Resumo de Mature Red - Jeroen Brouwers

On a winter day in 1981 Jeroen gets a phone call. It appears that his mother has passed away in the carehome. Jeroen relives some memories about the detention camp Tjideng. After the invasion by the Japanese in Dutch-Indies he lives there for three years of his life, together with his grandmother, mother and little sister. The camp is led by Kenitji Sone. Father stays as a prisoner of war in Japan. Jeroen lives together with the other family members in one part of the kitchen. As a child it is difficult for him to pray. He can say all the prayers, but he never really prays. His mother also lets the praying be done by other people, among which her own mother. Jeroen can only see that his grandmother is still alive by the movement of the beads of the rosary through her fingers. He is confronted with death on a daily basis and even before he can read, he already knows all about it. The woman in the camp are mistreated, humiliated and raped. There are daily roll calls during which all women and children are counted. They have to follow orders such as: stay in position, bow, stay in bowed position, say Long live the emperor and make frog jumps. On his fifth birthday, April 30 of 1945, he gets the book Daantje goes on a trip. Using this book his mother teaches him to read. Four days later Jeroens grandmother dies. In June of that year Jeroens sister gets dysentery when she falls into an open sewage. She is taken up in the camp hospital. End of July Jeroens grandfather dies. In the first half of August Nettie Stenvert, Jeroens girlfriend, also dies. To remain alive he keeps training the words that his mother teaches him. Someone who is dying, is not able to shoo away the flies and therefore Jeroen keeps hunting for flies every day. In the beginning of August 1945 two atomic bombs are thrown on Japan (Hirosjima and Nagasaki). As punishment the prisoners have to remain in position for twelve hours and do frogjumps. All their meager possessions are burnt, but Jeroen has hidden his book under his clothes. Jeroens mother has hidden some rice behind her bra, but she gets mistreated when this is discovered. Over this he says: My mother was the most beautiful mother, at that moment I stopped loving her. The prisoners get nothing to eat or drink for three days.
On September 2, 1945 Japan surrenders, but the prisoners have to remain in the camp for some months more. After the war the family is reunited. They emigrate to the Netherlands. At the age of ten Jeroen is lodged in boarding schools to be re-educated. He feels betrayed by his mother and wishes her dead. Six to seven years before his mother dies Jeroen meets a woman. Her name is Liza and one hour after getting acquainted they go to bed together. Liza participates in the demonstration while Jeroen looks out of the window and thinks: I feel nothing more for her. After a stay of three days he goes away to forget her again. One month before his mother dies, he meets Liza again. In the meantime Jeroen has married and is father of a daughter. The conversation remains superficial. Jeroen asks himself how it was that he became like he is. The night before his mother passes away Jeroen is visited by the writer Ger Verrips. They talk about literature and politics. Later that night Jeroen watches TV. He gets irritated by the German synchronisation of a Japanese film. Jeroen has not had any contact with his mother for a long time and does not wish to attend the cremation. However, he wants a detailed account of the ceremony. As a tribute Jeroen decides to read his book Daantje goes on a trip at the time of the cremation. But he can not find the boek. Jeroen feels miserable and can not make the memory of his mother go away. He takes a pil to calm down and decides that he does not want to see his name in the mourning ad. He remembers the times with Liza and feels in love again. Andhe has feelings of mourning for his mother. That confuses him. Actually he does not want to feel anything. He waits by the phone and hopes that his mother will call, but with the voice of Liza. Jeroen asks himself what kind of tv-programs his mother would have watched, just before her death. Again he gets a phone call from the care home. The person asks if he is interested in a piece of inheritance. He is not interested. However, some weeks later he gets to see her photo albums. To think about something else he drives around on the day of the cremation. When he gets back home, he continues to work on his book about suicide in the Dutch literature. Jeroen decides to write a book about his time in Tjideng. Actually he feels that he should not be allowed to write a book about life in Tjideng, because he had had an untroubled life there. He was lively and had not had any hunger, because his mother regularly smuggled food. The only reason he gives for writing the book is octavity.

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