- Paperback: 208 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (27 Nov 1986)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140085920
- ISBN-13: 978-0140085921
- Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 11 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 533,141 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Assault
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Product Description
Product Description
A novel that probes moral devastation in the wake of the slaughter of an innocent family by the Nazis in retaliation for the association with a Dutch collaborator. The Assault has been translated and published to great critical acclaim throughout Europe and in the United States.
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First Sentence
It was about half past seven in the evening. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
It was about half past seven in the evening. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Anyone who has ever had to face something in their life that has shaped the way in which their life has progressed will find the pyschology of this book fascinating. It deals with good and evil, love and hate, meaning and misunderstanding and the relentess connectedness of events that influences us all. Anton, the main character at first buries, but then realises that he is haunted by the tragic events that befall his family. Even though it takes his whole life to discover the truth of what had happened to them, this is nothing more than a series of coincidences. The effect of the defining events at the beginning of the book on the lives of everyone involved and the motives behind their individual judgements leaves you questioning the certainity of your own moral code and the nature of truth.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
In a Haarlem street the Dutch Resistance kills an active collaborator. In retaliation the Germans have destroyed a house in that street in which live ten-year-oldAnton Steenwijk with his parents and elder brother. Anton survives, but his parents and brother are killed. As Anton grows up, he wants to suppress all memories of that time, and it is not a coincidence that he chooses to become an anaesthetist. But of course the trauma is buried within him, and affects his mental life in many ways, some that are inexplicable to him. But the members of the resistance who had carried out the assassination are haunted also, by their knowledge that their deed had led to uninvolved people being shot. All these states of mind are explored in this story, as much that lay concealed emerges over the 36 years after the event. The reader is engaged as taut knots are loosened and unwound.
During all this time the world moves on and new political issues arise - Vietnam; the anti-nuclear movement. Do they leave the old issues behind or are they connected with them?
This short book's limpid prose is very precise, profound and rich in unobtrusive symbolism. It is all very compelling
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
At almost the end of the war a tyrannical local Dutch police chief is assassinated outside the house of an innocent family. The events which follow are seen through the eyes of a young boy. Over the subsequent years the mystery of why it all happened are revealed.
The plot is fascinating and the characters are all vividly written. The description of the locality conjures up the way the landscape of Holland looks and feels, the cold winter weather the broad canals. Thoroughly interesting and enjoyable.
The plot is fascinating and the characters are all vividly written. The description of the locality conjures up the way the landscape of Holland looks and feels, the cold winter weather the broad canals. Thoroughly interesting and enjoyable.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Subtle investigation of the effects of trauma
Translated into several languages and made into a film, this is one of the most famous Dutch novels. Read more
Published 6 months ago by jacr100
hidden secrets
It is 1945, Anton is 12 years old and seeing out the second world war in provincial Holland.The slaughter of a feared collaborator near their home brings horror to his careful... Read more
Published 15 months ago by martinpo
Wonderful
This book is an excellent, stimulating read - I highly recommend it.
Published on 11 Jan 2004 by "nutsie81"
A Masterwork
When my work took me to Holland for a few months, I asked people there what Dutch novels they would recommend. They all said "The Assault". Read more
Published on 31 May 2003 by Peter Reeve
To be read
I've read this book in Dutch and I have to admit that it really kept me busy for a while afterwards. Read more
Published on 13 Oct 2000
You will never forget *The Assault*
This is a wonderful and moving book. Without any sensationalism or sentimentality, Harry Mulisch's story sucks you in. When it finally spits you out again you will be changed.
Published on 8 Sep 1998
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