Childhood: Two Novellas

This humorous yet wrenching volume comprises two psychologically acute novellas by Reve (The Evenings). In the first novella, “Werther Nieland,” Elmer, an 11-year-old living in Amsterdam, loves to create secret societies that resemble dictatorships over his friends. But after he meets Werther Nieland, a boy who is the friend of his neighbor, Elmer develops an obsession with him. By showing Elmer’s darkest thoughts and actions, including torturing animals and physically and mentally attacking his friends, Reve allows Elmer to stand out as a strange and despicable, albeit comical, character in what would otherwise be a children’s story. The second novella, “The Fall of the Boslowits Family” stands out as a heartbreaking account of a Jewish family in the Netherlands during WWII. Simon, a young man, tells the story of his family’s relationship with their friends Hans and Jaane Boslowits and their sons, Otto and Hans. Reve often jumps forward in time, effectively demonstrating how quickly the Nazis invaded the country and set out to systemically exterminate the Jews, and how the Boslowits family was torn apart and ruined. In this story, Reve’s characters pass no overt judgments and make no moralizing comments, but by simply recounting the acts as they affected the young narrator, Reve paints a devastating, terrifying portrait of a pivotal era. Together, these two novellas showcase the author’s excellent range. (Mar.)