a team in the next year.
The book is written as a oppressive retrospective of Anton who finds himself on the pier of the derelict rowing club in 1944. the reader knows what has happened between 1939 and 1944 and the typically Jewish name David strongly suggests that history has not been kind to him. A beautiful book in sensitive prose.
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4.8 out of 5 stars
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