Song of Survival

Name: Song of Survival
Brand: Blackstone Audiobooks
Availability: InStock
Author: Helen Colijn
ISBN: 9781455100934

Author: Helen Colijn

Narrator: Nadia May

Unabridged: 7 hr 8 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Published: 01/01/2007

Categories: Nonfiction, Biography & Autobiography

Synopsis

Helen Colijns account of her wartime experiences provides a window into an overlooked dimension of World War II: the imprisonment of women and children in Southeast Asia by the Japanese. Colijn relates how the prisoners of war responded to their dire circumstances during three and a half years of captivity. Conditions were terrible; food was scarce and medicine unavailable. More than a third of the women in Helens camp died of disease or starvation. Yet they had courage, faith, resiliency, ingenuity, and camaraderie.Though the prisoners had no musical instruments, they had their voices, and from memory they scored classical works for symphony and piano. The music that helped sustain them in their captivity is a lasting and precious gift of these women to a world that has witnessed far too much war.

About Helen Colijn

Helen Colijn is the author of two books on Holland (Of Dutch Ways and The Backroads of Holland) and was coproducer of the documentary film Song of Survival.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Mary on July 07, 2020

I was drawn to this book by the film version "Paradise Road," starring Glenn Close. Well, Ms. Colijn's book has nothing in common with the film other than the circumstances of being held prisoner by the Japanese in Southeast Asia during World War II. Don't think even the film title was referenced in......more

Goodreads review by Parker on February 26, 2022

A book I wouldn't have picked up if it wasn't for a book club I'm participating in. I found it hard to get into in the beginning, especially because my brain could not get over the irony of the 'whites' (as she refers to herself in the book) complaining about being colonized while they were the colo......more

Goodreads review by SM on January 31, 2024

It was so sad to read about the suffering of these people during World War II, especially knowing that they were just one group of many groups of people who went through horrific things during the war. It was powerful that the author is one of the survivors of the camp. My only criticism is that I w......more

Goodreads review by Barb Willard on April 26, 2023

The author, her 2 sisters and her father, an executive with a Dutch company, were on a ship fleeing the Japanese during WW2 when their ship was sunk by Japanese bombers. They all survived only to be captured and interned by the Japanese for about 3.5 years. It’s such an interesting story about a subj......more