The Ten Thousand Things

Rating:
Summary: Mysterious and lovely
Review: Dermout's classic novel is the kind the New York Review of Books Classics loves to bring out: a cult favorite with a one-of-a-kind flavor. The dreamy, simple tone belies the extreme formal complexity of the work: actually consisting really of a novella and several appended tales, the work brings everything together at the conclusion. This is a book to be read and re-read; its mysteries are not readily plumbed but are rewarding nonetheless.

Rating:
Summary: Finely crafted
Review: Maria Dermout's 'The Ten Thousand Things' is a finely crafted piece of writing. This really is a classic in so many ways. A brilliant book well worth the read.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful & True to the Place
Review: Much has been said in praise of this book before, so I would only like to add that not only is it beautifully written, but it also reflects a deep understanding of the place where the story unfolds. Thus the author paints a realistic (though sad) picture of the Moluccas and their people, rather than just using them as an exotic background to her story.

Rating:
Summary: "A singular, mysterious book like nothing else"
Review: Published in Holland in 1955, this has earned a lot of praise for being a singular, mysterious book like nothing else. It's the story of a Indonesian, Felicia, who returns from Holland to her native Indonesia with her baby son.


Rating:
Summary: read it aloud
Review: The Ten Thousand things seems to be a book that inspires comparisons. I've heard Thoreau and Hemingway mentioned, and for my part I kept thinking about Muriel Wylie and Annie Dillard. The Lady of the Small Garden and her night of murders is a wonderful manner to trace life on these Indonesian islands, providing a lush backdrop for the author's meditations on life. Unfortunately, there are places where the translation from the Dutch is a bit clunky and breaks up the text. But those moments are almost entirely forgivable.

Rating:
Summary: Marvelous and Mysterious
Review: This book is nothing short of beautiful. It's descriptions are poetic and transporting. Reading this book is like being privy to the dream life of another, a tantalizing keyhole peep into an enchanting, and sometimes terrifying, dream landscape of a vanished era. Things in Dermout's world are magical and mysterious, but there is a reasuring sense of order that is conveyed both in the narrative (a catalog of things) and in the perfect craft of her writing.