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Customer Reviews of The Assault

A very good read
Spanning from WWII to the 1980's is a very difficult task. To do this in 180 pages is near impossible. Mulisch does this successfully with The Assault. This story follows Anton as his family is murdered for simply having a member of the Nazi party dead in front of their house. Anton suppresses the memories of the events and restarts his live with his aunt and uncle. Through out his life though people continue to show up and jar his memory and desire to understand what happened.

Mulisch could have made this story longer and no one would have complained. He is poetic in his language and lets his readers find the details instead of revealing them. The 5th star is absent because I felt the book had some political preachiness and it seemed unrealistic for the Anton character to move on the way he does.

All in all it was a very good and quick read. Suggested for all ages.

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Simply a must-read masterpiece
1945. The Second World War is running to its end. A cold winters evening in the Dutch city of Haarlem. The Steenwijk family is sitting around a small fire. Suddenly six gunshots disturb the silence outside. Then a singular cry of pain. Never will Anton Steenwijk forget the images of that dreadful day when he, at the age of twelve, losses almost everything. Now, years later, he has to suffer those horrors again, when the truth finally starts to unfold.

Although the setting is clearly World War II, this story is not relating the heroics of soldiers or people active in the resistance. It describes the personal search for truth of a man who doesn't realise how much impact things he thought to have banished from memory have on his life. During his search he stumbles onto information that will change him completely.

The way Harry Mulisch has depicted the person of Anton Steenwijk is undoubtedly the most powerful asset of this book. Anton does not want to find the truth, but still the truth wants to be found. And what he unwillingly uncovers does not only startle him, but also leaves the reader with topics to think about. Isn't everybody guilty and not guilty at the same time?

This book reads like a train and engulfs the reader to the extend that he will never be able to forget the history of Anton Steenwijk.

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Just Amazing
Last year in english class this was the last book we had to read. It was amazing. Mulisch draws the reader into the book with amazing skill, slowing bringing the reader into a spirrial of consindences and chance meetings.
It follows the story of a biy called Anton, towards the end of the war a important official is killed outside his house. It takes the reader through the rest of his life and although Anton attepmted to forget, the past kept coming up until he discoved the truth about what happend.
This has to be one of the best books I have ever read. I would recomend it to anyone.