Harry Mulisch: THE ASSAULT

In Anton Steenwijk’s neighborhood a Nazi collaborator was shot dead. Their neighbors dragged the dead man’s body in front of their house. The ‘authorities’ retaliated and killed Anton’s brother and parents. He spent a night in prison. The following day he was delivered to his uncle in Amsterdam. Anton was 12 years old. Growing up, Anton repressed his memories of the assault. He never thought of revenge. Indifferent, he just wanted to forget. However, there were chance encounters with people he knew in his past that forced him to come into terms with it and, little by little, pieced out what happened that night. Shocking?

The Assault is a powerful narrative by the world-renowned Dutch author Harry Mulish. In 1985, it was made into a film that won Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Award the following year.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

{23 October 2010}