Tag: WWII

Categories
2012 Orange Prize Uncategorized

Ignorance by Michèle Roberts

Ignorance Longlisted for the 2013 Women’s Prize for Fiction

Five words from the blurb: village, Jew, war, society, truth

I have to be honest. When I saw this book on the WPF longlist I groaned. Did the world really need another book about hiding Jewish people during WWII? The subject has been covered so many times, often by people who actually experienced it first hand, that I failed to see how another book could add anything new to the subject. Luckily I was wrong. This book looks at the situation from an interesting new angle and I’m pleased that the WFP brought it to my attention.

Ignorance follows two girls from different backgrounds as they grow up in the French village of Ste Madeleine. Marie-Angèle’s father is a grocer, so when WWII breaks out she is one of the lucky ones. She has access to food and when she becomes involved with a man who does deals on the black-market her position in society becomes even more inflated. On the other hand, Jeanne’s mother was born a Jew and her family are desperately poor. Jeanne must deal with all the issues that involve being at the bottom of the social pile, problems compounded when Jews become persecuted. 

This book was easy to read and engaging, but I also loved the way it worked on multiple levels. Themes of ignorance ran through the book, questioning whether or not it is better to know the truth or live in blissful ignorance of it. 

I also liked the way the book looked at the structure of society. It didn’t concentrate on the horrors of war (in fact these were barely mentioned) instead the book examined how different groups of people were affected by the social changes brought on by war. 

Some of the peripheral characters were a bit vague, but the two girls were well drawn and I thought the way different chapters were written from their opposing view points worked very well. The writing was particularly evocative and I especially loved the strong use of smells throughout the book:

 Behind me the bakery door opened, letting out gold light, the smell of warm yeast. Soon, people would start arriving to buy their morning loaves. Take them home to their families. Eat breakfast with their mothers, just as they did every day. I wanted to dive into that yeasty scent, that shop full of loaves warm as mothers.

I’d be happy to see this book on the WFP shortlist and recommend it to anyone who’d like to read an interesting story with literary depth. 

 

Categories
2011 Books in Translation Other Prizes

Blooms of Darkness by Aharon Appelfeld

Blooms of Darkness Translated from the Hebrew by Jeffrey M. Green

Winner of the 2012 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize

Five words from the blurb: Holocaust, Jewish, boy, hides, brothel

Blooms of Darkness is set during WWII and follows an eleven-year-old Jewish boy as he is forced to leave his family and hide from the Nazis in a brothel.

Blooms of Darkness is one of the most depressing books I’ve ever read. It isn’t a roller coaster of emotions, it is an endlessly bleak book without a glimmer of hope anywhere. I think the fact it is narrated by an innocent child, separated from his friends and family, makes it have even more impact. The loneliness and grief were heartbreaking and the thought of any child growing up in such terrible circumstances is hard to take.

Very little happened, but the observations and emotions were powerful and realistic – the author’s own experiences as a Jewish boy in hiding gave this book a painful authenticity. The writing style was simple and quiet and it was surprising to see how distressing a book could be without actually containing any graphic scenes.  The fear of discovery and imagining what might have happened to loved ones was enough to give this book a terrible sense of impending doom:

Hugo refused to think about what had happened to Erwin in the ghetto. One night they sealed off the orphanage on all sides, took the orphans out of their beds, and loaded them onto trucks while they were still in their pyjamas. The orphans wept and cried out for help, but no one did anything. Anyone who opened a window or went out would be shot.

It seems wrong to criticise a book for revealing the painful truth, but the continual darkness was too much for me. I longed for a few lighter moments to penetrate the bleakness, but I guess I’ll just have to take comfort in the fact that I’m lucky enough to never have experienced anything like this.

Recommended to anyone who’d like to know what it is like to be a child living in constant fear, but I’m sure it will be too distressing for many.

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The thoughts of other bloggers:

Aharon has shown why he considered one of the foremost Hebrew writers. Winstondad’s Blog

…there’s nothing in the novel which makes it stand out amongst its peers and competitors. Tony’s Reading List

It’s a sombre work, because it deals with the Holocaust, but it’s beautiful all the same… ANZ Litlovers Litblog

 

 

Categories
2012 Books in Translation Non Fiction Recommended books

HHhH by Laurent Binet

HHhH Translated from the French by Sam Taylor

Five words from the blurb: mission, assassinate, Nazi, novelist, truth

There has been a lot of hype surrounding this book, but it is all justified. HHhH breaks the mould, creating a new genre that will change the way you look at non-fiction and lead you to question the accuracy of everything you read.

The book tells the compelling story of two Czechoslovakian parachutists who were sent to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, the chief of the Nazi secret services. Dropped near Prague in 1942 the pair spend months plotting the event, relying on the support of a secret network of people. The book also charts the rise of Heydrich, explaining the important role he had in the creation of the Nazi death camps.

Throughout the book the author explains the research he did to obtain each fact and ensures that nothing is ambiguous. To retain the gripping narrative style Binet frequently makes things up, but every time he does so the passage will be followed by one that explains exactly which parts were fabricated:

That scene, like the one before it, is perfectly believable and totally made up. How impudent of me to turn a man into a puppet – a man who’s been dead for a long time, who cannot defend himself. To make him drink tea, when it might turn out that he liked only coffee. To make him take the bus, when he could have taken the train. To decide that he left in the evening, rather than the morning. I am ashamed of myself.

I loved this honesty and it made me realise how many difficult choices authors of historical fiction must make each time they write a scene.

I love meta-fiction and so appreciated the way the author addressed the reader directly. His chatty style was easy to read and often amusing. He made some blunt, often scathing, comments about other historical fiction authors, but although I didn’t always agree with him, it was refreshing to read about someone not scared to voice their opinion.

I’ve seen a few comments about people avoiding this book because of the Holocaust connections, but although the death camps were mentioned, this book does not describe them in graphic detail. It isn’t a depressing book; it is a gripping story revolving around whether or not the parachutists will be successful in their mission. It does take a while for the pace to build, but the final few chapters were some of the most exciting I’ve ever read. I couldn’t put it down and was totally engrossed in the story of these men.

HHhH shares many themes with The Street Sweeper, but unlike that amazing book, this is flawless. HHhH has leaped over The Street Sweeper to become my favourite read of 2012 so far.

Highly recommended.

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The thoughts of other bloggers:

I kept finding myself frustrated. Just when a section of non-fiction was beginning to really grip an authorial intervention would break the spell.  Just William’s Luck

The style is an unusual construction, but for me it was highly effective and extremely engaging. The Little Reader Library

I remain, however, equally fascinated and irritated by this volume – I still can’t call it a novel. Gaskella

Categories
Books in Translation

The Death of the Adversary – Hans Keilson

The Death of the Adversary Translated from the German by Ivo Jarosy

Five words from the blurb: masterpiece, dictator, Germany, Jewish, tyranny

Hans Keilson wrote this book whilst hiding from the Nazis during WWII. The narrator is a Jewish boy who witnesses a dictator rising to power. We see the way his life is changed by the increasing influence of this evil man. Although it is obvious he is referring to Hitler, the dictator is never named, giving the book a universal relevance.

The Death of the Adversary is so well written that I quickly gave up noting every profound quote that I found – there are original, powerful statements about the human psyche on almost every page.

People who ask what they should do had better do nothing at all. That is exactly the great misfortune, that they don’t know what to do but think they ought to do something. Those who know what they have to do and where they stand, act at the right moment; they act spontaneously, without having to enquire in advance what on earth they ought to do.

As you can imagine, the book gets progressively darker and more painful to read as the dictator’s power becomes greater. Some of the scenes were heartbreaking – the simplicity of the words a stark contrast to the complexity of the surrounding text.

They took the old people away.
My father carried his rucksack on his shoulders. Mother wept. I shall never see them again.

This is the kind of book where I wish I didn’t give ratings. It is clearly a masterpiece, containing powerful statements about evil, hatred and human endurance, but it is a book to appreciate rather than to enjoy. It contained very little plot and at times I found it difficult to motivate myself to read it. This is a book that requires effort and concentration and I have read so many books about WWII that I often struggled to focus on the complex sentence structures.

This is clearly one of the most important pieces of writing to come out of this period and if you are willing to put in the effort you will be rewarded with new ways of looking at the world.

Recommended to fans of deep, dark literary fiction.

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I read this as part of German Literature Month. Head over to Lizzy’s Literary Life and Beauty is a Sleeping Cat to find out about a wide range of German literature.

Categories
2011 Booker Prize

Half Blood Blues – Esi Edugyan

Half Blood Blues Short listed for 2011 Booker Prize

Five words from the blurb: Berlin, black, betrayal, cabaret, secrets

Half Blood Blues begins in 1940s Paris and follows the members of a jazz band who have fled to the city to escape the Nazi regime. The star of the band is Hiero, a trumpet player of outstanding talent. But as a black man of German origin he finds that Paris soon becomes just as dangerous as the German home that he left behind. The other band members, Sid and Chip, are African-Americans, but as US citizens they have less to fear. The story follows Sid and Chip as they reunite fifty years later and begin deal with the guilt they feel for the events that took place in Paris all those years ago.

This book has a fantastic atmosphere. The dialect instantly transports you into the lives of this little known section of society.

A real racket started up across the street. I looked up to see Hieronymus yanking on the bug’s door like he meant to break in. Like he reckoned he got the power to pop every damn lock in this city. When it didn’t open, what did he do but press his fool face up to the glass like a child. Hell, though, he was a child. Stupid young for what he could do on a horn. You heard a lifetime in one brutal note.  

Initially I found the writing very engaging, but it did lose some momentum in the central section. This slight lull in plot was quickly forgotten as I reached the final pages – I loved the emotional ending.

Despite these positives I didn’t fall in love with this book. I think this is mainly due to the fact that I am not a big lover of music, especially jazz. I’m sure that anyone with an interest in the jazz scene will enjoy this book a lot more than I did.

My second problem was that although this book covered a refreshingly different section of society it basically tells the same type of WWII story that I’ve read many times before.

If you are a jazz fan then I highly recommend this book to you, but tread carefully if you’re after literary depth or a new way of looking at the world.

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The thoughts of other bloggers:

I can’t say I really connected with the characters. Lucy Bird Books

I like little corners of  World war two, like this one…. Winstonsdad’s Blog 

Despite plenty of research, the story seems to lack veracity… The Art of Fiction 

Categories
2011 Books in Translation

The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah

The Last Brother  Translated from the French by Geoffrey Strachan

Five words from the blurb: boy, friends, island, prison, Jewish

The Last Brother caught my attention earlier this year when several of my favourite bloggers started to rave about it. I’m really pleased that I acted on their recommendations as this is a fantastic little book that deserves a wider audience.

This short book is very hard to review without giving spoilers and so if you are sensitive to them I suggest that you avoid reading all reviews and dive straight in. The blurb on the back of the book also explains the entire plot so I recommend that you avoid that too.

The Last Brother is set on the island of Mauritius and tells the story of Raj, a nine year-old boy, who has had a difficult childhood. His abusive father gets a job as a prison warder and this leads Raj to discover that WWII is being fought on the other side of the world and Jewish exiles are being shipped and detained on his island.

Now that I knew who was hidden there within the darknes of the pathways, knew the walls that towered around them, heard the sound of the grass beneath their feet, heard their singing in the evening, I viewed them with great sadness…

I had no idea that Jews were imprisoned on Mauritius during WWII so it was good to be educated about this lesser known piece of history.

The book was beautifully written; the prose simple, but engaging. I quickly connected with Raj and felt enormous sympathy for his situation. In many ways this book reminded me of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, but with a more realistic plot.

I liked the way the book was narrated by a 70 year-old Raj. This allowed an adult perspective to be given, whilst still allowing the childhood innocence to shine through.

My only criticism is that the book was very predictable.  I knew exactly what was going to happen from the beginning and I’d have liked a few extra snippets of information to add to the impact of the inevitable ending.

Overall this is a quick, easy read with an emotional undercurrent. Recommended.

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The thoughts of other bloggers:

…a powerful novel that packs a huge emotional punch. Devourer of Books

…a haunting novel which has been beautifully translated from the French. Caribousmom

It’s a beautiful treatise on the need for love and the scars inflicted by loss. S. Krishna’s Books