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"Marjolijn van Heemstra has heard about her great-uncle's heroism for as long as she can remember. As a resistance fighter, he was the mastermind of a bombing operation that killed a Dutch man who collaborated with the Nazis, and later became a hero to everyone in the family. So, when Marjolijn's grandmother bestows her with her great-uncle's signet ring requesting that she name her future son after him, Marjolijn can't say no. Now pregnant with her firstborn, she embarks on a quest to uncover the true story behind the myth of her late relative. Chasing leads from friends and family, and doing her own local research, Marolijn realizes that the audacious story she always heard is not as clear-cut as it was made out to be. As her belly grows, her doubts grow, too - was her uncle a hero or a criminal? Vivid, hypnotic, and profoundly moving, In Search of a Name explores war and its aftermath and how the stories we tell and the stories we are told always seem to exist somewhere between truth and fiction. "--Provided by publisher.… (more)
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There is a time
I think there are so many ways into this novel that most readers will be able to find a path that speaks to them. The only readers I would be less likely to recommend this book to would be those who read mostly genre fiction and want/need those common elements to make the story flow for them. This is not an action-filled novel and the conflicts are largely internal.
To offer some idea of the kinds of thoughts the book stirred in me, I will mention what is probably the most obvious element: what is in a story? Who decides if a story we tell about our life or our family is accurate? Who actually knows? Good or bad people or actions? Again, it depends on perspective. Stories about our families and our lives are like history, the ones doing the writing/telling are the ones deciding right and wrong, good and bad. Same events from another perspective will likely reveal a different set of heroes and villains, justice and injustice. Finally, how good are we, when not pushed to look more closely, at being somewhat realistic about our own stories?
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
Told in a weekly countdown to the birth of her child the author compels herself to find “the proof of courage, sacrifice and
18 weeks left - our author can’t do what people have been doing for seventy years - she can’t leave out the parts of the story that she doesn’t like. She begins to understand the child’s game of telephone is also played by adults and with every retelling the truth may become harder to find. It isn’t an easy or kind pregnancy, nor is the story. Following the threads leads to dead ends, complications, frustration.
14 weeks left - She posits - “you cannot understand a man without understanding his war.” The question resounds: “How long does a war last?” “Does a single life become meaningless in the light of the stars and one’s own moral Law?”
13 weeks left - the findings scream of collateral damage.
12 weeks left - a very pregnant woman with swollen legs, hormones raging, desperate to keep her story intact no matter the deficiencies and disparities. “Sorry, sorry, sorry.”
1 week left - “End things with the truth.”
3 days left - still no name “baby for the time being”
The day - “He has a name”.
Thank you NetGalley and Atria. Books for a copy.