The Ten Thousand Things

The Ten Thousand Things / Maria Dermout
Translated from the Dutch by Hans Koning
New York: Vintage, 1984, c1955
244 p.

This classic was a beautiful, dream like book. I first heard of it only last year during WIT Month, and so when I saw it on the shelves of my favourite second hand bookstore I grabbed it.

Set in the Spice Islands of Indonesia, it traces three generations of (mostly) women who live at the Small Garden, a family estate that was once much larger. 

From childhood legends to religious beliefs to the clash of local and Dutch culture, there is a sense of the mysterious about this story. The narrative style reflects this, too. The past seems to live within the present; time is fluid, characters come and go from their different eras in one flowing narrative. 

Felicia returns to the Moluccas from Europe with her baby son, after her husband abandons them. She comes back to the Small Garden where her grandmother still lives, and together they become the ladies of the garden. They make a bit of money for a while selling herbal concoctions, even if trade is beneath their station. They find a way to make it less obvious, with servants and boats and meetings and so forth. They are both still living in a past that is full of legend, rote, mystery, while facing a present of necessity for money, and a soldiering life for her son as he grows. 

The lives of the other inhabitants of the island intertwine with theirs; from the family in the past whose three young daughters, killed young, are said to haunt the Small Garden, to the servants and their extended families, to the colonial soldiers who are based on the island -- they all affect one another sharply.

It's hard to describe this book. It's dreamy, dangerous, dark, deceptively simple. There are moments of sharp violence and fear, and moments of beauty and peace. It evokes a life that stays constant in many ways over generations of this family, a lifestyle that is coming to an end. 

I found the writing to be gorgeously poetic, descriptive and beautiful even when relating terrible events. It felt like an enchantment was woven over the reading experience; I became completely absorbed in the pace and the setting of the story. Definitely a classic to explore, especially if this is an area you're interested in. I didn't know much about this area or its history, so this was a powerful introduction, one that has stayed in my mind for a long time after finishing it.