Here you will find a book report about Boudewijn Buch’s book The little blonde death. This report is for reference only, and should never be used as an exact copy for school. You can use it for questions for your book report that you do not know exactly how it was.
Baudouin Buch – The little blonde dead
- Title: The little blonde dead
- Author: Baudouin Büch
- First print: June 1984
- Number of pages: 220
- Kind of work: (Psychological novel
- Literary movement: Modern Literature
- The author of the book here is the I person, Boudewijn Büch, through whose eyes the reader experiences the story.
- The perspective is clearly the I perspective, with Boudewijn Büch being the I person. You experience his own past through his own eyes, as well as everything he does with his son.
- Time does not run chronologically, there is always alternating between his past and the present with his son Micky.
How much time elapses between the first and last page?
About 20 years, because his childhood is described from about the age of five, until the death of his son, who is 5 years old at that time. He became a father at the age of 20, and together that makes about 20 years.
Chapters
The story is divided into chapters. Some chapters are about his childhood, others about the present day, where Micky was born. So the story is also split into 2 parts, as it were.
Space:
Most of it takes place in Boudewijn’s hometown and some of it takes place in the institution of Boudewijn’s grandmother and the hospital.
Describe the theme in max. 15 words:
Boudewijn’s psychologically difficult past in relation to his father.
Name the motives:
- Homosexuality: Each time a passage comes back in which someone addresses him about his homosexuality, which he eventually finds out himself.
- War: Baudouin’s father is getting more and more insane. He suffered enormous trauma from the war.
Explain the title (and possibly the subtitle):
The little blonde death means Micky, a blonde boy, son of Boudewijn, who dies on his 5th.
Name the motto:
There is not one motto in this book. All kinds of quotes from famous people are given, each of which has a relationship to the book in their own way.
Cite relevant biographical details of the author:
Boudewijn Maria Ignatius Buch was born on December 14, 1948 in The Hague and grew up in Wassenaar together with his five brothers – four of whom are older. As a child, Buch suffered greatly from the poor marriage of his Jewish parents who had become Catholic, who sent their unruly son to a juvenile psychiatric institution in Brabant at the age of eleven. Not long after his return, almost a year later, his parents divorced. His father, traumatized by the war, with whom Buch had a very close relationship as a child, would eventually commit suicide after several unsuccessful attempts.
After studying Dutch, German and philosophy, Buch made his debut in 1976 with his first collection of poetry, Rather Sad Songs for Little Gijs. Even before his debut, Buch enjoyed some fame, mainly Randstad, for his contributions to numerous newspapers and magazines. He wrote regularly about his idols Goethe and Mick Jagger. His only pseudonym is Lothar Mantoua, a name that occasionally appears in his autobiographical novels. From 1984 to 1988 he had his own TV program at the VARA: Buchs Boeken. From 1988 to the present day he presents at the VARA The World of Boudewijn Buch, in which he travels to all corners of the world.
Give a short and concise summary
Boudewijn Buch has a traumatic childhood. His father is a war veteran, but has bad memories of the war. Baudouin suffers under the tyranny of his father, just like the rest of the family. He even ends up in a clinic at the age of 10. But as an adult, he gets into a relationship with Mieke, a 14 year older woman who was once his teacher. They have a child together, Micky, who dies at a very young age. Mieke is an alcohol addict, so she cannot properly educate Micky. That is why he often goes out with Boudewijn.
In the book the reader gets a lot of information about Boudewijn ?? s childhood, and his life as it is with Mieke and Micky.
Grounds for the choice:
What were your expectations?
I already knew that Büch’s books would be strong and special. I have heard this from all kinds of sources. Furthermore, I thought it would be nice to read about his past, I like book.
By whom or what raised these expectations?
Especially the blurb, but also other sources in recent years, from which I concluded that Büch was a very good writer.
Processing:
Indicate which passages have impressed you and why exactly those?
Page 53: “He stood on the doorstep of the room with his coat on, yelling,“ You’re secretly celebrating Christmas. I’m smashing the case here! You know I banned it! ?? My mother walked up to him and put her hands on her shoulders. ??That is not true. The boys just play a game and eat peanuts. Isn’t that allowed ??? My father slapped her hard in the face, mowed the peanuts, peanut shells and games off the table with his arms, knocked us left and right from the chairs.
This passage has impressed me, because I find it strange at first that there should be no celebration. Then the father is very quick to judge and reacts to both his wife and the children by hitting them!
Describe the characters of the most important people:
- Baldwin Büch: This is the writer of the book, who himself is the I person in the story. He had a very dramatic childhood and his father did not make things any better. At a young age he is a quiet boy, but at the age of ten he is admitted to a clinic. He also finds out at a later age that he is homosexual.
- Father: A war veteran who survived the war. He has suffered, and the whole family suffers from his tyranny. He is of Jewish descent. Later he commits suicide.
- Mother: Baldwin’s mother wants to protect her children from father’s tyranny. She is very caring for her children, but later she does not want to see Boudewijn’s child. She is Italian.
- Mieke: It is very clearly described in the book that she is a 14 years older woman, 14 years older than Boudewijn that is, but they do have a relationship. She used to be a teacher of Boudewijn. Together they have a son, Micky. She is also an alcohol addict.
- Micky: As said, Micky is the son of Mieke and Boudewijn. He is very interested in all kinds of things and constantly asks Boudewijn why something is the way it is, or what something is. He dies when he is 5 years old.
What question would you like to ask who in the story and why?
To Mieke: Didn’t you realize that your son, Micky, could have a better life if you weren’t an alcohol addict yourself? Now he only marches with his father, who makes him eat, drink or do all kinds of unhealthy and irresponsible things.
Think of an alternative title for the work and justify your choice
Anger, pain and fear These are all emotions common in the book. They all relate to the family of Father Büch, Mother Büch and Boudewijn as well as the family that Boudewijn will later have herself, with Mieke and Micky.
Evaluation:
The subject:
The subject certainly appealed to me, which was also the reason why I chose this book. I have never experienced a war myself, fortunately, but there are still tensions between countries in the world, which could lead to another minor war, as was the case in Iraq. I haven’t thought about it much myself, but sometimes. Wars are often unnecessary, are dramatic and cause unnecessary casualties. Also in this book you see one of the drawbacks of a war, the trauma that you can end up with. Furthermore, the subject was dealt with thoroughly, because the whole book revolved around aspects of the war, or at least things related to it. The subject is fine as it is. Of course there are comparable films and books about the war, a lot in fact, but I do not compare this book with other books and films, because they often focus on the war itself, and not the psychological background.
The Events:
In this book, the feelings of especially Boudewijn, as the main character of the book, were the most important. Not many special things happened, but the things that happened were drastic or shocking. Of course, Micky’s death was a tragic loss. I thought that in reality everything could have happened that way. There were no events in it that could never happen. It did not touch me further, because it is and remains a book, but I did keep in mind that it was an autobiography of Boudewijn ?? s life. So it was all reality, and so even more drastic when you read it.
The persons:
The main character, Boudewijn, was in my opinion a lifelike person. He didn’t do or think inhuman things, as far as I know. He was easy to understand, and somehow I felt sorry for him. Especially with his bad childhood and his father who held the family in his power like a tyrant. Baudouin was not someone who resembles me, I did not recognize any of my qualities in him. The only relationship I had with the people in the book was that it was the same family structure as in real life. Grandpa, Grandma, Father, Mother, Child, the standard stuff. But the characters of the persons did not correspond at all to a person I know.
The Superstructure:
I could read the story well, had few problems. The narrative perspective made it even easier and smoother to read. The tricky part was the changing timeline. Time and again the question was where we were: In Boudewijn’s youth, or in his later life. I did not find the book particularly exciting, because it was not a book that focused on the events. I don’t really find a city during Queen’s Day where such exciting things can happen. I thought the end was a bit silly, short pieces with strange revelations.
Language use:
Büch did not use difficult words, which allowed me to read it fluently without too much effort. In any case, that effort was not due to the language. Everything was described clearly and often even in great detail. The dialogues were clear and fairly distributed across the story. This was a nice book, but remembering things from a book, such as passages, will not happen very quickly.