What the Oceans Remember

Life Writing

by Sonja Boon

Author Sonja Boon’s heritage is complicated. Although she has lived in Canada for more than thirty years, she was born in the UK to a Surinamese mother and a Dutch father. Boon’s family history spans five continents: Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, South America, and North America. Despite her complex and multi-layered background, she has often omitted her full heritage, replying “I’m Dutch-Canadian” to anyone who asks about her identity. An invitation to join a family tree project inspired a journey to the heart of the histories that have shaped her identity. It was an opportunity to answer the two questions that have dogged her over the years: Where does she belong? And who does she belong to?

Boon’s archival research—in Suriname, the Netherlands, the UK, and Canada—brings her opportunities to reflect on the possibilities and limitations of the archives themselves, the tangliness of oceanic migration, histories, the meaning of legacy, music, love, freedom, memory, ruin, and imagination. Ultimately, she reflected on the relevance of our past to understanding our present.

Deeply informed by archival research and current scholarship, but written as a reflective and intimate memoir, What the Oceans Remember addresses current issues in migration, identity, belonging, and history through an interrogation of race, ethnicity, gender, archives and memory. More importantly, it addresses the relevance of our past to understanding our present. It shows the multiplicity of identities and origins that can shape the way we understand our histories and our own selves.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir

328 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2019

About the author

Sonja Boon is a researcher, writer, teacher, and flutist living in St.
John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

Her memoir, What the Oceans Remember: Searching for Belonging and Home will be published in September 2019 (Wilfrid Laurier University Press).

Her creative non-fiction has appeared in Geist, The Ethnic Aisle, and donttalktomeaboutlove.org, and is forthcoming in Room (2020), and in the edited collection Big: Stories About Life in Plus-Sized Bodies (Caitlin Press, 2020). She is a winner of the Marina Nemat Award (Creative Writing Program, School of Continuing Studies, University of Toronto, 2018), and has been shortlisted for Room magazine’s Creative Non-Fiction contest (2015) and longlisted for CBC Canada Writes Creative Non-Fiction Contest (2014).

Sonja is the author of three scholarly books: Autoethnography and Feminist Theory at the Water’s Edge: Unsettled Islands (with Lesley Butler and Daze Jefferies, 2018), Telling the Flesh: Life Writing, Citizenship, and the Body in the Letters to Samuel Auguste Tissot (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2015), and The Life of Madame Necker:
Sin, Redemption, and the Parisian Salon (Pickering & Chatto, 2011), as well as numerous articles and book chapters.

A professionally-trained classical musician, Sonja was principal flutist with the Portland Baroque Orchestra (Oregon, USA) for six years, and has also appeared as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician with such organizations as the Hallé Orchestra (Manchester, UK), Toronto Symphony (Canada), Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival (Canada), Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (San Francisco, USA), Early Music Vancouver, and more.

Reviews

[Michelle Contant · Rating 5 out of 5]

What does it mean to search for identity—to crave the knowledge of not just who you are but where you came from?
In her memoir, What The Oceans Remember, Sonja Boon guides us through an emotional search for belonging and identity. She draws us into the heart of a dedicated professor in search of her own history as she scours archival material from the Netherlands to Suriname, finally returning home to The Maritime History Archive in St. John’s Newfoundland.
The author’s journey through time and across oceans informs us of a family history steeped in slavery and indentured servitude in Suriname juxtaposed to her Dutch ancestors who she characterizes as resembling the peasants in Van Gogh’s The Potato Eaters. Throughout, she professionally steers the reader along her exacting search of archival materials while describing the emotional impact of her discoveries.
Academic in content, yet lyrical in nature, What The Oceans Remember is an exceptional read for anyone interested in the desire to find and comprehend the complex factors that contribute to our personal identity and sense of belonging.

[Christine Lalonde · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting to learn about archieval work and the history the author uncovered, but much of the book was her inner dialogue and I had hoped for a bit more. All in all, it's a lovely journey to uncover a family history through records of slavery: both of the enslaved and enslavers.

[Ashley Tanasiychuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful story of family history spanning multiple continents and several generations. "Wonderful" because author Sonja Boon has a uniquely conversational tone that makes you feel as though you're sitting with her after she's emerged from one of her full days at the archive, faced buried in centuries-old papers. She's beaming with excitement if she's found new pieces to a previously incomplete puzzle; she's honest in her disappointment when she comes up short, realizing her expectations sometimes outweigh the reality that archival exploration is an unpredictable voyage.

It's this tone of familial softness and warmth that carried me through What The Oceans Remember. Yes, the story of her ancestors is fascinating. Yes, she descriptively positions her readers in the geography, climate, and history of Suriname's plantations. Her family, after all, is a complicated relationship of people forced into slavery and the owners of those plantations. But I enjoyed Boon's book most due to her intelligent yet unpretentious prose that at times can even be described as poetic.

This is a deeply personal journey that, if handled by another writer, could have limited itself to readers who either know her or have similar family ties. Instead, Boon's written a journey that leaves you feeling like you're traveling, and have just met and are in the midst of making a new, close friend.

[Jane Mulkewich · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written book by a Canadian raised in the prairies, living in Newfoundland, married to a man from the Faroe Islands. She was born in England, with a father who was Dutch, and her mother was from Suriname or Dutch Guyana, with heritage from Africa, India and China as well as Europe. Some of her ancestors on her mother's side were enslaved or were indentured labourers, and these are difficult stories to unearth and come to terms with. She goes in search of her family stories in the archives but also in the streets of Paramaribo (in Suriname) and in the Netherlands, and in former plantation lands, and even in the Maritime History Archive at home in St. John's, Newfoundland. She connects to her ancestors through music, textiles, food, and above all stories. She writes about what she knows, and also brings all her questions to what she doesn't know about her ancestors' lives, and may never know. In the final pages of her book she writes: "Archives are never neutral. They can tell certain stories. Others, however, are silenced.... Music makes no sense without silence. Nor, in the final analysis, does history."

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am extremely lucky to be taking a class with Sonja this term in which we're reading her book. Centering questions such as "what is home" and "who am I", this was a fascinating exploration of a family history across all continents, blending "academic" and more personal writing masterfully while bringing up even more questions about anti-colonial scholarship, ethical research, and the meaning of silences.

Read for my "From the Pacific to the Atlantic: Feminist Epistemologies and Methodologies" class.

[John Benson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this to be a fascinating book. Sonja Boon tells the story of trying to find out the stories of her very multi-cultural heritage. Sonja Boon is Canadian and teaches in Newfoundland, but was born in England and considered herself of Dutch and Surinamese heritage. Her blood lines include slaves and indentured servants, as well as an orchestra director. She visits archives in the Netherlands and Suriname to piece together the lives of her ancestors. It is written in a very open and accessible style and brings out many interesting questions. A great book to read.

[Deirdre Connolly · Rating 5 out of 5]

What the Oceans Remember is as introspective and intimate as it is investigative and academic.
The book takes us on an embodied journey across time and space exploring the fascinating intersections of race, ethnicity, gender and identity.

For anyone who has ever strove to explore the branches of their familial tree – Dr. Sonja Boon takes to the water to discover the oceanic depth of our origins and identities.

[Sarah Ellison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sonja Boon is a former colleague of mine— we performed together in an orchestra in what seems like a lifetime ago. So it was with pleasure that I started reading this book, which is not so much an autobiography about her, but more so one about the relatives who made her her. Her heritage takes in continents, victors, slaves and a number of musicians. Accompanying her on her voyage across oceans to find out more about her ancestors is a total treat.

[Ernesto Jaen · Rating 1 out of 5]

mind numbing repetitive use of rhetorical questions. so many limp buzz words by the end of this: stories, histories, home, belonging... It all feels so lifeless by the end of it. feels like boon set out to write a book based on research she was conducting, but then the research turned out to lead nowhere basically (one theme/idea I did appreciate was the frustration/disorientation of empty or incomplete records of history, the prioritization of certain kinds of history in our archives), yet she decides to finish and publish her book anyways? boon professes personal development but you really can't tell by way of her writing. she seems essentially the same at the end of the book, does not do a good job of articulating changes in her position. feels like everything she felt towards the end were things she essentially knew from the start. idk, this sucked.

[Susanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Wilfrid Laurier University Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a beautifully written, deeply moving and almost scholarly exploration of the questions at the heart of our human existence. In search of answers to questions revolving around identity and belonging, the author dives into her family's history, visits archives in four different countries and gives us insight into her personal reflections on her life. At the same time, she brings up many issues that bear a closer look, such as migration, gender and ethnicity - reading this book provided me with much food for thought.

[Anett Kovacs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley.

What the Oceans Remember is Sonja Boon's quest of finding her identity, her home, and the missing sense of belonging through tracing her ancestry. It is a journey spanning 5 continents and about 200 years - beautifully written and deeply moving.

[Rach · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a little wrong of me to rate this four stars since I had to read it for class and was reading another book for the same class for my final essay. Soooooo that means I ended up skimming a great majority of it so I could do other work. You guys all know how finals season is.
Anyway, I'm going to rate it four stars because from the things I did read, I really liked Boon's prose and thought process. A lot of what she was writing actually helped me a lot in regard to my feelings towards archives, which I think will really help my essay. I was reading Ozeki's "A Tale for the Time Being" at the same time as this because that book is going to be what my final essay is centered on, and surprisingly despite one being magical realism/fiction and the other being an autoethnography, both discuss familial/historical archives' and the ocean in kinda similar ways. So even though I skimmed most of this, I think if I gave it a thorough read, my final rating would still be four stars.

[Janilyn Kocher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boon has written a superb book. I love reading family history research books. Boon has a fascinating family history, spread all over the globe. She has also lived and visited many different countries, but hails from Canada. The book is about tracing her diverse family background, which leads to the Netherlands and Suriname. She is descended from both masters and slaves, a dichotomy that endlessly intrigues me. Boon grapples with the challenges of reading ship manifests and the tragedy of slavery. She also provides a thorough bibliography. The only thing I regret about her book is that it ended. Thanks to NetGalley for the early copy.

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to admit my bias, because we are publishing this book, but this is truly stunning writing. An examination of one's past can stir up emotions and bring your ancestors to life: I recently read a newspaper article about my footballer great-uncle getting into a fight, defending the honour of his coal miner father and brothers. It was eye-opening and vividly real. Imagine that, then imagine your past is Creole enslaved people and indentured East Indians. That is this book, as the author examines, in beautiful prose, who she is, where she comes from, and where is home.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Audiobook] I’ve had this book on my OverDrive wish list for a couple of years and I finally listened to it. A lovely surprise to discover that it intersects with some places near and dear to my own heart, mainly St. John’s, NL and the Caribbean (well Suriname, so sort of). I too have questions about place and home, and this book took us on a meaningful and enjoyable journey with the author.

[Gabriel · Rating 2 out of 5]

an account of aimless wandering and impotent speculation cast as academic research and filled in with deeply hackneyed prose. unanswered questions that in more competent hands might have taken on greater meaning in the openness afforded by a lack of answer are left unexplored, never becoming more than nullities. read for class; not very good. also, very little to do with the oceans!

[stephe · Rating 5 out of 5]

convinced me to pursue my major. really quite special accounts of archival work. the uncovering of her family’s histories is something I wish to do for myself one day.

[Maya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could read about archival research all day long! Sonja has such a beautiful and interesting history to tell — this book provided me with so much inspiration for my own research.

[stephe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read for ENGL 100, my first class in university taught by an archivist. her profession informed the class readings and I came out of this book (and that class) with a desire to be just like her.