tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5916640680794365241.post2267274684502683868..comments2023-09-10T19:29:28.614+10:00Comments on Bait For Bookworms: Dog Bite Degustation: Mulisch's "The Assault"The Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09438661852327001822noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5916640680794365241.post-44294387653113957762015-03-06T08:43:01.562+11:002015-03-06T08:43:01.562+11:00If Ploeg was a double agent why was he assissinate...If Ploeg was a double agent why was he assissinated by the resistance? <br />Could he have been murdered by one part of the resistance that did not know he was a double agent because he was working for another part of the resistance? That would certianly be plausible as the resistance in each NAZI occupied country was a loose coalition of groups that ranged from traditional conservative to Stalinist. But I think that if you know the history of the Netherlands you could come to an even more incredible conclusion.<br />If the secret that was explicitly revealed in this book left you in a state of shock, as it did me, the secret hinted at over and over but never stated anywhere, and that I think the book challenges us to discover, will knock you off your feet. <br />It is for this reason that I think that this book is the most underrated book of the 20th century.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5916640680794365241.post-75406488697991474892015-03-03T03:41:06.487+11:002015-03-03T03:41:06.487+11:00Could there be an even deeper secret be found in t...Could there be an even deeper secret be found in the book than the one that was actually revealed at the end of the book? Does one secret explicitly revealed hide an even deeper secret that is only implied but is of even of a much greater magnitude than the one that is feed to the reader? Early on in the story Anton is reading about a time capsule. His father states, the better you understand history the better you understand the present. Later when Anton is in the jail cell with the woman who was wounded in the attack on Ploeg and captured afterwards, she tells Anton, Ploeg had to die because he could have betrayed many more. I have to wonder what made Ploeg different from any other member of the Gestapo who the collaborators worked with? Was Ploeg different? Was Ploeg actually an Idiot as the Gestapo agent who conducted the interrogation of the Kortiwiks claimed when he remarked that only an idiot would ride home at night in the dark on a bicycle when he was working for the Gestapo? Did the author actually spell the truth out for you but you could not recognize it because it would mean you would have to confront something so terrifying and so troubling you would prefer not to deal with it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com