Thursday, April 23, 2020

Book Review: Someone Found/Surrender by Arthur Japin


bol.com | De overgave (ebook), Arthur Japin | 9789029574266 | Boeken

So, historical fiction. Usually not my cup of tea, but I dig it at times. Mom has been recommending this book to me for years, for it’s “sympathetic realistic portrayal” of the Native American characters and the “writing full of emotion”. Yeah, uh, spoiler alert, neither of them are here.


The story follows the grandmother of Cynthia Ann, a girl who, at young age, gets kidnapped during a Native American raid on their fort. This is because the main character and her family are a bunch of colonizers. It details how “Granny”, the main character, confronts the loss of her granddaughter and how she eventually comes across Cynthia Ann again.

There’s just a whole bunch of problems with this book. First things first, this is a terrible portrayal of the Native Americans. It is full of offensive racist stereotypes, they are portrayed as ruthless and horrible people, no sympathy for them is shown, etc. I also am pretty much devoid of sympathy for the main character. She’s a colonizer, I’m not having sympathy for that. None of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t invaded and bothered the Native Americans like you did.

What else? The writing style. It. Is. Dull. For a story that’s supposed to be full of emotion, this is one dreary boring slog to get through. Japin has one of the least accessible and interesting writing styles I’ve ever encountered. There wasn’t a point in this book where I didn’t feel like putting it down. I honestly only finished it out of spite and no other reason.

This isn’t a long review, but it needn’t be. The point I try to get across is simple. Definite new least favorite book. Not recommended.

Rating: 0.25/5

I read the Dutch version, called De Overgave. I heard there is an English release, too, but to this day can’t find what exactly the English title is and if it is even still available. Either way, be glad if there isn’t even an official English release. Skip out on this one.

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