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Word toch wakker!
Tim, het broertje van Jasmijn, heeft een ongeluk gehad en ligt in coma. Voor de hele familie is het een moeilijke tijd. Alles draait om Tim. Jasmijn probeert zo vaak mogelijk bij haar broertje te zijn en contact met hem te krijgen.
185 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 1, 2022
Dit blijft een mooi boek. In mijn examenjaar een mondeling hierover gedaan. Zonder het boek meer te hebben gehad. Toen wist ik per pagina wat er in stond. Tijdens mijn diploma uitreiking in 2009 kreeg ik het boek toen van Mijn Nederlands docent. Net weer gelezen en 13 jaar later merk je ook weer andere dingen op zoals roken op plekken waar niet gerookt mag worden.
December 2, 2009
Mijn lievelingsboek in mijn tienerjaren!
November 4, 2022
At the moment, I'm re-reading all the children's books I still own.
This one was published by Lemniscaat, which was (and still is) a very reknowned Dutch publisher.
It tells the story of Jasmijn, a 12-year old girl, whose little brother Tim got hit by a car.
8-year old Tim falls into a coma and Jasmijn has to take care of the entire household as her parents fight their own demons.
Not only does she fulfill several household chores (ironing, cooking, …), but she has to take care for her other little brothers Dump and Vincent as well. And in the meantime she also needs to process the situation of Tim ánd try to keep up at school which isn't easy as she doesn't have any time left to study or make her homework.
Author Ellen Tijsinger explained that this book was based on a real story told by the nurse of 'Tim'.
When I read this book as a kid, I remember it made an impression on me.
So I wondered if after all these years, it would still be the case.
One of the first things that I noticed while re-reading, is how irresponsible the adults are portrayed.
When Tim is hit by a car, both his parents accompany him in the ambulance (Is that even possible nowadays? I always thought only 1 accompanying person was admitted in an ambulance). They've left their front door open and their three other children of 12, 6 and 1 years old all alone.
Really? I do understand that this is a difficult situation and that you can't truly understand what some people go through unless you've been in the same situation. But having children also means that at certain moments you just have to take your responsibility. I can't imagine leaving three kids behind without one of the two parents to take care of them, especially with a 1-year old who's all alone at home at that moment.
Another observation is that it totally reflects the zeitgeist of the '80s when smoking was allowed everywhere.
All the adult men in this book seem to be smoking constantly in the living room in the presence of children and a pregnant woman.
In addition, the story didn't always feel realistic to me.
Here's one example: a 15-year old guy who falls in love with a 12-year old girl?
The older one gets, the less an age difference matters. Certainly if it's only 3 years.
But at the age of the protagonists, it makes a world of difference. At least, back in the days it did.
What bothered me most though is a detail in the description of Tim's coma.
Having worked at a neurology department myself, I found it strange that it took more than 3 months before he opened his eyes.
A deep coma rarely lasts longer than 4 to 6 weeks. After that period a patient will either die or move on to a coma vigil (also called vegetative state or nowadays: unresponsive wakefulness syndrome or UWS). In the latter case the patient will develop a night-and-day rhythm during which the eyes will be spontaneously opened in daytime. All movements will be purely reflexive and there's no consciousness present.
Once consciousness appears to a small extent, we talk about a patient in a minimal responsive state. And it's true that sometimes patients are misdiagnosed and are in this state instead of a vegetative one (which is a very interesting topic on which Steven Laureys did a lot of research, but that's a whole different story).
Anyway, to make a long story short: the timeline doesn't take these medical facts into account and furthermore it would've been interesting if the author mentioned them. But then again, I don't know which information was already known at the time of writing (1988).
All in all it was a quick read, but it didn't impress me as much as it did when I was younger for the aforementioned reasons.
This one was published by Lemniscaat, which was (and still is) a very reknowned Dutch publisher.
It tells the story of Jasmijn, a 12-year old girl, whose little brother Tim got hit by a car.
8-year old Tim falls into a coma and Jasmijn has to take care of the entire household as her parents fight their own demons.
Not only does she fulfill several household chores (ironing, cooking, …), but she has to take care for her other little brothers Dump and Vincent as well. And in the meantime she also needs to process the situation of Tim ánd try to keep up at school which isn't easy as she doesn't have any time left to study or make her homework.
Author Ellen Tijsinger explained that this book was based on a real story told by the nurse of 'Tim'.
When I read this book as a kid, I remember it made an impression on me.
So I wondered if after all these years, it would still be the case.
One of the first things that I noticed while re-reading, is how irresponsible the adults are portrayed.
When Tim is hit by a car, both his parents accompany him in the ambulance (Is that even possible nowadays? I always thought only 1 accompanying person was admitted in an ambulance). They've left their front door open and their three other children of 12, 6 and 1 years old all alone.
Really? I do understand that this is a difficult situation and that you can't truly understand what some people go through unless you've been in the same situation. But having children also means that at certain moments you just have to take your responsibility. I can't imagine leaving three kids behind without one of the two parents to take care of them, especially with a 1-year old who's all alone at home at that moment.
Another observation is that it totally reflects the zeitgeist of the '80s when smoking was allowed everywhere.
All the adult men in this book seem to be smoking constantly in the living room in the presence of children and a pregnant woman.
In addition, the story didn't always feel realistic to me.
Here's one example: a 15-year old guy who falls in love with a 12-year old girl?
The older one gets, the less an age difference matters. Certainly if it's only 3 years.
But at the age of the protagonists, it makes a world of difference. At least, back in the days it did.
What bothered me most though is a detail in the description of Tim's coma.
Having worked at a neurology department myself, I found it strange that it took more than 3 months before he opened his eyes.
A deep coma rarely lasts longer than 4 to 6 weeks. After that period a patient will either die or move on to a coma vigil (also called vegetative state or nowadays: unresponsive wakefulness syndrome or UWS). In the latter case the patient will develop a night-and-day rhythm during which the eyes will be spontaneously opened in daytime. All movements will be purely reflexive and there's no consciousness present.
Once consciousness appears to a small extent, we talk about a patient in a minimal responsive state. And it's true that sometimes patients are misdiagnosed and are in this state instead of a vegetative one (which is a very interesting topic on which Steven Laureys did a lot of research, but that's a whole different story).
Anyway, to make a long story short: the timeline doesn't take these medical facts into account and furthermore it would've been interesting if the author mentioned them. But then again, I don't know which information was already known at the time of writing (1988).
All in all it was a quick read, but it didn't impress me as much as it did when I was younger for the aforementioned reasons.
July 2, 2021
Loveit
October 27, 2014
De eerste keer dat ik dit boek las maakte het grote indruk op me, mede door gebeurtenissen in mijn eigen familie.
Toen ik het recent nog eens herlas viel me wel op dat het soms wat gedateerd is, er wordt bijvoorbeeld gerookt op plekken waar dat nu echt niet meer zou kunnen.
Toen ik het recent nog eens herlas viel me wel op dat het soms wat gedateerd is, er wordt bijvoorbeeld gerookt op plekken waar dat nu echt niet meer zou kunnen.
September 23, 2011
Dit boek las ik toen ik een jaar of 13 was? Dit boek had heel veel indruk op mij gemaakt. Zeker HET boek uit mijn tienerjaren!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews