Amid the lush abundance of Java's landscape, two boys spend their days exploring the vast lakes and teeming forests. But as time passes the boys come to realize that their shared sense of adventure cannot bridge the gulf between their backgrounds, for one is the son of a Dutch plantation owner, and the other the son of a servant. Inevitably, as they grow up, they grow estranged and it is not until years later that they meet again. It will be an explosive and emblematic meeting that marks them even more deeply than their childhood friendship did.
The Black Lake
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Review
Unostentatious charm... an instant classic -" Independent"
A book that truly breathes... It can break, haunt and stir you... Haasse has a fine, exact way with her story... Mesmerisingly lovely and then suddenly shocking; you have to react. After 60 or more years, and in a quite different world, it is still a wake-up call... Perfect - S"cotsman"
Distinguished, composed with intense concentration, with a cruel heart-breaking climax and a brave, passionate coda... [It] demands several readings... Immaculately constructed - "Times Literary Supplement"
An understated little gem of a book and this fresh and vibrant translation is an event worthy of a wholehearted welcome - " New Internationalist"
A translation as fresh as any Booker nominee... beautifully judged and a genuinely intriguing insight into the end of a European empire - "Big Issue"
A book that truly breathes... It can break, haunt and stir you... Haasse has a fine, exact way with her story... Mesmerisingly lovely and then suddenly shocking; you have to react. After 60 or more years, and in a quite different world, it is still a wake-up call... Perfect - S"cotsman"
Distinguished, composed with intense concentration, with a cruel heart-breaking climax and a brave, passionate coda... [It] demands several readings... Immaculately constructed - "Times Literary Supplement"
An understated little gem of a book and this fresh and vibrant translation is an event worthy of a wholehearted welcome - " New Internationalist"
A translation as fresh as any Booker nominee... beautifully judged and a genuinely intriguing insight into the end of a European empire - "Big Issue"
About the Author
Hella S. Haasse was born in 1918 in Batavia, modern-day Jakarta. She moved to the Netherlands after secondary school. She started publishing in 1945 and many of her books have gained classic status in the Netherlands. Haasse has received several prestigious literary awards, among them the Dutch Literature Prize in 2004, and her work has been translated into many languages. The Tea Lords (Portobello 2010) was the first work of hers translated into English for 15 years. She died in 2011. www.hellahaassemuseum.nl
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By harps
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
A very good insight into the way events, both local and international, effect personal relationships. We are the sum of our backgrounds and upbringing.
4.0 out of 5 stars
a friendship in Dutch colonial Indonesia is ultimately doomed due to the time and place
6 Feb 2013
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
In this short novel, the narrator - born into Dutch colonial Indonesia in the 1930s - recounts his friendship with Oeroeg, the son of servants to the family. They are very close in infancy - and the novel really brings this alive and the sense of place and of childhood; then do somehow manage to stay together through school and college. But as this happens, both are increasingly aware of the different kinds of lives that await them. Oeroeg first looks to assimilate. Then finally becomes a freedom fighter, as unknowable now to the narrator as the 'black lake' in which Oreoeg's father has earlier drowned.
This novel effortlessly conveys a sense of the time and place in which it is set; and a strong sense of character. Well worth reading!
This novel effortlessly conveys a sense of the time and place in which it is set; and a strong sense of character. Well worth reading!
By Diane Drain
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Thoroughly enjoyed this 'coming of age' novel set in the Dutch East Indies. It was a beautiful story set against the backdrop of an atmospheric Java. The translator has done an excellent job with the original Dutch. Well worth the investment of time to read it.
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