Out of Mind

By J. Bernlef

Book Overview

Maarten, a Dutch immigrant and a survivor of the Nazi invasion of Holland, finds senility gradually robbing him of his identity.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879237341
• ISBN13: 9780879237349
• Release Date: August 1989
• Publisher: David R Godine
• Length: 150 Pages
• Weight: 0.77 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 0.6" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

A painful and poetic picture of 'losing it'

Martens and Vera Klein natives of Holland are retired, living by the sea in Gloucester, Mass. Suddenly Martens begins to lose his orientation, grip on the world and on himself. This is in one sense loss of memory but in another loss of recognition of familiar things. The novel traces the process of this loss while at the same time telling the story of the lives of the couple. It is written in a sharp, clear poetic prose. We see the decline through the first- person narration of the victim. What we get is supposed to be what he experiences and thinks. There are many especially poignant scenes including those relating to the times when the couple were younger, raising their children. The picture of the decline had to me a frightening authenticity about it.

A fascinating first-person view on old age dementia

I did not actually read the English version, but I assume 'Out of Mind' is the English title for the Dutch "Hersenschimmen" (more literal translation: figments of the mind) by Bernlef, which I did read. The book describes the thoughts of an old man who is suffering from old age dementia; in a short period he deteriorates from reasonably clear-minded to 'totally lost'. At times, his thoughts still make amazingly much sense, even at the end of the book.