Lost Childhood is a memoir of Annelex Layson, a young girl who lived in a Japanese internment camp on the island of Java (now part of Indonesia). Annelex was born into a wealthy Dutch family on the island. When she was four years old, the Japanese invaded Java, and her family was sent to an internment camp for Dutch inhabitants of Java. Annelex lived for three years in the camp. She had to live in horrible living conditions, suffering from lack of food, frequent bouts of malaria, and constant fear of her Japanese captures. Lost Childhood is her story of her life in the camp, and how she managed, as a young child, to survive this ordeal.
The amount of literature available to read about life in internment camps is enormous, but each books seems to have a slightly different perspective. I have read numerous books about other interment camps during World War II, but this was the first memoir I had seen about the Dutch internment camps on Java. This book is certainly a quick read, but it is a powerful book nonetheless. Annelex was a very young girl when she when she lived in the internment camp on Java, and her memories are very much those of a younger child. This perspective made the book all the more moving, since life in the camps clashed with her childlike innocence. Her memories of seeing dead bodies, or women being beaten, were strikingly sad since they had been seen through the eyes of a four-year-old. The book, however, is not very graphic, and is approachable for a reader of any age. Annelex's story was poignant, but it was also hopeful. In the end, she managed, along with members of her family, to survive the ordeal and live a happy life. I enjoyed reading her story. This was one book where the writing style, while not perfect, was not very important since the content was what truly mattered. I found Lost Childhood to be a moving book about a part of history that should most certainly never be forgotten. I would recommend this book to anyone.
Reviewer Age:16
Reviewer City, State and Country: Urbana, Il USA
