Yoel Blum is an Israeli writer who travels to Amsterdam for an upcoming book where he goes to a Holocaust museum and finds a picture of his mother, father, sister, and a little boy who isn't him. Thus begins his search to find out the truth of the little boy and himself as well. Thus begins a journey of discovery and while this is a fictional account, there were and are many people who are also making this journey, finding their families in these museums and trying to put together their histories which have been buried in the past. My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had a issues with the Yoel switching back and forth from past to present. Add Joel's mother to the mix and it was just too much. A lot of reminiscing about Yoel's childhood in Israel. I needed a clearer path to answers.

In House on Endless Waters Emuna Elon has written a lovely and intricately layered lyrical and captivating story of an Israeli novelist, Yoel Blum, who searches for the truth about his family origins and finds family secrets and the truth about himself and the ability to love. Set mostly in Amsterdam during WWII and today, the novel weaves the two periods effortlessly, just as they become woven in reality. It is rare to find a novel that plumbs such depths while appealing to readers who may be seeking a novel only to pass some time, but Elon succeeds brilliantly. Anthony Berrus' and Linda Yechiel's excellent translation hiccups only once (translating "minyan" as Quorum," which is technically correct but still amiss in its context: a minyan is a minyan). House on Endless Waters continues to linger in my mind, a staying power I'm loathe to have disappear. Highly recommended.

I may be in the minority here, but as much as I wanted to love this book, it just did not work for me. I finished it, but only because I wanted to know what happened to the 2 young boys from the 2 families. I just struggled with too many things. I enjoyed the part of the story taking place during the war, but I did not find the part with the Yoel in present day Amsterdam grabbing me. In fact, I found myself skipping over those sections. Beautiful cover and lyrical title.

House on Endless Waters is a emotional historical novel. The two different time frames can be a bit confusing at times. The characters are well and and the storyline is interesting.

I liked the premise of the book. An author learns his mother's secret. He returns to Amsterdam to research the story to fictionalize it for his next book. My biggest complaint about the story is the narrative becomes jumbled. It's no longer Yoel, it's now his fictional story about his life, and then flashbacks to his relationship with his mother. It all begins to merge together into one confused state and it's hard to differentiate the characters and time span. Some of the characters were fairly flat and one dimensional as well.

This was a most interesting and sometimes confusing read. The cons, the book has numbered chapters, but it also switches, sometimes multiple times in the same chapter from what I could recollect as, Yoel’s present situation, Sonia’s past situation and then sometimes it is what Yoel is telling himself he is going to write in his book. I had to re-read or backup many times in order to understand what was going on.
On the pro side, following along with Yoel in his quest to find who he is and seeing his transformation is rewarding. I also felt there are several paragraphs in here that are the best descriptions of the restrictions for the Jews in Amsterdam that I have read, they were absolutely eye-opening and heartbreaking. This is not a light easy read, it is a deep, soul searching and rewarding experience. My only wish would be if it had been a little bit more fluid. This one comes in with 4 stars.
I was given the opportunity to receive this book from Atria Books through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. This one gets 4****’s.

My thanks to #NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for an honest review. Emuna Elon has presented a powerful, poignant story of love and loss, set in both modern day and the nightmare of the Holocaust. Upon the death of his Yoel Blum, a distinguished Jewish author sets out to discover his family’s history in Amsterdam, a city to which his mother advised him against returning. What enfolds is a very vivid account of Yoel’s mother’s escape from the Nazis, which Yoel begins to pen in his notebooks as a draft for a novel. The novel morphs from Elon’s work, to Yoel’s story, back and forth until the two accounts are nearly seamless. This is a beautiful, soulful, and important work of the soul, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Yoel Blum travels to Amsterdam for his Dutch book translation. By visiting Amsterdam, he breaks a promise to his mother who has passed away some time ago. While visiting a local museum with his wife, Yoel views an old faded movie clip. He is stunned to recognize someone in the short, archival trailer and finds himself overwhelmed with a need to explore what he has seen.

Unable to accept it as coincidence, Yoel is convinced that he was meant to see the old film and sets out on an unexpected quest to unravel the mystery of his past.

An excellent narrative of Amsterdam’s Jewish history during WWII and Nazi occupied Netherlands, Elon’s writing is intense, descriptive and detailed.

Through Yoel’s writing, Elon takes the reader into Yoel’s personal inner struggle, and on his journey of reflecting on his life, and self-discovery.

House on Endless Waters is not a fast read – it steadily and quietly engrosses the reader the further along in the book you go, and it is well worth the time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the read of Emuna Elon’s, House on Endless Waters.

The opinions expressed in my reviews are my own.

Yoel Blum grew up in a quiet, solemn, and secure home with his mother and older sister. He became an author, and due to his fame, he must break the one important rule his mother always begged of him: never go to Amsterdam. She’s passed on, though, so Yoel sees no harm in attending book signings that are scheduled there.
He and his wife visit the Holocaust Memorial Museum and are shocked to see Yoel’s mother in numerous wedding pictures with her husband and two children, but the baby boy obviously isn’t Yoel. Thus begins a soul-searching and painful journey of discovery for Yoel that at times creates more questions than answers. Thanks to the support of his loving wife, numerous strangers he meets along the way, and his reconnection with his favorite grandson Yoel is able to sketch a scenario of his possible youth. But the fine lines between history and the present begin to blur for Yoel. Sometimes the past should be left untouched, our parents’ requests honored.
Beautifully written with quiet and solemn respect, Emuna Elon brings WWII Amsterdam into the light with the actions and inactions of its residents as the worst and best of humanity is laid bare.
(I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks so much to Atria Books and NetGalley for making it available.)

I'm European so I can't say "I didn't know what happened in Amsterdam during WWII" as Anna Frank Diary was something I had to read at 12 and my father was involved in helping the Jews to run to Switzerland.
That said it was a great read that does a great job in depicting a historical period and what happened in Netherlands during the WWII to Jew children.
I liked both the parts the contemporary and historical, I think that the writer wrote well thought and fleshed out characters and the plot is poignant and engrossing.
Strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

A powerful novel of love and loss, poignantly exploring the lives of those who survived an historical nightmare. This was a moment in history I knew little about--readers will be moved and haunted by these characters and their fates. Definitely recommended!

I usually try to avoid novels with subject matter that I know is going to break my heart, but I'm glad this time I didn't shy away. Amsterdam's Jewish history during WWII is something I knew little or nothing about, but through the unfolding of our main character's journey to discovering his past, some of the heartbreak of this terrible time is told.
I admit that it took me a bit to get into the story and to stick with it, but I'm glad that I did just that, because it was a well crafted and enlightening story.

Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley

When Yoel Blum breaks a promise to his dead mother by traveling to Amsterdam to celebrate the Dutch translation of one of his books, he does not know what path he has started to trod on.
Blum was born during the Second War when the Nazis occupied the Netherlands. His family lived in the Netherlands. His discovery of a family secret leads to an extended stay in the country as well as discovery aspects of himself that he though long dead. The story is told through Blum’s writing of a novel as well as his own mediations and experiences.
The best part of the book are the sections where Blum interacts with Amsterdam and his family. The book that he is writing is, the story of his family, is less engrossing. In part, this is because the family secret is easy to figure out. But the beauty of the writing in describing Blum’s internal conflict – not only with his newly discovered past but also with his present life.
The work is also a mediation of the effects of the Holocaust on those generation of adults who were hidden as children who faced not only the dangers of survival but also the trauma of being left by and then reunited with family. Elon also ties into the effect on the families of the present. It is this reason why Blum’s relationship with his family feels far more interesting than the plot set in WWII Amsterdam. Though to give Elon credit she does highlight the more common Dutch story than the one that everyone knows about Anne Frank.
Elon also writes Amsterdam extremely well. The descriptions of Blum walking though the city are beautifully written.

I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

I just can’t connect with the book. I don’t like writing style and Yoel seems beyond me. I’m often confused about if the story is taking place in the present or the past and who exactly is talking.

It seems like a book I would love, but after getting to 40% I’m giving up. There are to many other books to read before I die...

Sorry Emuna Elon.

What a beautiful and captivating novel.
During a business trip to Amsterdam, Yoel Blum, a famous Israeli author, discovers a rather puzzling and mysterious picture of his mother. As he investigates this enigma, he decides to make this quest the base for his new novel.
What follows is a marvellous story about love, loss, and fear.
The story is situated in two separate time frames in Amsterdam, one in WW II, the other in the 21 st century. As the writer gets more and more information, you feel his imagination growing and it seems that the time frames are melting together.
A must read!

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was excited to read this novel based on the many five star reviews. It started drawing me in at the very beginning but for me sorry to say, it totally fell apart, once Yoel goes back to Amsterdam the second time. I found it very confusing and disjointed, the constant back and forth between past, present, dreams, imaginings, etc. I never knew what time period the author is in at any one time. I also found strange Yoel looking into other people’s houses, apartments and lives taking advantage of apparently the Dutch do not draw their curtains. On the positive side, most of the writing was beautiful, truly a great work of translation from the original Hebrew. For me, this book only deserves 3 stars.
Thanks NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the advanced copy.

I selected this book as I knew little about Amsterdam and even less about what went on in the Netherlands during WWII. I did get some good insight on those topics, but what turned out to be even better was the unexpected incredible slice of life that actually was the focus of the novel.

Yoel Blum is a famous Jewish novelist. For reasons unclear to him, his mother Sonia, now dead, told him never to return to his birthplace, Amsterdam, where he spent his first couple of years before relocating to Israel with his mother and older sister Nettie. Many years later, he reluctantly does return to Amsterdam at the insistence of his publisher for the sake of a book tour. With that trip and finally some information from his sister he becomes inspired to search out his family history, especially during the time of WWII when he was a baby. He feels he is on the precipice of writing the best novel of his life. And that novel will revolve around his search for self.

House on Endless Waters is a magnificent character study of Yoel Blum. As he searches for the truth as to who he is and what really happened all those years ago, he learns about himself and he learns about love--how to feel it, how to live it, and how to give it. This is a novel that spends a lot of time with introspection, which for the most part I enjoyed. Yoel takes snippets of information that he obtained from Nettie, adds his observations, and lets it all marinate. He then weaves his perceptions into a beautiful account of how history may have played out all those years ago. During his journey, Yoel finds new relationships, some with people he has known for years, including himself, and a rejuvenation of his life.

The writing is phenomenal. The prose is outstanding and projects beautiful imagery with a minimum of words. The layout of the storyline is truly unique. The usual alternating chapters moving back and forth in time are not the style here. We have a paragraph or even several pages of Yoel’s thoughts, then a transfer to Amsterdam in the 1940s that is the novel Yoel is piecing together, then to images of present day Amsterdam, and so forth. It sounds like it could be a confusing mess, but asterisks separate the different viewpoints, and the flow is amazingly seamless. I was astounded to learn the book is a translation. The translator is obviously an extraordinary writer herself and deserves much credit for her accomplishment. I would be shocked if anything was lost in translation—the book is that moving.

I do have to reluctantly deduct a star because of the slower pace. This was especially noticeable before I connected with Yoel. Once that happened, the pace picked up nicely. I must warn you though that this is a slow burn. Be in the mood to take your time and savor the story and the images.

I strongly recommend House on Endless Waters to all fans of historical fiction, character-driven stories, and literary fiction. This book is special. I hope people discover it.

Many thanks to Net Galley, Atria Books (you rarely disappoint me, Atria), and Emuna Elon for an ARC of this book. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.

This is one of the most remarkable books I have ever read pertaining to the holocaust. It is a poignant, heartrending story of a Israeli author returning to the land of his birth and finding a personal story he intends to write and in the process discovering his past his mother never spoke of.

I love the way this story segues between the present and the past as the novel unfolds and we glimpse what the future holds for Yoel Blum as his family saga emerges.

This book will touch your soul.

I thought this was very good and captivating. It can use editing - maybe because it is translated something gets lost. Thank you to netgalley for the ARC.