Cruel Paradise: Life Stories of Dutch Emigrants [Paperback]

Hylke Speerstra (Author), Henry J. Baron (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0802828019 | ISBN-13: 978-0802828019 | Publication Date: March 1, 2005

Cruel Paradise deftly weaves together the firsthand stories of men and women who emigrated from the Netherlands throughout the twentieth century. A skilled stylist with an unassuming presence, Hylke Speerstra brings readers along as he circles the globe interviewing transplanted Netherlanders in the United States, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. Combining elements of memoir and travelogue, his narrative speaks to universal human experience as it vividly recounts the trials and successes of these emigrants. Common themes of personal identity and family, uprootedness and loss, nostalgia and bittersweet joy run throughout the book. Yet these emigrants have had very diverse life experiences. Some have become affluent beyond imagining, brushing elbows with Rockefellers, Kennedys, and movie producers; others have spent the better part of a lifetime eking out their living as farmers. Often poignant, sometimes amusing, always memorable, these stories provide a moving tribute to those who left their homeland behind with little more than uncertain hopes for their children. Cruel Paradise will interest all readers of memoirs or travel literature, especially those with Dutch connections or with emigrant tales of their own.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (March 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802828019
• ISBN-13: 978-0802828019
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,426,667 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good translation, abridged, February 26, 2009

By 

AM Wink - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cruel Paradise: Life Stories of Dutch Emigrants (Paperback)

This book contains some of the stories in Hylke Speerstra's original Frisian book "It Wrede Paradys". The original contains about twice as many stories as the English translation. While the translation is very good, it is a bit of a shame that so much has been left out. If it had been complete it would have got the 5* that the original definitely deserves.