apfopd United Kingdom

Review

I’ll admit that I picked this book up and was put off by the description… Nazi Germany… and narrated by Death?? Hmm not my idea of a fun read - and so it went back on the shelf.

Then someone recommended it so I thought why not give it a go.

I am so glad I changed my mind - this isn’t Death as the Grim Reaper - he comes across as a much friendlier soul who tells the tale of Liesel and her *family* as they live their lives under Hitler’s reign. It’s hard to describe this without giving anything away - although Death gives you a taste of what will happen before you get there!

This book is beautiful - from the story to the prose - and I can honestly say I’ve never read anything like it. Zusak’s at times disjointed writing style took some getting used to - but by the end of the first chapter it feels second nature.

I must admit to feeling a little lost now the experience is all over - I will definitely be reading this one again - and probably more than once - which is probably the best praise I can give it - so do yourself a favour and buy a copy - but be sure to have some tissues handy.

Rating

5 stars - outstanding - a truly beautiful tale

The back cover description suggests a tale of a newlywed couple on their wedding night and that pretty much sums it up - what it didn't warn me about was the graphic detail McEwan uses to describe events of the evening... well I considered it graphic anyway and am not sure I needed that much detail to understand the point he was trying to make!

The book is short - I got through it in one sitting of two to three hours - but it's one of those books that you just can't take at face value. I'm still not sure whether I enjoyed reading it - but I did find myself thinking about the characters and their histories and trying to work out why McEwan wrote the book.

The short of it is this - following a 12 month courtship Edward and Florence find themselves alone in the honeymoon suite of a hotel on Chesil beach, what follows is a *mishap* which leaves Florence heading for the beach in embarrassment and disgust and Edward alone in the room feeling angry and humiliated. Their joint inability to discuss their feelings leaves the marriage in tatters and the two never see or speak to each other again.

All quite sad really.

But throughout the novel McEwan shares snippets of their earlier lives, how Edward's mother became brain-damaged when he was five, and the lengths his family went to to pretend that she was a normal loving mother. How Florence's family were much better off, but her parents showed her no affection - well I say no affection but I got the distinct feeling she had been sexually abused by her father as a child - perhaps the source of her discomfort with intimacy.

I was intrigued by the fact that following their divorce Florence went on to pursue her dreams while Edward followed a completely different path. I did wonder what happened to Florence relationship wise - since we were told that Edward was married again, if only for a short time.

But that's as far as I got...

I have to admit this lost me along the way, and while I'm sure some of the things I just mentioned are part of the point McEwan was trying to make I wasn't interested enough in the characters to try and unravel it all. I think perhaps McEwan could have made much more of this tale and turned it into one worth reading rather than glossing over so many details and leaving us guessing.

In fact - I think I should have just read the last page and I may have walked away happy.

This was recommended by my friend Katy. It was quite hard to keep up with this as it kept flipping back and forth between characters narrating - it was an enjoyable book - but far too long. I only finished it as quickly as I did because I had a new book on the shelf I was itching to read! *lol*

It's now on my swaps list over at RiSi.