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Closure
A moving coming-of-age tale that follows three young boys through adolescence into adulthood, each trying to make sense of a world turned upside down. Poland (1939) The German army sweeps across Poland intent on the destruction of an entire people. In a small Polish town, ten-year-old Piotr Kowalczyk's idyllic world will be forever destroyed. Croatia (1944) Young Dino Mitak flees to the freedom of the West as the communist-led Partisans move ever closer to Zagreb. Australia (1980) A small boy, already struggling to cope with the loss of a parent, is confronted by a gruesome murder. From the tranquil foothills of the Carpathian Mountains in southern Poland, to the Balkans and a simmering feud centuries in the making, to the streets of inner-city Melbourne where histories collide. These events, generations and worlds apart, are interwoven in a poignant story of grief, hatred, revenge and finally, closure.
202 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 3, 2016
2 people want to read
About the author
Neil A. White
6 books5 followersNeil A. White was born in Melbourne and educated in his native Australia and the United States. He and his wife make their home in Dallas, TX. He is the author of Closure - an historical fiction/murder mystery, Turn a Blind Eye - a contemporary political/financial thriller, and a number of award-winning short stories. His latest novel, Something for Bebe - a Young Adult thriller - was released January 2021.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 13, 2017
Three boys, three countries, three eras in history, three tragedies. Each boy is marked by his past, but how the past marks his future depends on how he deals with his tragedies and the horrors that inflict these tragedies. As men, they all sought to be invisible, to block out their past to merely exist in the present, to seek a new meaning to the prolonged life they were given.
Piotr Kowalczyk was just ten years old when the Nazis invaded his little town of Jaroslaw situated on the Wisla River in southeast Poland. The year was 1939. First the aggressors forced Piotr and his father to work the road gang – long hours, little food and plenty of beatings. Then they took away Piotr’s mother and younger sister, Urszula. The final tragedy was watching his father being beaten to death. The man who did this crime, not really a man at all, but an older teenager, was embedded in Piotr’s memory forever.
Dino Mitak, his assumed name since he escaped Europe in 1945, was the Croatian who beat Piotr’s father to death in Jaroslaw. The vision of his angered actions continue to haunt him, but, until he confronts the man who was once the boy whose father he destroyed, Dino builds a new life with a wife and family.
And then there is the Australian, a young boy, who, with his mother, finds the beaten, dead body of Dino in an alley, and, as a child befriends the man who beat Dino to death and, in so doing, unleashes a catastrophic series of events that affect the boy’s life, as unseemingly events affect Piotr’s life in his boyhood. As the Australian boy learns about Poland and Piotr’s life under Hitler’s regime, he also learns the importance of family. As Piotr said to him, “You make sure you hug your Matka (Mother) every night. You hear. Family is very important. Most important. Never forget.”
Family is everything and when tragedy tears apart and destroys that loving bond known as family, all that is left is a void, one that can only be filled by an invisible existence. The Australian boy, as a man sent on a mission, redefines himself and the meaning of existence after such unspeakable tragedies. He learns from Piotr that revenge is not the answer. One must move on, beyond the tragedies, to create a new life with new meanings and new memories. As the boy, now a man, realizes, “For the longest time, I thought it to be finding a meaning to all of life’s unanswered questions. That, as I discovered, is a fool’s journey. … What I did learn was that all of those tiny fragments of knowledge and collected memories you accumulate over time are the building blocks for who you become. And then by accepting that some of life’s episodes can never be erased, explained, or changed.
“Closure”, a novel by Neil A. White takes three tragic stories and intermeshes three lives. In each story, each tragedy, there are choices to be made. Does one seek revenge and become no better than the aggressor that initially started the sequence of tragic events? Or does one forgive and move on? One can never forget. The past is always present. Using multiple points of view to tell each boy’s story from their unique perspective, the author weaves a tale of unspeakable horrors and terrible sadness and grief that never really can fully heal, but, with time, can give life a new perspective on which to build a good future and good memories.
This is a powerful story told with great compassion, a story of the fragile human condition and how, when the seed of hatred and revenge take hold, multiple tragedies can spin out of control. It is only through the decided effort of making a better choice for oneself, and with determination to overcome an all-consuming hate, can a person become bigger and better than those who tried to de-humanize and to victimize.
Reviewed for Readers' Favorite.
Piotr Kowalczyk was just ten years old when the Nazis invaded his little town of Jaroslaw situated on the Wisla River in southeast Poland. The year was 1939. First the aggressors forced Piotr and his father to work the road gang – long hours, little food and plenty of beatings. Then they took away Piotr’s mother and younger sister, Urszula. The final tragedy was watching his father being beaten to death. The man who did this crime, not really a man at all, but an older teenager, was embedded in Piotr’s memory forever.
Dino Mitak, his assumed name since he escaped Europe in 1945, was the Croatian who beat Piotr’s father to death in Jaroslaw. The vision of his angered actions continue to haunt him, but, until he confronts the man who was once the boy whose father he destroyed, Dino builds a new life with a wife and family.
And then there is the Australian, a young boy, who, with his mother, finds the beaten, dead body of Dino in an alley, and, as a child befriends the man who beat Dino to death and, in so doing, unleashes a catastrophic series of events that affect the boy’s life, as unseemingly events affect Piotr’s life in his boyhood. As the Australian boy learns about Poland and Piotr’s life under Hitler’s regime, he also learns the importance of family. As Piotr said to him, “You make sure you hug your Matka (Mother) every night. You hear. Family is very important. Most important. Never forget.”
Family is everything and when tragedy tears apart and destroys that loving bond known as family, all that is left is a void, one that can only be filled by an invisible existence. The Australian boy, as a man sent on a mission, redefines himself and the meaning of existence after such unspeakable tragedies. He learns from Piotr that revenge is not the answer. One must move on, beyond the tragedies, to create a new life with new meanings and new memories. As the boy, now a man, realizes, “For the longest time, I thought it to be finding a meaning to all of life’s unanswered questions. That, as I discovered, is a fool’s journey. … What I did learn was that all of those tiny fragments of knowledge and collected memories you accumulate over time are the building blocks for who you become. And then by accepting that some of life’s episodes can never be erased, explained, or changed.
“Closure”, a novel by Neil A. White takes three tragic stories and intermeshes three lives. In each story, each tragedy, there are choices to be made. Does one seek revenge and become no better than the aggressor that initially started the sequence of tragic events? Or does one forgive and move on? One can never forget. The past is always present. Using multiple points of view to tell each boy’s story from their unique perspective, the author weaves a tale of unspeakable horrors and terrible sadness and grief that never really can fully heal, but, with time, can give life a new perspective on which to build a good future and good memories.
This is a powerful story told with great compassion, a story of the fragile human condition and how, when the seed of hatred and revenge take hold, multiple tragedies can spin out of control. It is only through the decided effort of making a better choice for oneself, and with determination to overcome an all-consuming hate, can a person become bigger and better than those who tried to de-humanize and to victimize.
Reviewed for Readers' Favorite.
August 23, 2016
Closure by Neil A. White is a brilliant coming of age story that all readers will love. I was glued to the story from page one. Three boys...each one from a different country suffering through loss, grief, and troubled times. Poland, Croatia, and Australia. It's hard not to find one's self-drawn to each boy's story. The danger comes alive. Emotions are formed deeply, creating the connection from readers to the characters. A historical novel that is highly engaging, suspenseful, and intriguing. The plot thickens as the pages are turning. The unknown of terror lies ahead keeps readers guessing. Each of the three boy's will have the world's the grew up in lost forever. They will know what pain is and the hardness of life that comes with destruction. Closure is about each character finding a way to close the darkness of their lives and to move forward with life, hope, and love. Neil A. White's writing is stunning. I look forward to reading more books by him in the future. Overall, I recommend Closure to readers everywhere.
February 6, 2017
Closure, by Neil A. White, is one of those rare gems, which entertains as much as it instructs. Skillful characterizations weave together with a plot of heartbreaking emotional depth. A young boy’s innocence and security unravel through a series of traumas set against the realistic backdrop of the vibrant music and sports scene of Melbourne, Australia in the 1980s. The young protagonist witnesses the culmination of a lifelong hatred set in motion by harrowing events of World War II. The exponential, generational effect of loss and revenge are exquisitely captured in this gripping novel.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews