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Herinneringen van een engelbewaarder
Beklemmende uitbeelding van een onbeduidende man tegen de chaotische achtergrond van de meidagen in Nederland in 1940.
394 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
38 people are currently reading
683 people want to read
About the author
Willem Frederik Hermans
140 books327 followersWillem Frederik Hermans is one of the greatest post-war Dutch authors. Before devoting his entire life to writing, Hermans had been teaching Physical Geography at the University of Groningen for many years. He had already started writing and publishing in magazines at a young age. His polemic and provocative style led to a court case as early as 1952. His caustic pieces were compiled in Mandarijnen op zwavelzuur (Mandarines in Sulphuric Acid, 1963), which was reprinted with additions a number of times. It is Hermans’s belief that in order to survive people have to create their own reality. It is inevitable that all these experiences of reality will collide. Language is essential to create order out of chaos and plays an important role in this process. In his essays on Wittgenstein, Hermans studied this problem in depth. In his novels and stories Hermans places his characters in a world of certainty for themselves but equivocal for the reader. It is in this field of tension that the intrigue in De tranen der acacia’s (Acacia’s Tears, 1949) and in De donkere kamer van Damocles (The Darkroom of Damocles, 1958) develops. Although stories such as Moedwil en misverstand (Malice and Misunderstanding) and Paranoia have a surrealistic tendency, Hermans’ novels The Darkroom Of Damocles, Nooit meer slapen (Beyond Sleep), Uit talloos veel miljoenen (From Countless Millions) are more realistic or satirical and everything in his rich oeuvre is subordinate to the author’s pessimistic philosophy.
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November 1, 2021
"His blood seemed thick with sorrow. He had come into great distress without my being able to help it, without my being able to help him...Still, I had kept my eye on him...his whole life. I was his guardian angel."
Simon (Bert) Alberegt, a thirty eight year old, portly public prosecutor, would live precariously between a rock and an hard place, a life filled with moral and ethical dilemmas. Over a period of five days, his poor decisions would overload his coping mechanisms despite having a guardian angel sitting on his shoulder.
May 9, 1940, was the eve of the German invasion of the Netherlands. Using his connections, Bert was able to book a passage to England from the Hook of Holland for his German Jewish girlfriend, Sysy. It was true love for him. Perhaps someone, just useful for her. He was despondent. Could he follow her to England? He was preoccupied with missing her but still needed to present the final arguments at the courthouse on a case against a journalist accused of insulting Hitler. In a complete turn around, instead of asking for a maximum sentence, Bert planned on requesting a dismissal. In order to arrive on time, he took an illegal, deserted side road, entering from the wrong direction, and felt the impact of plowing into something. It was a young girl holding a letter in her hand. Clearly, she was planning to post the letter. Clearly, she was dead. What to do? With no witnesses, no one watching, he concealed the body in the bushes and drove to the appointed court date. Bert's guardian angel, the narrator of this tome, tried to encourage Bert to take responsibility for his actions. The devil, however, whispered a different suggestion in Bert's ear.
On May 9, 1940, the Nazi invasion had begun. Bert was determined to flee to England if he could beg or borrow the necessary funds. He had driven his car in the wrong direction, committed manslaughter and left the scene of an accident. He should have alerted the police. According to the devil, if Holland was bombed, would anyone worry about a child that was run over? Confess or flee? To complicate matters, Bert's friend Erik asked him to intercede and search for a young Jewish girl last seen posting a letter. The guardian angel's plea: "You can make amends for everything by doing penance. And that's the only thing of any value...You can't die besmirched as you are now...only if your soul has been cleansed, can it breathe with relief...". While trying to escape responsibility for his actions, the world was imploding around him.
Although Bert contemplated his own demise, his guardian angel shielded him from a bombing which leveled his workplace and the firebombing in Rotterdam which culminated in the Dutch capitulation to the Germans. There were those who did not recognize the plight of the citizenry. Some were not bothered by parachuters landing on their shores. Why not just lock your doors at night?
"A Guardian Angel Recalls" by Willem Frederik Hermans is a psychological study of a public prosecutor's inner conflict against the backdrop of the Nazi invasion and takeover of Netherlands in 1940. By failing to own up for his actions, Bert remained guilt ridden. It seemed that his square box of peppermints was the only solace to soothe his tortured soul.
A masterpiece of historical fiction. Highly recommended.
Thank you Archipelago Books and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Simon (Bert) Alberegt, a thirty eight year old, portly public prosecutor, would live precariously between a rock and an hard place, a life filled with moral and ethical dilemmas. Over a period of five days, his poor decisions would overload his coping mechanisms despite having a guardian angel sitting on his shoulder.
May 9, 1940, was the eve of the German invasion of the Netherlands. Using his connections, Bert was able to book a passage to England from the Hook of Holland for his German Jewish girlfriend, Sysy. It was true love for him. Perhaps someone, just useful for her. He was despondent. Could he follow her to England? He was preoccupied with missing her but still needed to present the final arguments at the courthouse on a case against a journalist accused of insulting Hitler. In a complete turn around, instead of asking for a maximum sentence, Bert planned on requesting a dismissal. In order to arrive on time, he took an illegal, deserted side road, entering from the wrong direction, and felt the impact of plowing into something. It was a young girl holding a letter in her hand. Clearly, she was planning to post the letter. Clearly, she was dead. What to do? With no witnesses, no one watching, he concealed the body in the bushes and drove to the appointed court date. Bert's guardian angel, the narrator of this tome, tried to encourage Bert to take responsibility for his actions. The devil, however, whispered a different suggestion in Bert's ear.
On May 9, 1940, the Nazi invasion had begun. Bert was determined to flee to England if he could beg or borrow the necessary funds. He had driven his car in the wrong direction, committed manslaughter and left the scene of an accident. He should have alerted the police. According to the devil, if Holland was bombed, would anyone worry about a child that was run over? Confess or flee? To complicate matters, Bert's friend Erik asked him to intercede and search for a young Jewish girl last seen posting a letter. The guardian angel's plea: "You can make amends for everything by doing penance. And that's the only thing of any value...You can't die besmirched as you are now...only if your soul has been cleansed, can it breathe with relief...". While trying to escape responsibility for his actions, the world was imploding around him.
Although Bert contemplated his own demise, his guardian angel shielded him from a bombing which leveled his workplace and the firebombing in Rotterdam which culminated in the Dutch capitulation to the Germans. There were those who did not recognize the plight of the citizenry. Some were not bothered by parachuters landing on their shores. Why not just lock your doors at night?
"A Guardian Angel Recalls" by Willem Frederik Hermans is a psychological study of a public prosecutor's inner conflict against the backdrop of the Nazi invasion and takeover of Netherlands in 1940. By failing to own up for his actions, Bert remained guilt ridden. It seemed that his square box of peppermints was the only solace to soothe his tortured soul.
A masterpiece of historical fiction. Highly recommended.
Thank you Archipelago Books and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
January 12, 2022
In this detailed exploration of guilt, and the impact of war on an individual and their family, an angel and a devil fight for supremacy over Dutch public prosecutor Bert Alberegt. The novel opens in May 1940, Bert has reluctantly parted with his Jewish girlfriend Sysy who boards a ship bound for England. Then he leaves to drive to court but he’s late and in his agitated state he hits and kills a small child. The voice of his devil prevails and Bert hides the body and flees the scene, Alberegt’s crime dominates his thoughts as he shifts between the desire to confess or atone for his actions and the desire to escape but then the German invasion of The Netherlands begins and his personal dilemmas become inextricably tangled up with historical events. Willem Frederik Hermans’s story deals with potentially fascinating questions around personal morality and conscience and his narrative contains numerous, memorable scenes of Dutch society on the brink of war but even so it didn’t really hold my attention. The battle between devil and angel added an entertaining layer of acid humour but I found the portrayal of Alberegt’s conflict incredibly ponderous and dry, and his character less than engaging. Overall, a well-structured, well-observed piece, that I wanted to like far more than I actually did. Translated by David Colmer.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Archipelago Books for an arc
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Archipelago Books for an arc
July 6, 2025
Ik kan kort zijn. Geniaal goed. Misschien wel het meest duistere boek dat ik ooit zal lezen. Het Nederlandse antwoord op Misdaad en straf...maar dan minder vrolijk haha
April 22, 2022
Translated from the Dutch Herinneringen van een engelbewaarder by David Colmer, the story focuses on the life of public prosecutor Bert Alberegt and the first few days of the German invasion of the Low Countries (the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) and France as told by a guardian angel – thus the title A Guardian Angel Recalls. 9 May 1940, around 24 hours before the eventuality, rumours about Hitler’s plan to invade Western Europe seemed imminent but people still clung to their hope of the ‘phoney war’ and the fact that the Netherlands was a neutral country. But not to Sysy, a German Jewish woman whom Alberegt has been sheltering for four months, who left for England from the Hook of Holland on that very day. On the same day after letting Sysy go, Alberegt was caught up in involuntary manslaughter as he ran over a young girl on the way to court. In a panic, he hid the corpse of the young girl while he went to the trial – still not recovering from his distress – and asked for the acquittal of a journalist who wrote an article insulting Hitler in a newspaper.
Throughout the day, Alberegt questions his decision of not leaving for England with Sysy and begged for a loan from some close friends and family to buy a passage to England. Had he left, he wouldn’t run over the poor young girl or made the impulsive decision of asking for the acquittal of the brave journalist. Alberegt, as a public prosecutor, could be said as a symbol of law and order. In face of the eventuality of war, it’s the very notion of law and order that is in danger of being stripped out of a country as small as the Netherlands. Alberegt is questioning his value as a public prosecutor who should be upholding justice, yet on the same day, he could not come clean about the fact that he just ran over an innocent young girl. The conflict between Good and Evil is also being represented by the narrator itself, the guardian angel, and the devil who whispers to Alberegt’s head, thus influencing his decisions. Are humans really free to make decisions as social agents?
Willem Frederik Hermans through the story of Alberegt paints it clearly the nature of war that does not choose its victims. As an upholder of the law, Alberegt keeps mumbling to his colleagues and friends about the supranational power of international law – a tradition in the Netherlands that began from the day of Hugo de Groot who was among the earliest proponents of international society doctrine – and asserting the impossibility of the Netherlands to be dragged into Hitler’s war with her neutrality. Yet we could see the eventual occupation of the Netherlands after 1940, which is captured day by day in this story, as though proving that irrationality might thrive in the situation of war.
The choice of the guardian angel as the narrator of the story is also something that might be related to the irrationality of war as told in this story. The process of secularisation (ontkerkelijking in Dutch) was on the rise in the interwar period, with more than 10% of the Dutch population identifying themselves as irreligious or unbeliever in 1930, and it’s not exceptional that Alberegt identifies himself as so. Yet both the guardian angel and the devil are described as though they influence Alberegt greatly through their whisperings. Some other characters are also fond of signs, as shown by Lina and Mimi who take some subtle signs as the guiding principle for making their choices during the first few days of the invasion.
This book is a gem in Dutch literature comparable to the works of Harry Mulisch or Hella S. Haasse. In the style of writing, Willem Frederik Hermans reminds me very much of Albert Camus or Anna Seghers in his ability to bring up inner conflict within his main characters to the surface without losing the touch on the panic situation caused by the German invasion. It’s also a good social critic of the nature of international law and its questionable power to uphold peace when faced with calculating or irrational leaders. Hitler was able to manipulate the international law of his time, getting by with absorbing Austria in an Anschluss and absorbing part of Czechoslovakia following the Munich Agreement. Being a neutral country that relies on international law did not save the Netherlands from getting occupied. Alberegt’s story probably finds its relevance again now with the current situation in Ukraine and it questions the extent of what civilians like Alberegt could do, despite his high social standing as a public prosecutor when he had to face the mob.
Throughout the day, Alberegt questions his decision of not leaving for England with Sysy and begged for a loan from some close friends and family to buy a passage to England. Had he left, he wouldn’t run over the poor young girl or made the impulsive decision of asking for the acquittal of the brave journalist. Alberegt, as a public prosecutor, could be said as a symbol of law and order. In face of the eventuality of war, it’s the very notion of law and order that is in danger of being stripped out of a country as small as the Netherlands. Alberegt is questioning his value as a public prosecutor who should be upholding justice, yet on the same day, he could not come clean about the fact that he just ran over an innocent young girl. The conflict between Good and Evil is also being represented by the narrator itself, the guardian angel, and the devil who whispers to Alberegt’s head, thus influencing his decisions. Are humans really free to make decisions as social agents?
Willem Frederik Hermans through the story of Alberegt paints it clearly the nature of war that does not choose its victims. As an upholder of the law, Alberegt keeps mumbling to his colleagues and friends about the supranational power of international law – a tradition in the Netherlands that began from the day of Hugo de Groot who was among the earliest proponents of international society doctrine – and asserting the impossibility of the Netherlands to be dragged into Hitler’s war with her neutrality. Yet we could see the eventual occupation of the Netherlands after 1940, which is captured day by day in this story, as though proving that irrationality might thrive in the situation of war.
The choice of the guardian angel as the narrator of the story is also something that might be related to the irrationality of war as told in this story. The process of secularisation (ontkerkelijking in Dutch) was on the rise in the interwar period, with more than 10% of the Dutch population identifying themselves as irreligious or unbeliever in 1930, and it’s not exceptional that Alberegt identifies himself as so. Yet both the guardian angel and the devil are described as though they influence Alberegt greatly through their whisperings. Some other characters are also fond of signs, as shown by Lina and Mimi who take some subtle signs as the guiding principle for making their choices during the first few days of the invasion.
This book is a gem in Dutch literature comparable to the works of Harry Mulisch or Hella S. Haasse. In the style of writing, Willem Frederik Hermans reminds me very much of Albert Camus or Anna Seghers in his ability to bring up inner conflict within his main characters to the surface without losing the touch on the panic situation caused by the German invasion. It’s also a good social critic of the nature of international law and its questionable power to uphold peace when faced with calculating or irrational leaders. Hitler was able to manipulate the international law of his time, getting by with absorbing Austria in an Anschluss and absorbing part of Czechoslovakia following the Munich Agreement. Being a neutral country that relies on international law did not save the Netherlands from getting occupied. Alberegt’s story probably finds its relevance again now with the current situation in Ukraine and it questions the extent of what civilians like Alberegt could do, despite his high social standing as a public prosecutor when he had to face the mob.
August 12, 2024
I like to read translated literature to keep in touch with other countries besides the USA. My Archipelago Books subscription supplies me with approximately a book a month. I don’t always keep up with reading them but usually when I do, I am rewarded. In this case, the novel was originally published in The Netherlands in 1971. The author wrote many novels and this was his personal favorite.
The story is narrated by a guardian angel! The man he guards is a public prosecutor. It is the evening before the German invasion of The Netherlands, May 9, 1940. Alberegt, the public prosecutor has just put a woman on a boat. She is a Jewish refugee from Germany whom he had been sheltering for four months, during which time he had fallen in love with her. He is heartbroken but she is adamant that she must get to England to be safe.
Following this opening scene, Alberegt gets into some serious trouble which dogs him throughout the rest of the tale. He has become a hapless male.
Despite its length the book was easy to read. I was most impressed by how I got a glimpse of Dutch society on the eve and during the initial weeks of the German occupation. Through Alberegt’s fellow workers at the Justice Department, through his family and other associates, the picture becomes clear. Fear, rumors, false documents, mistaken intentions, all make the tension grow.
In addition to an angel on his shoulder, trying to encourage the man to do the right things, there is the Devil on his other shoulder giving him the worst advice. Amid the confusion and panic, these two otherworldly characters provide levity.
Excellent story!
The story is narrated by a guardian angel! The man he guards is a public prosecutor. It is the evening before the German invasion of The Netherlands, May 9, 1940. Alberegt, the public prosecutor has just put a woman on a boat. She is a Jewish refugee from Germany whom he had been sheltering for four months, during which time he had fallen in love with her. He is heartbroken but she is adamant that she must get to England to be safe.
Following this opening scene, Alberegt gets into some serious trouble which dogs him throughout the rest of the tale. He has become a hapless male.
Despite its length the book was easy to read. I was most impressed by how I got a glimpse of Dutch society on the eve and during the initial weeks of the German occupation. Through Alberegt’s fellow workers at the Justice Department, through his family and other associates, the picture becomes clear. Fear, rumors, false documents, mistaken intentions, all make the tension grow.
In addition to an angel on his shoulder, trying to encourage the man to do the right things, there is the Devil on his other shoulder giving him the worst advice. Amid the confusion and panic, these two otherworldly characters provide levity.
Excellent story!
October 19, 2023
Weer zo’n hoofdpersoon waar je als lezer ook helemaal paniekerig van wordt, prima verhaal, niet heel bijzonder, dat gelul over engelen hoeft voor mij allemaal niet, gewoon oorlogssituatie volstaat voor mij. Ben na dit boek wel weer een stap dichterbij om Hermans mijn meest gelezen auteur te laten worden (dat is nu nog John Flanagan). Dit is trouwens geen ambitie maar zou wel leuk zijn als anderen het ook eens mogen proberen.
April 24, 2024
I read this book about half a year ago, yet I feel compelled to review it. This book has managed to stick with me and continue to retain the influence it had on me when I first read it. I am writing this review to persuade you to take a chance on this less popular work in the hopes that you will gain as much from it as I did.
This novel begins with Alberegt and his guardian angel. He has just lost the woman he loves as she flees Europe to escape what might happen to her as a result of her Jewish identity. He's driving back to his office where he works as a successful public prosecutor.
As he drives, he struggles between regretting his decision to stay in the Netherlands and his decision to allow his lover to leave him. In a moment of peace, his guardian angel leaves his side to admire the scenery. When he returns, he finds Aleberegt has just struck and killed a young girl. Before anyone can come looking for her, Aleberegt dumps her body in the bushes and drives off.
That night, Germany invades the Netherlands.
As Alberegt's world unravels around him, so does his mind. He is haunted by his horrific actions, and
yet terrified that someone will discover him. The life he took should hardly matter in the grand scheme of what's happening and yet somehow it continues to plague him. Friends of his tell him of a young Jewish girl who has seemingly vanished and enlist his help in finding her.
This novel effectively combines the absurd, tragic, and gruesome to entrench the reader in the grisly, amoral life of Alberegt. Every small detail included by Hermans only enhances this: the empty box of mints Alberegt compulsively reaches for, his brother's devotion to his single color paintings as his wife and children starve, the young Nazi soldier's parachuting down from planes to their immediate deaths.
And all of this is seen from the point of view of his guardian angel. This unusual choice is pivotal in the reader's perception of Alberegt. Seeing him from a completely unbiased perspective, we would immediately dislike him. If we were to see from his own point of view, we might be able to rationalize his action as he tries to do so himself throughout the novel. Only from the point of view of his guardian angel are we able to fully understand Alberegt.
We aren't able to fully side with him, yet we don't dismiss him. Through the clouded, idealistic lens of his guardian angel, we are able to see him as a man of many faults, but who through hard work could surely be redeemed.
This novel is a masterpiece on what morality looks like in the face of war and is able to present the most well-written anti-hero I have read about.
So while you might think 500 page Dutch literature may not be your style, I urge you to take a chance and read this book.
This novel begins with Alberegt and his guardian angel. He has just lost the woman he loves as she flees Europe to escape what might happen to her as a result of her Jewish identity. He's driving back to his office where he works as a successful public prosecutor.
As he drives, he struggles between regretting his decision to stay in the Netherlands and his decision to allow his lover to leave him. In a moment of peace, his guardian angel leaves his side to admire the scenery. When he returns, he finds Aleberegt has just struck and killed a young girl. Before anyone can come looking for her, Aleberegt dumps her body in the bushes and drives off.
That night, Germany invades the Netherlands.
As Alberegt's world unravels around him, so does his mind. He is haunted by his horrific actions, and
yet terrified that someone will discover him. The life he took should hardly matter in the grand scheme of what's happening and yet somehow it continues to plague him. Friends of his tell him of a young Jewish girl who has seemingly vanished and enlist his help in finding her.
This novel effectively combines the absurd, tragic, and gruesome to entrench the reader in the grisly, amoral life of Alberegt. Every small detail included by Hermans only enhances this: the empty box of mints Alberegt compulsively reaches for, his brother's devotion to his single color paintings as his wife and children starve, the young Nazi soldier's parachuting down from planes to their immediate deaths.
And all of this is seen from the point of view of his guardian angel. This unusual choice is pivotal in the reader's perception of Alberegt. Seeing him from a completely unbiased perspective, we would immediately dislike him. If we were to see from his own point of view, we might be able to rationalize his action as he tries to do so himself throughout the novel. Only from the point of view of his guardian angel are we able to fully understand Alberegt.
We aren't able to fully side with him, yet we don't dismiss him. Through the clouded, idealistic lens of his guardian angel, we are able to see him as a man of many faults, but who through hard work could surely be redeemed.
This novel is a masterpiece on what morality looks like in the face of war and is able to present the most well-written anti-hero I have read about.
So while you might think 500 page Dutch literature may not be your style, I urge you to take a chance and read this book.
October 19, 2024
“Geen mens, fluisterde de duivel, heeft gezien wat er is gebeurd.”
October 25, 2021
Hermans beschrijft de wanorde in de gedachten van zijn hoofdpersonage Alberegt die moeite heeft het noorden op zijn moreel kompas te vinden. Hij verzandt van het ene dilemma in het andere en moddert wat besluiteloos aan. Ondertussen valt Duitsland Nederland binnen en breekt de tweede wereldoorlog uit. Nederland weet zich nog vijf chaotische dagen te verzetten voor het capituleert. Tegenstrijdige nieuwsberichten worden afgewisseld met verdwaalde soldaten die iedereen ‘Scheveningen’ laten zeggen om Duitse accenten eruit te halen.
Net als voor Alberegt en zijn omgeving wordt het ook voor de lezer af en toe warrig waardoor de vaart wat uit het verhaal gaat. Cynische dialogen over de vlucht van de Nederlandse koningin naar Engeland en discussies in de villatuin van welgestelde communisten - over hoe kapitalisme de oorzaak is van alle kwaad - maken van deze Hermans alsnog een aangenaam boek om lezen.
Net als voor Alberegt en zijn omgeving wordt het ook voor de lezer af en toe warrig waardoor de vaart wat uit het verhaal gaat. Cynische dialogen over de vlucht van de Nederlandse koningin naar Engeland en discussies in de villatuin van welgestelde communisten - over hoe kapitalisme de oorzaak is van alle kwaad - maken van deze Hermans alsnog een aangenaam boek om lezen.
December 14, 2021
How, oh how to rate a book that is terrific until it's not, though you don't find out it's not terrific until the very last page?
On the day of the outbreak of the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands, a highly placed magistrate/prosecutor hits a young Jewish girl, and runs. From there we inhabit the haywire moral compass of the prosecutor as he works through the dilemmas of having committed a crime, of covering it up (or not,) and of various and sundry personal problems, all exacerbated by the invasion. The novel's particular conceit is that like a cartoon characterization, the prosecutors internal moral debates are conducted between his free will, his guardian angel, and the devil. Those latter characters might as well be perched on his shoulders.
Throughout, the writing and translation are excellent, there are a few popping metaphors, and oddly, the absurdities that are developed are hilarious. Unfortunately, nothing is resolved, or is it that in this world self-interest rules all, and the magistrates situation will roll ad infinitum as it's the human condition. Anyway, I think Mr. Hermans chickened out.
On the day of the outbreak of the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands, a highly placed magistrate/prosecutor hits a young Jewish girl, and runs. From there we inhabit the haywire moral compass of the prosecutor as he works through the dilemmas of having committed a crime, of covering it up (or not,) and of various and sundry personal problems, all exacerbated by the invasion. The novel's particular conceit is that like a cartoon characterization, the prosecutors internal moral debates are conducted between his free will, his guardian angel, and the devil. Those latter characters might as well be perched on his shoulders.
Throughout, the writing and translation are excellent, there are a few popping metaphors, and oddly, the absurdities that are developed are hilarious. Unfortunately, nothing is resolved, or is it that in this world self-interest rules all, and the magistrates situation will roll ad infinitum as it's the human condition. Anyway, I think Mr. Hermans chickened out.
September 26, 2016
Dimensies van ethische standaards worden in dit boek op een vlotte wijze gedemonstreerd. Hermans laat niet alleen bij de hoofdpersoon maar ook z'n complete entourage van familie en vrienden de ambiguïteit zien waarmee mensen met morele afwegingen omgaan. Hij zet een realistische wereld neer waarin consequentie ver te zoeken is en men pas de nieren kan proeven van iemands morele kompas als het om beslissingen gaat waar levens of carrières van afhangen.
Voor mij was een interessante aspect ook de beschrijving van de verwarring waarmee de start van de oorlog in Nederland gepaard ging, waardoor het ook voor burgers zeer moeilijk was juiste beslissingen te nemen m.b.t. hoe te handelen.
Voor mij was een interessante aspect ook de beschrijving van de verwarring waarmee de start van de oorlog in Nederland gepaard ging, waardoor het ook voor burgers zeer moeilijk was juiste beslissingen te nemen m.b.t. hoe te handelen.
August 29, 2024
Herinneringen van een engelbewaarder van Willem Frederik Hermans
Een mens lijdt dikwijls ’t meest
Door ’t lijden dat hij vreest
- Setting
De roman speelt zich af aan het begin van de Tweede Wereldoorlog (eerste 5 dagen van de oorlog).
- Hoofdpersoon
Het verhaal volgt Bert Alberegt, een Nederlandse officier van justitie- magistraat p 71. Hij wordt gevolgd door zijn engelbewaarder, die hem probeert te beschermen tegen de invloeden van de duivel.
De engelbewaarder probeert hem op het rechte pad te houden terwijl de duivel aan de andere kant aan zijn ziel trekt.
- Relatie met Sysy
Bert heeft een relatie met Sysy, een Duitse vrouw op de vlucht voor de nazi's. Hij heeft haar geholpen om in Nederland te blijven, maar Sysy besluit uiteindelijk naar Engeland te vertrekken om haar familie te helpen.
- Tragisch ongeluk
Onderweg naar de rechtbank veroorzaakt Bert een ongeluk waarbij hij een jong Duits meisje aanrijdt. In paniek verstopt hij haar lichaam in de bosjes, wat het begin markeert van zijn morele verval.
- Rechtbankzaak
In de rechtbank moet Bert een journalist veroordelen voor het uiten van kritiek op Hitler, wat officieel verboden is. Hij eist echter onverwacht vrijspraak, wat hem verder in conflict brengt met zijn eigen overtuigingen.
- Tweestrijd
Bert bevindt zich in een constante tweestrijd tussen goed en kwaad, waarbij zijn engelbewaarder en de duivel invloed proberen uit te oefenen op zijn keuzes.
- Schuldgevoel
Bert ontdekt dat het meisje Ottla Lindenbaum geboren 2-1-1934 p 104 dat hij heeft aangereden een Duitse vluchteling was. Dit versterkt zijn schuldgevoel en angst om ontdekt te worden. Haar pleegouders ook Joodse onderduikers zijn Leikowits pleegvader.
- Familie
Bert’s broer, een kunstenaar die "ontaarde kunst" maakt, weigert te vluchten ondanks het feit dat hij op een Gestapo-lijst schijnt te staan. Uiteindelijk pleegt zijn broer zelfmoord. Moeder Thilda Albergt-Gijze p 257 zangeres.
- Pogingen om te vluchten
Bert probeert naar Engeland te vluchten met zijn vrienden en familie, maar faalt keer op keer. Een laatste poging om per boot te vertrekken mislukt ook. Hij probeert o. a. met Erik Losecaat zijn vriend de uitgever te vluchten.
- Einde
Het verhaal eindigt in wanhoop en chaos. Bert ontdekt dat zijn broer niet op de Gestapo-lijst stond, maar wanneer hij teruggaat om zijn broer te redden, blijkt deze zichzelf te hebben opgehangen.
- Motieven
De belangrijkste motieven in het boek zijn de strijd tussen goed en kwaad, verantwoordelijkheid, en het menselijk geweten. Bert worstelt voortdurend met zijn schuldgevoel over het dodelijke ongeluk en de vraag of hij moet boeten of vluchten.
De zin van iemand leven identiek is met dat waarvoor hij wil sterven p. 109.
Wij zijn niet wat wij zijn, maar wij zijn wat de wereld van ons weet, zei de duivel p. 238.
De mens lijdt dikwijls ‘t meest, door ‘t lijden dat hij vreest 361.
Ars longer, vita brevis p 70: kunst is lang en het leven is korter dwz het leren van je vak duurt zo lang dat een hele leven niet voldoende is.
Een mens lijdt dikwijls ’t meest
Door ’t lijden dat hij vreest
- Setting
De roman speelt zich af aan het begin van de Tweede Wereldoorlog (eerste 5 dagen van de oorlog).
- Hoofdpersoon
Het verhaal volgt Bert Alberegt, een Nederlandse officier van justitie- magistraat p 71. Hij wordt gevolgd door zijn engelbewaarder, die hem probeert te beschermen tegen de invloeden van de duivel.
De engelbewaarder probeert hem op het rechte pad te houden terwijl de duivel aan de andere kant aan zijn ziel trekt.
- Relatie met Sysy
Bert heeft een relatie met Sysy, een Duitse vrouw op de vlucht voor de nazi's. Hij heeft haar geholpen om in Nederland te blijven, maar Sysy besluit uiteindelijk naar Engeland te vertrekken om haar familie te helpen.
- Tragisch ongeluk
Onderweg naar de rechtbank veroorzaakt Bert een ongeluk waarbij hij een jong Duits meisje aanrijdt. In paniek verstopt hij haar lichaam in de bosjes, wat het begin markeert van zijn morele verval.
- Rechtbankzaak
In de rechtbank moet Bert een journalist veroordelen voor het uiten van kritiek op Hitler, wat officieel verboden is. Hij eist echter onverwacht vrijspraak, wat hem verder in conflict brengt met zijn eigen overtuigingen.
- Tweestrijd
Bert bevindt zich in een constante tweestrijd tussen goed en kwaad, waarbij zijn engelbewaarder en de duivel invloed proberen uit te oefenen op zijn keuzes.
- Schuldgevoel
Bert ontdekt dat het meisje Ottla Lindenbaum geboren 2-1-1934 p 104 dat hij heeft aangereden een Duitse vluchteling was. Dit versterkt zijn schuldgevoel en angst om ontdekt te worden. Haar pleegouders ook Joodse onderduikers zijn Leikowits pleegvader.
- Familie
Bert’s broer, een kunstenaar die "ontaarde kunst" maakt, weigert te vluchten ondanks het feit dat hij op een Gestapo-lijst schijnt te staan. Uiteindelijk pleegt zijn broer zelfmoord. Moeder Thilda Albergt-Gijze p 257 zangeres.
- Pogingen om te vluchten
Bert probeert naar Engeland te vluchten met zijn vrienden en familie, maar faalt keer op keer. Een laatste poging om per boot te vertrekken mislukt ook. Hij probeert o. a. met Erik Losecaat zijn vriend de uitgever te vluchten.
- Einde
Het verhaal eindigt in wanhoop en chaos. Bert ontdekt dat zijn broer niet op de Gestapo-lijst stond, maar wanneer hij teruggaat om zijn broer te redden, blijkt deze zichzelf te hebben opgehangen.
- Motieven
De belangrijkste motieven in het boek zijn de strijd tussen goed en kwaad, verantwoordelijkheid, en het menselijk geweten. Bert worstelt voortdurend met zijn schuldgevoel over het dodelijke ongeluk en de vraag of hij moet boeten of vluchten.
De zin van iemand leven identiek is met dat waarvoor hij wil sterven p. 109.
Wij zijn niet wat wij zijn, maar wij zijn wat de wereld van ons weet, zei de duivel p. 238.
De mens lijdt dikwijls ‘t meest, door ‘t lijden dat hij vreest 361.
Ars longer, vita brevis p 70: kunst is lang en het leven is korter dwz het leren van je vak duurt zo lang dat een hele leven niet voldoende is.
May 2, 2022
I had a hard time rating this book.
It is May, 1940, just as Germany is invading the Netherlands. Alberegt, a public prosecutor, is speeding thru the night in his Reneault, with a guardian angel watching over him. He is distracted because his lover has just left the country to avoid the invasion, and he hits a child. Overcome, he picks up the body and throws it into the bushes. All of this has happened when the guardian angel looked away.
What follows is a narrative of Alberegt's bumbling reaction to the accident, the German invasion, and what happens to his family.
A complicated look at a segment of World War Ii.
It is May, 1940, just as Germany is invading the Netherlands. Alberegt, a public prosecutor, is speeding thru the night in his Reneault, with a guardian angel watching over him. He is distracted because his lover has just left the country to avoid the invasion, and he hits a child. Overcome, he picks up the body and throws it into the bushes. All of this has happened when the guardian angel looked away.
What follows is a narrative of Alberegt's bumbling reaction to the accident, the German invasion, and what happens to his family.
A complicated look at a segment of World War Ii.
May 28, 2019
Toont de chaos in Nederland aan het begin van de de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Bommen vallen, parachutisten vallen, koeien vallen en onze persoon dwaalt.
Klik hier voor een videorecensie van Herinneringen van een engelbewaarder op mijn Youtube-kanaal De idioot leest.
Klik hier voor een videorecensie van Herinneringen van een engelbewaarder op mijn Youtube-kanaal De idioot leest.
Want to read
October 30, 2021Now translated into English by David Colmer as A Guardian Angel Recalls. Reviewed on The European Literary Network by Lizzy Siddal, with a UK giveaway on Lizzy’s Literary Life.
June 26, 2022
Tale of a public prosecutor told mainly by his guardian angel (with comments from his resident devil) in the time when the Germans invaded the Netherlands. Sad sequence of circumstances, deaths and disparities that overwhelm.
January 13, 2024
De laatste keer in 2010 gelezen.
May 8, 2024
Dit boek gaat over de tweede wereldoorlog. Ik moet zeggen dat ik daar inmiddels zoveel over heb gelezen dat het mij een stuk minder interesseert. Het speelde zich wel tijdens het begin van de oorlog en de dagen daarvoor af, deze tijd ken ik wel iets minder goed. Hermans kan mooi schrijven dus ik wilde het toch een kans geven. Het was ook zeker mooi maar naast het oorlogsthema was het ook nog eens religieus, een onderwerp wat mij ook niet enorm enthousiasmeert. Goed, prima boek maar niet per se een aanrader.
December 18, 2021
First published in Dutch in 1971, and now available in a new English translation. The central conceit of this powerful and insightful novel is that the protagonist Alberegt has a Guardian Angel talking in one ear, trying to guide and advise him, while a motley crew of devils whisper conflicting advice in the other. Poor Alberegt. Things are not going well for him. It’s the eve of the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands, and he has just seen off the German Jewish refugee he has been sheltering onto a ship to America before the Germans arrive. Should he have gone with her, this woman he has fallen in love with? Or should he report her and get her arrested, so that she stays? He’s a Public Prosecutor and next has to recommend whether or not to punish someone who has “insulted” Hitler, something proscribed by Dutch law. But what is the right thing to do? So conflicted is he that when he is involved in an accident on the way to court, he panics and fails to react wisely. And his decision making skills aren’t helped by having an angel and a devil whispering to him. The book is a comedy of errors in a sense, but on a deeper level is a profound meditation on personal responsibility, guilt and innocence, right and wrong, moral and ethical actions against expedient ones, and what is our duty towards others, how should we act in the face of persecution and injustice. Against the backdrop of the German invasion of May 1940 Alberegt has to navigate his way through this moral maze and decide on what the “right” thing to do is. It’s a bleak and deeply unsettling novel, and for me the angel/devil device worked well. I found the author’s insight into Alberegt’s inner conflicts authentic and convincing, especially as things become more and more nightmarish. The writing never flinches from describing the horrors of the initial invasion and the reader is well aware that there are more horrors to come. A compelling and thought-provoking read.
July 7, 2022
Compelling, amazing translation, beautifully written. A sequence of terrible events told in great detail through the narrative of the guardian angel of the protagonist for a unique perspective of morality on the complexity of being human during WWII. A great read but be prepared for a fairly disappointing and unfulfilling end. (Would still highly recommend to lawyers, recovering alcoholics, WWII enthusiasts and those who enjoy complex reasoning around morality.)
April 7, 2010
It took me quite a while to finish, but I loved this. W.F. Hermans is a fantastic writer, it was written very poetically. Definitively a must-read for Dutch people.
June 22, 2012
Wat vermoeiend om in het hoofd te zitten van een onzekere, piekerende man, en die plaats ook nog te moeten delen met een engel en een duivel.
February 9, 2024
Remember Wim Wenders’ 1987 movie Wings of Desire? My wife and I introduced our daughter to it recently. I’m still mesmerized by the first two thirds of the film. Bruno Ganz plays a melancholy angel wandering around late Cold War Berlin listening to the thoughts of mortals, sometimes invisibly comforting them, and keeping a journal of his observations – all in glorious black and white.
I thought of the movie when I started reading Willem Frederik Hermans’ A Guardian Angel Recalls. Published in 1971, the novel is set in the early days of WWII and concerns the fate of a lonely Dutch prosecutor who, accidentally and unobserved, kills a Jewish child on the eve of the Nazi invasion of The Netherlands. The tale is narrated by his guardian angel.
I believe I’ve now read all of Hermans’ novels currently available in English translation (thank you, Pushkin Press). An Untouched House, The Darkroom of Damocles, and Beyond Sleep might each be described as works of literary nihilism – and yet they’re often humorous, and each is a page-turner.
A Guardian Angel Recalls is very much Hermans in theme and tone, but it makes me wonder if he wasn’t really a nihilist at heart. There’s a difference, after all, between someone who believes moral judgments are acts of creative imagination and someone who just has a profoundly low estimate of human beings’ capacity to act and judge morally.
What happens when collective calamities overtake our personal calamities? Are personal sins (of commission or omission) thereby absolved, or does the machinery of apocalypse grind justly over the bones of a world where, in our hearts, “everyone has secretly run over and killed a child”?
Hermans’ guardian angel confides to the reader:
“One of the most terrible things we’ve been struggling with for eons now is the devil’s way of successfully using the same admonitions as we do, and poor mankind’s failure to notice the small, diabolical differences. They no longer know who they are listening to – the devil or their guardian angel – because they hear the same advice from both. It’s only once they’ve been led to disastrous acts that they realize it wasn’t God they were listening to, but the devil.”
I thought of the movie when I started reading Willem Frederik Hermans’ A Guardian Angel Recalls. Published in 1971, the novel is set in the early days of WWII and concerns the fate of a lonely Dutch prosecutor who, accidentally and unobserved, kills a Jewish child on the eve of the Nazi invasion of The Netherlands. The tale is narrated by his guardian angel.
I believe I’ve now read all of Hermans’ novels currently available in English translation (thank you, Pushkin Press). An Untouched House, The Darkroom of Damocles, and Beyond Sleep might each be described as works of literary nihilism – and yet they’re often humorous, and each is a page-turner.
A Guardian Angel Recalls is very much Hermans in theme and tone, but it makes me wonder if he wasn’t really a nihilist at heart. There’s a difference, after all, between someone who believes moral judgments are acts of creative imagination and someone who just has a profoundly low estimate of human beings’ capacity to act and judge morally.
What happens when collective calamities overtake our personal calamities? Are personal sins (of commission or omission) thereby absolved, or does the machinery of apocalypse grind justly over the bones of a world where, in our hearts, “everyone has secretly run over and killed a child”?
Hermans’ guardian angel confides to the reader:
“One of the most terrible things we’ve been struggling with for eons now is the devil’s way of successfully using the same admonitions as we do, and poor mankind’s failure to notice the small, diabolical differences. They no longer know who they are listening to – the devil or their guardian angel – because they hear the same advice from both. It’s only once they’ve been led to disastrous acts that they realize it wasn’t God they were listening to, but the devil.”
February 4, 2023
This wonderful war-time story by the late W.F. Hermans is a book of great literary quality.
Storytelling is excellent, all figures are very believable and lifelike in a land of desperation and fear in the beginning of the war in 1940, and people's circumstances and lives in wartime Holland are wonderfully pictured and described.
The tale is set at the beginning of May 1940, and starting off just before the invasion of Holland until a few days during the invasion by Hitler's Nazi Germany and the occupation is a actual fact of history.
The main protagonist is, Bert Alberegt, prosecutor at the Court of Law, who after having said his goodbyes to Sysy, he's involved in a car accident and killing a young Jewish girl in the process.
This accident will haunt him right until the end of the story, even though other terrifying and horrific occurrences will happen to family and friends during this period of wartime with loads of rumours and treason.
During those first few days of occupied Holland, rumours are rife, whether they are true or false, and these rumours will bring terror to the Dutch people, and not to forget also the so-called Fifth Column of members of the NSB and other German friendly people will strike fear and panic whenever they can.
What is to follow is a very intriguing and engaging war-story, in which Bert Alberegt has to overcome his misfortune somehow and this will happen by his guardian angel who's watching and guiding him from his shoulders and showing him the way towards survival, and hopefully in the end towards God and Faith once again.
Very much recommended, for this is another highlight in Dutch literature, but which is also published in English as "A Guardian Angel Recalls", and so to all people I would like to say read this great book and to end this review I would like to call this amazing tale: "A Memorable Guardian Angel"!
Storytelling is excellent, all figures are very believable and lifelike in a land of desperation and fear in the beginning of the war in 1940, and people's circumstances and lives in wartime Holland are wonderfully pictured and described.
The tale is set at the beginning of May 1940, and starting off just before the invasion of Holland until a few days during the invasion by Hitler's Nazi Germany and the occupation is a actual fact of history.
The main protagonist is, Bert Alberegt, prosecutor at the Court of Law, who after having said his goodbyes to Sysy, he's involved in a car accident and killing a young Jewish girl in the process.
This accident will haunt him right until the end of the story, even though other terrifying and horrific occurrences will happen to family and friends during this period of wartime with loads of rumours and treason.
During those first few days of occupied Holland, rumours are rife, whether they are true or false, and these rumours will bring terror to the Dutch people, and not to forget also the so-called Fifth Column of members of the NSB and other German friendly people will strike fear and panic whenever they can.
What is to follow is a very intriguing and engaging war-story, in which Bert Alberegt has to overcome his misfortune somehow and this will happen by his guardian angel who's watching and guiding him from his shoulders and showing him the way towards survival, and hopefully in the end towards God and Faith once again.
Very much recommended, for this is another highlight in Dutch literature, but which is also published in English as "A Guardian Angel Recalls", and so to all people I would like to say read this great book and to end this review I would like to call this amazing tale: "A Memorable Guardian Angel"!
March 24, 2023
I say this with a gulp but I think I have just read a book worthy of Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky, big call. I have been trying to get a copy for a while and Hills Library acceded to my request to buy it. A Guardian Angel Recalls was written in Dutch in 1971 but only recently translated. It is narrated by a guardian angel sitting on the shoulder of a public prosecutor during the days prior to and just after the German invasion. The angel tries valiantly to keep its charge safe and ethical and just, but with the accent on safe however humans, being as they are, the successes are hard won. If I could give this book 10 out of 5 I would, despite it being a subject not usually within my style. It is all written as a contest between the inner voice of Bert who sinks into his obtuse fantasies and resurfaces to think sensibly, for short periods at least. Who could think sensibly with Hitler on the doorstep? The author describes the Dutch Army as 'ninety percent conscientious objectors in uniform', high praise in my opinion and I suspect in the author's. A couple of lines meant for me: 'One often suffers bitter tears, from suffering one only fears.' I cried a few times, not least when I finished it.
October 17, 2025
"'I'm sorry,' Alberegt said, 'I don't know much about it, but you have to admit, I'm not the only one.'
'I see, yes, good comeback. Still that's the very thing I, in turn, don't understand. Always that same bullshit about having to know a lot about it. Could anything be simpler than what I do? Could its simplicity be any more heavenly: blue, just blue? What is there to understand? Nothing, of course. But that's the whole point. Anyone with a brain in their head looks at one of my paintings. They look. They don't wonder what it means because it can't mean anything at all. They don't sit down to study whether or not the brushwork is up to snuff, or if the colors go together, or the composition. And the contrasts. And the this. And the that. All completely irrelevant with Rense's paintings. My paintings aren't there to be thought about, they are there to be and they are. And those who are willing can immerse themselves in them all the same. Those who are sincere can sink into them without thinking.'"
'I see, yes, good comeback. Still that's the very thing I, in turn, don't understand. Always that same bullshit about having to know a lot about it. Could anything be simpler than what I do? Could its simplicity be any more heavenly: blue, just blue? What is there to understand? Nothing, of course. But that's the whole point. Anyone with a brain in their head looks at one of my paintings. They look. They don't wonder what it means because it can't mean anything at all. They don't sit down to study whether or not the brushwork is up to snuff, or if the colors go together, or the composition. And the contrasts. And the this. And the that. All completely irrelevant with Rense's paintings. My paintings aren't there to be thought about, they are there to be and they are. And those who are willing can immerse themselves in them all the same. Those who are sincere can sink into them without thinking.'"
January 19, 2020
Toch één van Hermans zijn betere werken, ik vond het heerlijk.
Ik had het gevoel dat Hermans beter over dit boek heeft nagedacht dan over sommige anderen (kuch, Ik Heb Altijd Gelijk en Onder Professoren). Tijdens, voor en na de eerste paar dagen van het begin van de Tweede Wereldoorlog in Nederland worstelt Albregt met rechtvaardigheid en wat is juist?. Wel of niet naar de politie na het incident? Wel of niet vluchten naar Engeland? Wel of niet aan de drank? Eindeloos wikken en wegend komt hij uiteraard nergens. À la Hermans. Heerlijk.
En dan natuurlijk is het toch wel heel leuk als je je eigen ongewone achternaam tegenkomt op pagina 292. (Er stond Pancras.. geen Pankras, maar het is zo goed als hetzelfde)
Ik had het gevoel dat Hermans beter over dit boek heeft nagedacht dan over sommige anderen (kuch, Ik Heb Altijd Gelijk en Onder Professoren). Tijdens, voor en na de eerste paar dagen van het begin van de Tweede Wereldoorlog in Nederland worstelt Albregt met rechtvaardigheid en wat is juist?. Wel of niet naar de politie na het incident? Wel of niet vluchten naar Engeland? Wel of niet aan de drank? Eindeloos wikken en wegend komt hij uiteraard nergens. À la Hermans. Heerlijk.
En dan natuurlijk is het toch wel heel leuk als je je eigen ongewone achternaam tegenkomt op pagina 292. (Er stond Pancras.. geen Pankras, maar het is zo goed als hetzelfde)
October 25, 2021
Vervreemding, chaos en besluiteloosheid aan het begin van de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Verteld vanuit het perspectief van een officier van justitie, zijn beschermengel en de duivel.
Cynisch ten opzichte van de goede wil en moraal van zowel de Nederlandse bevolking als de bestuurlijke macht:
"Zoals een tuinman zijn recht niet betwijfelt een mierenhoop met petroleum te overgieten en in brand te steken, zo betwijfelen die vliegers hun recht niet ons land te verwoesten. En ze hebben gelijk. Wat ons overkomt is het gevolg van het feit dat we mieren zijn. Dat we niets anders hebben gewild dan mieren zijn en dat we ons verbeeld hebben ons de vernedering van de vlucht nog te kunnen besparen. Maar de koningin is zelf gevlucht."
Cynisch ten opzichte van de goede wil en moraal van zowel de Nederlandse bevolking als de bestuurlijke macht:
"Zoals een tuinman zijn recht niet betwijfelt een mierenhoop met petroleum te overgieten en in brand te steken, zo betwijfelen die vliegers hun recht niet ons land te verwoesten. En ze hebben gelijk. Wat ons overkomt is het gevolg van het feit dat we mieren zijn. Dat we niets anders hebben gewild dan mieren zijn en dat we ons verbeeld hebben ons de vernedering van de vlucht nog te kunnen besparen. Maar de koningin is zelf gevlucht."
January 12, 2026
“Oorlog is maar een gezichtsbedrog waar de stervelingen op aarde aan ten offer vallen. Het is als rode nevel die de ramen beslaat, waardoor alles te zien blijft als tevoren, of een suizen dat in het oor hangt, terwijl alle andere geluiden gewoon doorgaan. Oorlog is in overeenstemming met alle wetten van God en van de natuur. […] Oorlog verandert niets aan de essentie van het leven en niets aan de enkelvoudigheid van de dood, hoewel mensen soms tegelijk kunnen sterven in oorlogstijd. Oorlog verandert ook de moraal niet, want nood breekt wetten en de aarde is tenslotte het paradijs niet, dus er is altijd nood. De mensen worden geboren in Pijn en sterven in Smart en daaraan verandert niets tijdens een oorlog.” (p. 134)
March 29, 2023
Wonderful novel - absolutely worth reading. I read the Dutch language version, but it is available in English.
The author himself was in his early twenties and lived thru World War II in Holland. This novel describes the first 5 days of the Nazi invasion in The Hague, residence of the royal family in The Netherlands. It is fiction, but written by an author who has actually been there to experience it.
The author himself was in his early twenties and lived thru World War II in Holland. This novel describes the first 5 days of the Nazi invasion in The Hague, residence of the royal family in The Netherlands. It is fiction, but written by an author who has actually been there to experience it.
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