Customer Reviews

Lamb to the Slaughter

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

The whistle of the first motar you hear will be your reference for the rest of your life to either stay calm or duck like no tomorrow, when you see the horsefeet upsidedown in the snow you know that means no food today... friendly and enemy mortars aiming for the dying soldiers in nomans land just to get rid of the horrifying deathcries... in short it's hell... and if you survive hell that many times u'll prolly need hell to survive normal life... Great story told in a vivid way!

The author of this book was a Dutch boy who joined the German army to escape the boredom and constraints of everyday life. He is not a politically motivated Nazi, just a restless boy who wants to see the world, and throughout his life, he does. This book only begins with this man's harrowing experiences in WWII. From there, it moves on to his wild post-war life which includes brushes with insanity, tumultuous love relationships with people of both sexes, and his eventual career as an artist. He also spends a period working as a social worker with emotionally damaged children in Southeast Asia, and eventually marries a woman of Asian descent. There are no limits to this book; it's a rollercoaster of action and emotion. Regardless of what you might think about Jan Monteyn after reading this book, you will have to admit that he lived his life to the fullest.

A biography with the character of a fictional story, exceptional well written by D.J. Kooiman. Jan Montyn, a Dutch man now living in Amsterdam as a painter, joins as a young boy the German army in the beginning of the second world war. He does not joins the army because of the political situation but he is looking for adventure. He wanted to get out of the paralysing habits he was living. The first oppertunity to get out was with the Young German Army. The consequence of that choice he has to bear throughout his live are incredible and unbelieveble. It's an breathtaking ramble through modern history, from the trenches at the Eastfront to the Napalmbombardments in Vietnam. The beauty of the book is that you are living with Jan Montyn and want him to survive the physical and mental wars he is in. Always looking for adventure, quitte or double. Short sentences: - You win some, you lose some, but you keep on fighting - Live can only be understood backwards, but must be lived forwards, may your live see the dawn.

A silly book which I could not continue reading. Is this fiction or not? It seems far-fetched, and of the same flavor of all the "holocaust writers" looking to make a fast buck by inventing tall tales of human soap and human skin lamp shades, long disproved by the holocaust museum itself. This book fell into that category within the third chapter, and I couldn't be forced to read it any longer.

Review is on the first three chapters only.