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Book Review: The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
Summary:
Corrie Ten Boom and her family of watchmakers (she was the first licensed woman watchmaker in the Netherlands) are known for their work in the Dutch underground, both hiding Jewish people and doing organizing work for the underground. She and her sister Betsie did this work with their father. She and Betsie were in their 50s during this work. All three of them were ultimately arrested, and Corrie and Betsie were ultimately sent to the infamous Ravensbrück concentration camp. Corrie survived and started a home to help people refind their footing after the War.
Review:
This was one of my favorite books as a little girl. I had a fascination with WWII (still do) and was utterly enamored with Corrie. I distinctly remember that the paperback book I read was borrowed, but am uncertain if I borrowed it from my grandmother or from the church library. In any case, I decided it was high time I re-read this favored book as an adult and see if it withstood my now adult sensibilities. It certainly did.
The Ten Boom’s family commitment to not only do what is right but also to discern what that right thing might be is incredible. Corrie’s ability to be peaceful and not embittered after the War and everything she went through is also amazing. She is honest about who it was more difficult to forgive than others, and how she found the ability to. I believe any reader will be fascinated by the beginning of the book, which details how her family lived as watchmakers in Amsterdam, how they began hiding Jewish people, and how they came to largely run parts of the underground in Amsterdam. The sections about her capture and imprisonment are remarkable for their combination of honesty about the suffering combined with clear forgiveness and lack of bitterness for her captors.
When He [God] tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself. (86% into the digital edition”
Corrie also demonstrates a viewpoint of both the body and soul needing to be cared for in order for the human being to be completely well and whole. She notes both when a German captor is clearly well cared-for but wanting in soul care and when a prisoner is happy in the soul but wretched in the body, noting neither is as God intended.
Corrie’s commitment to peace is also seen following the war when she establishes and runs a home to help all people (no matter which side they were on) find their way again after the war. Truly an inspiration in peace work. It’s also inspiring that she didn’t find this labor until she was in her 50s. An indicator that our calling may not fully come until later in life.
5 out of 5 stars
Length: 273 pages – average but on the shorter side
Source: Library
Buy It (Amazon or Bookshop.org)
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Black Literature on Opinions of a Wolf
I have always been committed to reading from diverse authors. I think it’s important for reading to not only be fun but also to broaden my worldview. Additionally, I like to vote with my dollars (or my advanced copy request at NetGalley or my hold request at the library) to help make it clear that diversity matters.
I have made it clear on Instagram that I support Black Lives Matter, but for those who don’t follow me there, I wanted to also make it clear here. I thought what better way than to provide you with a list of books I’ve previously read and reviewed on this book blog by Black authors to help you support the Blackout Bestseller List movement started by Amistad Books. “Saturday June 13 – Saturday June 20, we encourage you to purchase any two books by Black writers.” (source)
The list will be title, author, genre, who I recommend it to, and buy it link. The title will link to my review. If I’ve only reviewed it in short form on GoodReads, it will link there.
List is presented alphabetically by author last name.
- With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo, contemporary YA, for those who love cooking shows and Latinx culture, buy it
- Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, contemporary (trigger warning for abuse), for those who love a highly literary story, buy it
- Brothers (and Me): A Memoir of Loving and Giving by Donna Britta, memoir, for women with siblings who are men or who are raising sons, buy it
- The Xenogenesis trilogy by Octavia Butler (link goes to first book in trilogy), scifi, for those who want a twist on an alien invasion, buy it
- The Earthseed trilogy by Octavia Butler (link goes to first book in trilogy), scifi, for those who want a twist on dystopia, buy it
- Kindred by Octavia Butler, fantasy, for those who want a real and raw time travel story, buy it
- Like One of the Family by Alice Childress, short story collection, for those who want the maid’s perspective on being “like one of the family,” buy it
- Living in, Living Out: African American Domestics in Washington, D.C., 1910-1940 by Elizabeth Clark-Lewis, nonfiction history, for those who want an oral history of the great migration, buy it
- Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert, contemporary LGBTQIA YA, for those wanting representation of a blended family facing mental illness, buy it
- Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom by bell hooks, nonfiction educational literature, for those interested in transformative pedagogy, buy it
- Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, historic fiction, for everyone (this is one of my favorite books) ok a more specific recommendation…..for those looking for a truly tear-jerking story set in Florida, buy it
- The Book of Night Women by Marlon James, historic fiction, for those looking for a heartbreaking historic read set in Jamaica, buy it
- The Untelling by Tayari Jones, contemporary fiction, for those wanting to see what impact a maybe pregnancy has on a relationship, buy it
- Leaving Atlanta by Tayari Jones, historic fiction, for those looking for a multiple perspective historic fiction set in the mid 20th century centering around kidnappings, buy it
- Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Lamon, memoir (trigger warning for abuse), for those looking to address their weight bias or see a Black perspective on weight bias, buy it
- Coming of Age in Mississippi: The Classic Autobiography of a Young Black Girl in the Rural South by Anne Moody, memoir, for those looking for an in-the-moment depiction (this was published in 1968) of Jim Crow from a Black perspective, buy it
- Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely, mystery, for those who love a cozy mystery, buy it
- Tail of the Blue Bird by Nii Ayikwei Parkes, mystery combined with magical realism, for those who love a detective story and don’t mind some magic tossed in, buy it
- The Street by Ann Petry, historic fiction, for those who want a family drama or who enjoy settings in the 1940s or Harlem, buy it
- Everlasting: Da Eb’Bulastin by Rasheedah Prioleau, fantasy horror, for those who want to see what might happen with a curse on an island that’s half Gullah and half Indigenous, buy it
- Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by Adrienne Maree Brown, nonfiction, for those who want to lead and facilitate change, buy it
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker, historic fiction LGBTQIA, for those looking for a moving female/female romance set in the early 20th century in the American South, buy it
- Meridian by Alice Walker, historic fiction, for those who want a story set during the Civil Rights era, buy it
- Fire Baptized by Kenya Wright, urban fantasy, for urban fantasy lovers looking for some fun twists like the addition of Santeria, buy it
This work by Amanda Nevius is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Opinions of a Wolf 