Fugitive Pieces
Anne Michaels
The author is a poet and definitely writes like one. Doreen described this as a wonderful book and read us several passages. It deals with the holocaust and a young Jewish boy taken alone to Greece. He is haunted for the rest of his life by the fate of his remaining family under the Nazis.
Doreen 30/8/98
Another post-modernist book, but this one works - the author writes quite
similarly to John Berger.
Written mostly in the third person about a holocaust survivor climbing out
of the abyss, with strong descriptions of other characters, the books
moves from Greece to Canada and the story works very well. Along the way
there are some strange detours, and a change of voice for the main
character was a bit confusing - Doreen had also read the book, and got
seriously lost at that point.
A similar technique to The Underpainter, but in this book one has sympathy
with the character and at some points the language is really beautiful.
Highly recommended, a good book.
Gavin 13/6/99
Bob didn't like this. It's about a Jewish boy from Greece whose parents are murdered. He is rescued by a Greek polymath who takes him to Canada. The boy is haunted by the family he has lost. It was too earnest and "poetic".
Bob 6/2/05
The story of a Polish Jewish child who, alone in his family, survives a German attack on his village in WW2. He is rescued by a Greek archaeologist and grows up in Greece before emigrating to Canada. Gill was surprised this was written by a woman because the male narrator was so convincingly portrayed. Beautifully written, lovely descriptions, very poetic. Doreen had also read this book and agreed very much with Gill's review.
There seemed to be a gender divide because Bob hadn't enjoyed the book when he read it previously and Seán and Andrew didn't feel inclined to read it based on Gill and Doreen's comments.
Gill 22/5/05
The frames have gone all funny - click to make it good.