Literary Devices in Postcards from No Man's Land
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
We get two settings for the price of one here, with Jacob's trip to Amsterdam in the 1990s taking over part of the novel, and Geertrui's time at her home in Oosterbeek during World War II as the ot...
Narrator Point of View
In case you're thinking that we've totally lost our minds, don't worry—we'll explain how the book can be narrated in both the third and first person at the same time. Did you notice how we jump b...
Genre
While there's plenty that's complex about this book—if nothing else, it asks some of the Big Questions in life—when it comes to genres, it falls into categories pretty nicely. It's historical f...
Tone
From pretty much the beginning of the book, we know that Jacob dies during World War II—we're just not sure exactly how it happens. It's almost like we're reading the book backwards, since we alr...
Writing Style
Chambers's writing style—or should we say Geertrui's, at least half of the time—is plain and pragmatic, almost journalistic. When describing the events of WWII, or the present day, what happens...
What's Up With the Title?
We see what Chambers did here. Jacob is a tourist in a far away place—Amsterdam—and what do you send when you're a tourist? Postcards. We're thinking the title is a play on the fact that Jacob...
What's Up With the Ending?
In the end, Jacob figures out who his grandfather really was, and is still undecided about whether he wants to let his grandma in on the big news. And then the book ends. We're not sure whether he...
Tough-o-Meter
Once you get some historical background under your belt, it's not too hard to figure out this book. What we love about Postcards from No Man's Land is the way in which it uses two characters to tel...
Plot Analysis
When in Amsterdam…When Jacob arrives in Amsterdam, he's pickpocketed, confuses a guy for a girl, and hates seeing everyone flock to Anne Frank's house. In other words, dude's not having a good ti...
Trivia
J.K Rowling used Aidan Chambers' writing as inspiration for her little-known Harry Potter series. Ever heard of it?
(Source.)
Aidan Chambers did a lot of research before writing the book. He spok...
Steaminess Rating
It makes sense in a book about love that there's also some sex in the mix, right? Jacob and Ton debate whether marriage should even be a thing anymore, and Daan seems to think you should love the o...
Allusions
Gerard Manley Hopkins (5.31)John Webster (6.1)William Blake (8.1)Bram Vermeulen (8.84)William Shakespeare (9.38)J. W. von Goethe (10.1)Lewis Carroll (11.1)Lord Byron (17.1) Pierre Bonnard (22.1)Joh...