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Son Tanık
Yugoslavya parçalanmakta, dünyanın Nazilerden sonra verdiği bütün sözlere rağmen Avrupa'nın göbeğinde bir başka soykırım yaşanmaktadır. Koalisyon kuvvetleri, Saraybosna'nın eteklerinde bulunan Omarska Kampı'ndaki katliamdan sağ kurtulmayı başarmış, ancak yaşadığı derin travma yüzünden konuşmaktan bile aciz küçük bir kız bulur. New York'lu bir hukukçu olan Carla Lane'in, yıllar önce Yugoslavya'da yaşanan "etnik temizlik"le ilgili pek az bilgisi vardır. Genç kadın, hamiledir ve müzisyen kocasıyla ideal bir hayat sürmektedir. Ancak kocasının gizemli bir suikastta öldürülmesiyle, Carla'nın zihnini bir süredir meşgul eden garip görüntüler şiddetlenir. Bunların izini süren genç kadın, çocukluğunda ağır bir psikolojik tedavi gördüğünü ve psikiyatristinin ona annesinin günlüğünü vermesiyle, ailesinin 20 yıl önce Bosna'daki bir ölüm kampında, büyük bir vahşetin kurbanları olduğunu öğrenir. Carla'yı zorlu bir sınav beklemektedir. Gerçek kimliklerini saklamak ve kurdukları suç imparatorluğunu muhafaza etmek adına kanlı geçmişlerinden geriye kalan son tanığı da susturmaya kararlı olan suçluları bulmalıdır.
436 pages, Paperback
First published August 19, 2014
31 people are currently reading
773 people want to read
About the author
Glenn Meade
34 books398 followersGlenn Meade was born into a working-class family in Dublin, Ireland. After finishing secondary school he had a tough time choosing between studying theology or engineering, but eventually engineering won out and he studied telecommunications. Soon after graduating, he lived and worked in New Hampshire. He worked as a specialist in the field of pilot training—having had a life-long interest in aviation—and has also been a journalist for the Irish Times and the Independent.
While living in New Hampshire, he persistently tried to interview the famously reclusive author of CATCHER IN THE RYE, J.D. Salinger, an effort that only served to vex Salinger, who set his dogs on Meade, who luckily managed to outrun Salinger’s hounds and survive.
He began writing in earnest in the late eighties, when he wrote and directed his own plays, mostly for the Strand Theatre in Dublin, but Meade decided to turn his efforts to thriller writing in the mid-nineties.
His novels to date—SNOW WOLF, BRANDENBURG, THE SANDS OF SAKKARA, RESURRECTION DAY, WEB OF DECEIT, THE DEVIL’S DISCIPLE, THE SECOND MESSIAH—have been translated into twenty-six languages, and have enjoyed critical and commercial success.
His first novel, BRANDENBURG, about a neo-Nazi resurgence in present-day Europe, came about when he travelled to Germany to write an article for the Times on the billions in Nazi gold that went missing at the end of the Second World War. Quite by accident, he met an elderly former SS officer who told him a remarkable and highly personal tale about his part in keeping a disturbing war-time secret. That story became the inspiration for BRANDENBURG.
Several of his novels were also inspired by his journalistic work but inspiration only takes you so far and Meade claims that to produce anything of worth it always comes down to the same three constants: hard work, prayer, and putting your imagination through the wringer.
Critics have compared the standard of his work to that of Frederick Forsyth, John le Carre, and Tom Clancy, and his stories have tended to be a tantalising blend of fact and fiction. SNOW WOLF won the prestigious thriller of the year award by the Japanese Writer's Guild (second place went to Stephen King's THE GREEN MILE).
He has also worked on several Hollywood scripts but Meade confesses that employment in Tinsletown was not a pleasant experience and he has learned to stick to the golden rule for novelists whose work is bought by Hollywood—gratefully accept the pay check, walk away and just pray that they don’t turn your treasured story into a musical.
Meade has earned a reputation for meticulously researched stories and has travelled extensively—to Russia, the Middle East, Europe—to research his novels. For RESURRECTION DAY, a highly realistic thriller about a dramatic attack on the US capital by an Al Qaeda terror group armed with a chemical weapon of mass destruction, and completed three weeks before the events of September 11th, he spent many months in Washington DC. He interviewed senior White House staff, former Secret Service agents, US Federal emergency planners, and senior FBI terrorist experts, some of whom were later involved in the hunt for Al Qaeda terrorist suspects on US soil. One former senior FBI source, John O’Neill, who helped Meade, was killed in the September 11th attacks, having resigned from the bureau only months prior to taking up a new post—as head of security at the Twin Towers.
RESURRECTION DAY was published internationally but Meade’s then New York publisher considered it too raw a subject for the US, coming so soon after 9/11, and they parted company. However, the work garnered rave reviews and much media attention in Europe.
Having read the book, Newt Gingrich, then a member of the Hart-Rudd commission (set up post 9/11 by President George Bush with responsibility for determining future likely terrorist threats against the US) was so impressed that he contacted Meade and kindly offe
While living in New Hampshire, he persistently tried to interview the famously reclusive author of CATCHER IN THE RYE, J.D. Salinger, an effort that only served to vex Salinger, who set his dogs on Meade, who luckily managed to outrun Salinger’s hounds and survive.
He began writing in earnest in the late eighties, when he wrote and directed his own plays, mostly for the Strand Theatre in Dublin, but Meade decided to turn his efforts to thriller writing in the mid-nineties.
His novels to date—SNOW WOLF, BRANDENBURG, THE SANDS OF SAKKARA, RESURRECTION DAY, WEB OF DECEIT, THE DEVIL’S DISCIPLE, THE SECOND MESSIAH—have been translated into twenty-six languages, and have enjoyed critical and commercial success.
His first novel, BRANDENBURG, about a neo-Nazi resurgence in present-day Europe, came about when he travelled to Germany to write an article for the Times on the billions in Nazi gold that went missing at the end of the Second World War. Quite by accident, he met an elderly former SS officer who told him a remarkable and highly personal tale about his part in keeping a disturbing war-time secret. That story became the inspiration for BRANDENBURG.
Several of his novels were also inspired by his journalistic work but inspiration only takes you so far and Meade claims that to produce anything of worth it always comes down to the same three constants: hard work, prayer, and putting your imagination through the wringer.
Critics have compared the standard of his work to that of Frederick Forsyth, John le Carre, and Tom Clancy, and his stories have tended to be a tantalising blend of fact and fiction. SNOW WOLF won the prestigious thriller of the year award by the Japanese Writer's Guild (second place went to Stephen King's THE GREEN MILE).
He has also worked on several Hollywood scripts but Meade confesses that employment in Tinsletown was not a pleasant experience and he has learned to stick to the golden rule for novelists whose work is bought by Hollywood—gratefully accept the pay check, walk away and just pray that they don’t turn your treasured story into a musical.
Meade has earned a reputation for meticulously researched stories and has travelled extensively—to Russia, the Middle East, Europe—to research his novels. For RESURRECTION DAY, a highly realistic thriller about a dramatic attack on the US capital by an Al Qaeda terror group armed with a chemical weapon of mass destruction, and completed three weeks before the events of September 11th, he spent many months in Washington DC. He interviewed senior White House staff, former Secret Service agents, US Federal emergency planners, and senior FBI terrorist experts, some of whom were later involved in the hunt for Al Qaeda terrorist suspects on US soil. One former senior FBI source, John O’Neill, who helped Meade, was killed in the September 11th attacks, having resigned from the bureau only months prior to taking up a new post—as head of security at the Twin Towers.
RESURRECTION DAY was published internationally but Meade’s then New York publisher considered it too raw a subject for the US, coming so soon after 9/11, and they parted company. However, the work garnered rave reviews and much media attention in Europe.
Having read the book, Newt Gingrich, then a member of the Hart-Rudd commission (set up post 9/11 by President George Bush with responsibility for determining future likely terrorist threats against the US) was so impressed that he contacted Meade and kindly offe
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
September 15, 2016
"Kötülük içimizde yanan iyilik ışığını asla söndüremeyecek.
Nasıl söndürebilir?
Dünyada minicik bir mumun ışığını bile boğmaya yetecek kadar karanlık yokken."
Hak ettiği değeri görmeyen bir kitap daha...
Nasıl söndürebilir?
Dünyada minicik bir mumun ışığını bile boğmaya yetecek kadar karanlık yokken."
Hak ettiği değeri görmeyen bir kitap daha...
August 15, 2014
There are just some books that will forever touch your heart and soul and stay with you long after you turn that final page. "The Last Witness" from best-selling author Glenn Meade is just that novel. Based on a story of a young woman he met while traveling and learning of her survival during the Bosnian war, set the tone for his latest suspense thriller than I can guarantee you won't be able to put down. I found it hard to think how in 1991 while the crisis was happening in Sarajevo, ethnic cleansing, mass rapes and concentration camps once again reared their ugly head even after we swore as a global community that we could never allow something like the Jewish Holocaust to happen again, but it did.
Carla Lane is beginning to discover through repetitive nightmares that something has been missing in her life, something she can't explain. When she tries to make sense of it, she comes up empty handed. Just beginning her own perfect dream as a soon-to-be mother, she is hoping that she can talk to her husband, Jan about it after his concert tonight. When an explosion in their car happens just outside the theater, she spends the next four days recovering in a hospital only to learn that Jan didn't survive. It appears that he has his own secrets he was keeping from Carla. Secrets Carla has been keeping buried in her mind to protect her from the atrocities that she witnessed when she was a girl living in Bosnia with her parents.
It will take the work of a therapist to help her unlock the mysteries to her nightmares along with a diary her mother left behind detailing the life she has managed to block out. One that no child would ever want to remember. One that claimed the lives of countless men, women and children as she was imprisoned in a death camp in Bosnia that is every bit as horrible as the concentration camps like Auschwitz. Now she is about to set out on a journey to discover the people responsible for the death of not only her husband but her parents and brother as well and the first place she needs to begin is with the only witness that has ever come forward claiming to have survived the horrors. Will she be able to provide the clues she will need to unlock who is responsible and will she be able to do what she has planned to pay back those responsible?
I received The Last Witness by Glenn Meade compliments of Howard Books, a division of Simon and Schuster Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed here are strictly my own. In the Author Note's section, Glenn clarifies for the reader how he got the idea for the story and how it set the tone for showcasing the horrors most have missed that happened in 1990-2001 , as the crisis unfolded when Slobodan Milosevic, Serbia's leader in 1991, tries to rein in the Yugoslav regions of Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia, a bloody conflict that would split the country apart along ethnic and religious divides. While the story is hard hitting, the truth is that this did happen and to this day graves are still being uncovered. It it hard to fathom that we as a global community continue to let things like this happen instead of doing all we can to prevent it. Well researched, and beautifully written to allow the reader a front row seat to just what Carla Lane and her family had to endure and learn to live with and thus the reason for a 5 out of 5 star rating in my opinion.
Carla Lane is beginning to discover through repetitive nightmares that something has been missing in her life, something she can't explain. When she tries to make sense of it, she comes up empty handed. Just beginning her own perfect dream as a soon-to-be mother, she is hoping that she can talk to her husband, Jan about it after his concert tonight. When an explosion in their car happens just outside the theater, she spends the next four days recovering in a hospital only to learn that Jan didn't survive. It appears that he has his own secrets he was keeping from Carla. Secrets Carla has been keeping buried in her mind to protect her from the atrocities that she witnessed when she was a girl living in Bosnia with her parents.
It will take the work of a therapist to help her unlock the mysteries to her nightmares along with a diary her mother left behind detailing the life she has managed to block out. One that no child would ever want to remember. One that claimed the lives of countless men, women and children as she was imprisoned in a death camp in Bosnia that is every bit as horrible as the concentration camps like Auschwitz. Now she is about to set out on a journey to discover the people responsible for the death of not only her husband but her parents and brother as well and the first place she needs to begin is with the only witness that has ever come forward claiming to have survived the horrors. Will she be able to provide the clues she will need to unlock who is responsible and will she be able to do what she has planned to pay back those responsible?
I received The Last Witness by Glenn Meade compliments of Howard Books, a division of Simon and Schuster Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed here are strictly my own. In the Author Note's section, Glenn clarifies for the reader how he got the idea for the story and how it set the tone for showcasing the horrors most have missed that happened in 1990-2001 , as the crisis unfolded when Slobodan Milosevic, Serbia's leader in 1991, tries to rein in the Yugoslav regions of Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia, a bloody conflict that would split the country apart along ethnic and religious divides. While the story is hard hitting, the truth is that this did happen and to this day graves are still being uncovered. It it hard to fathom that we as a global community continue to let things like this happen instead of doing all we can to prevent it. Well researched, and beautifully written to allow the reader a front row seat to just what Carla Lane and her family had to endure and learn to live with and thus the reason for a 5 out of 5 star rating in my opinion.
January 11, 2015
yazarın daha önce 'Romanov komplosu' adlı eserini okumuştum, açıkçası çok beğenmiştim. bu romanını da tereddüt etmeden okudum. fazla spoiler vermek istemiyorum, okumayan arkadaşlardan tepki çekiyorum. leyla adlı romandan sonra bosna hakkında en doyurucu bilgiye sahip roman diyebiliriz. gerçek hayat hikayesinden yola çıkılarak yazılmış.
bölünmenin ve savaşın, insan hayatında nasıl bir felakete sebep olduğunu anlatan eşsiz bir kitap. çarpıcı bir son...
"Carla'nın yüzüne baktı. "biliyor musun, savaştan önce komşularımızla barış içinde yaşardık. Kimse kimseyi rahatsız etmezdi. Dini ya da etnik farklılıkların hiç önemi yoktu. Çocuklar birlikte oyun oynardı. Büyükler görüşürdü. Birlikte şarkı söyler, dans eder, düğünlere ve cenazelere birlikte giderdik. " Derin bir soluk alıp verdi. "sonra o aşağılık miloseviç nefreti körükleyerek, korku tellallığı yaparak saati yüzyıllar öncesine getirdi. Arkadaşı arkadaşa, komşuyu komşuya karşı kışkırttı. Tüm bunlar iktidarı kaybetmekten korktuğu içindi.""
bölünmenin ve savaşın, insan hayatında nasıl bir felakete sebep olduğunu anlatan eşsiz bir kitap. çarpıcı bir son...
"Carla'nın yüzüne baktı. "biliyor musun, savaştan önce komşularımızla barış içinde yaşardık. Kimse kimseyi rahatsız etmezdi. Dini ya da etnik farklılıkların hiç önemi yoktu. Çocuklar birlikte oyun oynardı. Büyükler görüşürdü. Birlikte şarkı söyler, dans eder, düğünlere ve cenazelere birlikte giderdik. " Derin bir soluk alıp verdi. "sonra o aşağılık miloseviç nefreti körükleyerek, korku tellallığı yaparak saati yüzyıllar öncesine getirdi. Arkadaşı arkadaşa, komşuyu komşuya karşı kışkırttı. Tüm bunlar iktidarı kaybetmekten korktuğu içindi.""
April 21, 2019
Muhtesem!! 5 degil 10 yildizlik kitap. Bosna katliamini analtiyor muhakak okuyun
March 26, 2019
Carla Lane witnesses the death of her husband. In the wake of this tragedy, she begins to experience vivid nightmares through the eyes of a young girl. Visits to her childhood therapist reveals that Carla has a whole life lost in her memory. She had a childhood filled with despair in a Bosnian rape camp. In the wake of this news, she vows to avenge her husband, family, and find her brother.
I almost DNF'd this book at 54 pages. I almost wish I had. Shortly after this point, the book picks up, because there is a very vivid description of the lives of the Bosnian prisoners. However, as soon as this part is over and the main plot picks up, the writing returns to the dull state it began in. You can tell the characters all had unique personalities, but the author strong-arms them and forces them to act and speak the way he needs for the plot to move forward. None of the dialogue flows naturally, and is often without emotion. No one in this book acts the way any human would in the situations they face. This results in a very bland and predictable story.
There is something about this story that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The author demonstrates the strife of the prisoners, and then seems to spit on their memory by turning into the story he does. I love a historical fiction novel, but to take real places and people and glorify the bad to make a thriller just feels wrong. The twist at the end made me extremely angry and uncomfortable, not to mention the fact that it's made obvious very early on. I wanted to enjoy this book. The premise was interesting, but it honestly disgusted me.
I almost DNF'd this book at 54 pages. I almost wish I had. Shortly after this point, the book picks up, because there is a very vivid description of the lives of the Bosnian prisoners. However, as soon as this part is over and the main plot picks up, the writing returns to the dull state it began in. You can tell the characters all had unique personalities, but the author strong-arms them and forces them to act and speak the way he needs for the plot to move forward. None of the dialogue flows naturally, and is often without emotion. No one in this book acts the way any human would in the situations they face. This results in a very bland and predictable story.
There is something about this story that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The author demonstrates the strife of the prisoners, and then seems to spit on their memory by turning into the story he does. I love a historical fiction novel, but to take real places and people and glorify the bad to make a thriller just feels wrong. The twist at the end made me extremely angry and uncomfortable, not to mention the fact that it's made obvious very early on. I wanted to enjoy this book. The premise was interesting, but it honestly disgusted me.
November 25, 2019
Glenn Meade is a new to me author. After the satisfaction of reading The Last Witness, I look forward to reading his other novels.
The Last Witness is about the lingering impact of "ethnic cleansing" that occurred in Bosnia. There was an equal amount of action and unraveling of details.
I recommend this novel for fans of Joel Rosenberg.
The Last Witness is about the lingering impact of "ethnic cleansing" that occurred in Bosnia. There was an equal amount of action and unraveling of details.
I recommend this novel for fans of Joel Rosenberg.
May 5, 2017
This book was not quite the normal genre I generally read. This was a book I picked up at Christmas for my husband because it's his favorite type of "quick read" and he too enjoys Eastern European history. I chose to read it also because of the setting and plot and I'm really glad I took a chance. Those of you who know me, know that Eastern European history is in my blood. I can't understand why more people do not realize how important this region of our world is. It seems to be the bastard step child for History majors. It is also so often overlooked by individuals, main stream news and literature. Because of this I jump at the chance to read anything with a EE setting. Sometimes it great, often times it's not. I can thankfully say that Glenn Meade obviously did his research. He did not let his characters fall into cliché or cardboard cut-outs. There was thought behind their dialogue and actions. I also can tell he spent time and observed the area of the world he was writing about as his descriptions were just right. While his portrayal of the Serbian run concentration and rape camps in Bosnia would have benefitted from more description and background for the average readers understanding. On the other hand, I can also see why he may have thought "less was more" for some readers. So I won't fault him here, except to say I personally wish he would have educated more forcefully. I know from experience that so many people do not know or appear to care about this part of our collective world history. Now, having said all of that lets get back to the book. This is a book review after all! Like I said, I loved the first half of the book when it was primarily historical fiction. The action/thriller/suspense aspect was mostly in the second half of the book and it was ok. Like I said it's not my normal chosen genre but it kept me turning the pages. I couldn't wait to see what would happen. So for all of these reasons it gets 5 stars!
Please, please anyone who reads this book do a bit of research on the fall of Yugoslavia during this time. Read real account of the concentration camps, mass killings and ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the Serbs. I'm really not trying to blame solely the Serbians because it was all sides (Croatian Catholic, Bosniak Muslims, Serbian Orthodox) but in this instance they were the aggressors. After reading about this particular time in history , all you need to do is go back a few more years and the aggressors change.
I just noticed that several reviewers have this book shelved as Christian fiction and mention the fact in their review. I'm going to tell you the truth here. It most certainly is not!!! Ok it was published by Howard Books which is a Christian division of Simon & Schuster but that's the extent of the connection. This book does not read anywhere like Christian Fiction. Although I'm a devout Christian I honestly shy away from books labeled as such. I don't like anything too preachy or with a hidden agenda. I can summarily say this book does not have those flaws. Again if I didn't do some research I'd honestly have never known the publisher is technically in the business of Christian fiction. Although it did answer my question as to why this author is not more widely read and his books don't show up mainstream.
Please, please anyone who reads this book do a bit of research on the fall of Yugoslavia during this time. Read real account of the concentration camps, mass killings and ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the Serbs. I'm really not trying to blame solely the Serbians because it was all sides (Croatian Catholic, Bosniak Muslims, Serbian Orthodox) but in this instance they were the aggressors. After reading about this particular time in history , all you need to do is go back a few more years and the aggressors change.
I just noticed that several reviewers have this book shelved as Christian fiction and mention the fact in their review. I'm going to tell you the truth here. It most certainly is not!!! Ok it was published by Howard Books which is a Christian division of Simon & Schuster but that's the extent of the connection. This book does not read anywhere like Christian Fiction. Although I'm a devout Christian I honestly shy away from books labeled as such. I don't like anything too preachy or with a hidden agenda. I can summarily say this book does not have those flaws. Again if I didn't do some research I'd honestly have never known the publisher is technically in the business of Christian fiction. Although it did answer my question as to why this author is not more widely read and his books don't show up mainstream.
June 13, 2014
“The Last Witness” by Glenn Meade, published by Howard Books.
Category – Mystery/Thriller Publication Date – August 19, 2014
Although this book is not Historical Fiction, it does give insight to the breakup of Yugoslavia into the countries of Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia. These countries have a history that goes back centuries that contain a hatred based on religion and ethnicity. This book brings to life the probably already forgotten ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Serbian leader Sloboden Milosevic.
Carla Lane’s husband, a renowned pianist, is murdered and this leads Carla on a path of self discovery of her past life and a desire for revenge. She finds that her past life has been repressed and that her husband’s death and her mother’s diary start to bring back nightmares from her past. Carla, her brother, and parents lived in Bosnia and became victims of the war. They were captured trying to escape and were put in prison camps, often referred to as rape camps. It was in these camps that thousands of innocent people were tortured, raped, and murdered. In an effort to save her family Carla’s mother went to the head of the camp only to find out that they have a past history, a history that will have a tremendous effect on Carla. Carla vows to avenge her husband’s death and the death of the thousands in the camps. Although many of those responsible have disappeared, Carla is able to find the two that were in charge of the camp she and her family was incarcerated. They have now moved to the United States and are part of the Serbian Mafia.
A very good read that will keep the reader intrigued by the characters and their relationship to one another. The story moves at a fast pace and will reopen one’s eyes to a part of history that should not be forgotten.
Category – Mystery/Thriller Publication Date – August 19, 2014
Although this book is not Historical Fiction, it does give insight to the breakup of Yugoslavia into the countries of Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia. These countries have a history that goes back centuries that contain a hatred based on religion and ethnicity. This book brings to life the probably already forgotten ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Serbian leader Sloboden Milosevic.
Carla Lane’s husband, a renowned pianist, is murdered and this leads Carla on a path of self discovery of her past life and a desire for revenge. She finds that her past life has been repressed and that her husband’s death and her mother’s diary start to bring back nightmares from her past. Carla, her brother, and parents lived in Bosnia and became victims of the war. They were captured trying to escape and were put in prison camps, often referred to as rape camps. It was in these camps that thousands of innocent people were tortured, raped, and murdered. In an effort to save her family Carla’s mother went to the head of the camp only to find out that they have a past history, a history that will have a tremendous effect on Carla. Carla vows to avenge her husband’s death and the death of the thousands in the camps. Although many of those responsible have disappeared, Carla is able to find the two that were in charge of the camp she and her family was incarcerated. They have now moved to the United States and are part of the Serbian Mafia.
A very good read that will keep the reader intrigued by the characters and their relationship to one another. The story moves at a fast pace and will reopen one’s eyes to a part of history that should not be forgotten.
March 16, 2024
My review is the opposite of a lot of the ones on this book. The first half is a slog, a way too explicit description of the horrors in war-time Serbia.
IMO the book came alive in the events going on in present time
IMO the book came alive in the events going on in present time
September 28, 2025
Interessant, meerlagig en spannend verhaal. Geen 5 want werd er niet volledig in opgezogen maar wel gewoon goed. Vond het extra boeiend omdat ik deze zomer ook wat van de geschiedenis heb proberen meepikken op reis in Kroatië & Slovenië.
July 27, 2019
Glenn Meade is becoming one of my favorite authors!!! His writing is eloquent and captivating! I love learning true facts of history, but also how Meade can intertwine an alluring story that captures your heart!
April 1, 2021
Bu sene okuduğum en etkileyici ve sürükleyici romanların başında geliyor diyebilirim. Vakit bulabildiğim her an kitap elimdeydi.
Çok sevdiğim bir hocamın tavsiyesine uyup bu kitaba ve yazara bir şans vermeye karar vermiştim. İkinci Mesih adlı kitabıyla başlamıştım. O da gerçekten çok etkileyiciydi. Ama Son Tanık benim için kelimelerin tükendiği nokta.
Kitap Yugoslavya'nın parçalandığı dönemdeki insanların yaşantılarına dokunuyor, toplama kamplarında yaşanan dramları size adeta o dönemdeymişsiniz ve o andaymışsınız gibi yaşatıyor. Kitabın bir bölümünde gerçekten boğazım düğümlendi, belli birkaç saat kendime bile gelemedim. Genel olarak bir intikam, daha doğrusu gerçeklere kavuşmaya çalışan bir kadının öyküsü. Ama sizi gerçekten derinden etkileyebilecek bir anlatıma ve içeriğe sahip.
Glenn Meade bu romanıyla beni Yugoslavya'nın parçalanmasını ve yaşanan insanlık suçlarını, dramlarını daha da derinden araştırmaya teşvik etti.
Çok sevdiğim bir hocamın tavsiyesine uyup bu kitaba ve yazara bir şans vermeye karar vermiştim. İkinci Mesih adlı kitabıyla başlamıştım. O da gerçekten çok etkileyiciydi. Ama Son Tanık benim için kelimelerin tükendiği nokta.
Kitap Yugoslavya'nın parçalandığı dönemdeki insanların yaşantılarına dokunuyor, toplama kamplarında yaşanan dramları size adeta o dönemdeymişsiniz ve o andaymışsınız gibi yaşatıyor. Kitabın bir bölümünde gerçekten boğazım düğümlendi, belli birkaç saat kendime bile gelemedim. Genel olarak bir intikam, daha doğrusu gerçeklere kavuşmaya çalışan bir kadının öyküsü. Ama sizi gerçekten derinden etkileyebilecek bir anlatıma ve içeriğe sahip.
Glenn Meade bu romanıyla beni Yugoslavya'nın parçalanmasını ve yaşanan insanlık suçlarını, dramlarını daha da derinden araştırmaya teşvik etti.
June 24, 2015
Really well done. Read it in only a few days. Exiting and informative. I still can't figure out how this guy isn't more mainstream.
June 27, 2020
Bosnia. The Devil's Hill. A “rape” camp. Genocide. Never again? No. It's worse than the horrors of Nazi Germany. It wasn't the last time we saw such depravity in the name of ethnic or racial purity. It won't be the last.
This is a book you’ll read and then put on your bookshelf a changed person. It is a book you will then pick up from time to time to again brood over your feelings about evil in the world. So powerful are the images that will dwell in your soul and so emotional the message, you will want to revisit The Last Witness in those moments when you begin to fear that the world has once again forgotten. And you’ll hear, deep in the recesses of your mind, the haunting refrain of “If you don’t stand up to evil, then evil will stand up to you” and wonder what you should do to stand up to evil.
Glenn Meade provides a frightening glimpse into what happened in Yugoslavia over twenty years ago. His story is based on true experiences. Meade’s part in this story began one morning in Dubrovnik when he sat on a cafe terrace. A young woman sat down nearby. Meade began to talk with her. Her harrowing tale was not one he expected to hear that beautiful morning. But it was one he had to tell.
The young woman became the model for Carla Lane, the novel’s last witness, whose disturbing dreams begin to foreshadow a fearsome journey into her unknown past. Carla knows that as a small child she was found by NATO Special Forces during the Bosnian war, walking one cold, snowy evening along a road clutching a book with no memory of who she was or what lay in her past.
She knows an American couple adopted her and that she was raised in America. What she doesn’t know is why she is now seeing alarming images in her dreams or why she is feeling premonitions of a tragedy about to happen.
Then, as she stands just fifty feet from her husband Jan, he is murdered by a car bomb placed by Serbian war criminals. As she lays on the parking garage floor, barely conscious, she sees the faces of “a small, emaciated boy staring up at her with huge sad eyes; a woman’s frail hand, outstretched toward her. A bright lightbulb swinging in a dark room. A fluttering of snowflakes falling on woods on a cold winter’s night.”
Jan’s brother tells her that her husband was asking questions about Bosnian war criminals. He warns her off, telling her that she should risk not her life – or the life of her unborn child – to pursue Jan’s killers. “You mean to say someone just decided to kill Jan because he was investigating them”? “They’re dangerous people, Carla. With horrific crimes in their past.” “Why did he do it? Why risk his life?” “Because he wanted to speak for the dead. Because he wanted to see these killers and torturers face the courts. He was obsessed with finding the guilty.”
She meets with a therapist, a man who treated her as a child. He begins to reveal pieces of her past, including the book she was carrying those many years ago – her mother’s diary recording some of the horrors that she, her parents and her younger brother endured in the camp called the Devil’s Hill.
Her mother wrote of “the query made about man’s inhumanity to man in the [Nazi] concentration camps. The question was asked: ‘At Auschwitz, tell me, where was God?’ And the answer came: ‘Where was man?’” She continues, “The world must know. Not only what has happened, but to take hope, that the human spirit has a power that endures. I know this to be so, despite all our tragedies. Evil can never destroy the light of goodness that shines within us. How can it ever be? When there is not enough darkness in the world to quench the light of one small candle…”
Carla decides she must find out what happened to her family. Then she is going to track down Mila Shavik – the monster she believes killed them all.
She discovers that the monster is living in America – running an organized crime operation. A UN team of forensic pathologists finds her mother’s body but not that of her brother – leading Carla to believe that just possibly he is still alive.
The deeper she gets into her search, the more distressed she becomes trying to understand why so many died. Sean Kelly, one of the forensic pathologists, explains to her, “hatred and intolerance are certainly part of it. And sheer cruelty. But like the Nazis or the Japanese military class during World War Two, it’s mostly about arrogance – maybe the worse sin of all, because it makes some people see others as less than human, as inferior enemies deserving of torture and death. … That’s what it’s all about. And because they can get away with it, because the rule of law has broken down.”
Kelly reminds Carla that she is the last witness of the brutality at the camp. She must provide testimony of what she and her family experienced. Her memories must be recorded so they will not be lost – not just to eventually prosecute those responsible but to remind us all.
Meade’s telling of Carla’s search for her family and their killers is riveting. It is the tale not only of the redemption of her soul, but the redemption of a whole generation of victims. In her journey, Carla endangers others who have sought to help her. She almost loses her own life. Meade’s conclusion to the story is satisfying – though very unexpected.
“Good and evil, like love and hate, are so close that they’re chained together in the soul. … [W]e can unleash whichever one we choose …. Hate perishes the moment you stop feeding it; but good lives on long after it dies … life is greater and stronger than all the shadows. [N]othing loved is ever truly lost. And whatever evil wraps its arms around is, its embrace is only momentary, a fleeting thing.”
Read it. Weep for the dead. Promise yourself that you will not stand idly by when it happens again.
This review is based on a copy of the novel provided by the publisher through NetGalley.com.
Reviewed at http://www.walterbristow.com/2014/08/...
This is a book you’ll read and then put on your bookshelf a changed person. It is a book you will then pick up from time to time to again brood over your feelings about evil in the world. So powerful are the images that will dwell in your soul and so emotional the message, you will want to revisit The Last Witness in those moments when you begin to fear that the world has once again forgotten. And you’ll hear, deep in the recesses of your mind, the haunting refrain of “If you don’t stand up to evil, then evil will stand up to you” and wonder what you should do to stand up to evil.
Glenn Meade provides a frightening glimpse into what happened in Yugoslavia over twenty years ago. His story is based on true experiences. Meade’s part in this story began one morning in Dubrovnik when he sat on a cafe terrace. A young woman sat down nearby. Meade began to talk with her. Her harrowing tale was not one he expected to hear that beautiful morning. But it was one he had to tell.
The young woman became the model for Carla Lane, the novel’s last witness, whose disturbing dreams begin to foreshadow a fearsome journey into her unknown past. Carla knows that as a small child she was found by NATO Special Forces during the Bosnian war, walking one cold, snowy evening along a road clutching a book with no memory of who she was or what lay in her past.
She knows an American couple adopted her and that she was raised in America. What she doesn’t know is why she is now seeing alarming images in her dreams or why she is feeling premonitions of a tragedy about to happen.
Then, as she stands just fifty feet from her husband Jan, he is murdered by a car bomb placed by Serbian war criminals. As she lays on the parking garage floor, barely conscious, she sees the faces of “a small, emaciated boy staring up at her with huge sad eyes; a woman’s frail hand, outstretched toward her. A bright lightbulb swinging in a dark room. A fluttering of snowflakes falling on woods on a cold winter’s night.”
Jan’s brother tells her that her husband was asking questions about Bosnian war criminals. He warns her off, telling her that she should risk not her life – or the life of her unborn child – to pursue Jan’s killers. “You mean to say someone just decided to kill Jan because he was investigating them”? “They’re dangerous people, Carla. With horrific crimes in their past.” “Why did he do it? Why risk his life?” “Because he wanted to speak for the dead. Because he wanted to see these killers and torturers face the courts. He was obsessed with finding the guilty.”
She meets with a therapist, a man who treated her as a child. He begins to reveal pieces of her past, including the book she was carrying those many years ago – her mother’s diary recording some of the horrors that she, her parents and her younger brother endured in the camp called the Devil’s Hill.
Her mother wrote of “the query made about man’s inhumanity to man in the [Nazi] concentration camps. The question was asked: ‘At Auschwitz, tell me, where was God?’ And the answer came: ‘Where was man?’” She continues, “The world must know. Not only what has happened, but to take hope, that the human spirit has a power that endures. I know this to be so, despite all our tragedies. Evil can never destroy the light of goodness that shines within us. How can it ever be? When there is not enough darkness in the world to quench the light of one small candle…”
Carla decides she must find out what happened to her family. Then she is going to track down Mila Shavik – the monster she believes killed them all.
She discovers that the monster is living in America – running an organized crime operation. A UN team of forensic pathologists finds her mother’s body but not that of her brother – leading Carla to believe that just possibly he is still alive.
The deeper she gets into her search, the more distressed she becomes trying to understand why so many died. Sean Kelly, one of the forensic pathologists, explains to her, “hatred and intolerance are certainly part of it. And sheer cruelty. But like the Nazis or the Japanese military class during World War Two, it’s mostly about arrogance – maybe the worse sin of all, because it makes some people see others as less than human, as inferior enemies deserving of torture and death. … That’s what it’s all about. And because they can get away with it, because the rule of law has broken down.”
Kelly reminds Carla that she is the last witness of the brutality at the camp. She must provide testimony of what she and her family experienced. Her memories must be recorded so they will not be lost – not just to eventually prosecute those responsible but to remind us all.
Meade’s telling of Carla’s search for her family and their killers is riveting. It is the tale not only of the redemption of her soul, but the redemption of a whole generation of victims. In her journey, Carla endangers others who have sought to help her. She almost loses her own life. Meade’s conclusion to the story is satisfying – though very unexpected.
“Good and evil, like love and hate, are so close that they’re chained together in the soul. … [W]e can unleash whichever one we choose …. Hate perishes the moment you stop feeding it; but good lives on long after it dies … life is greater and stronger than all the shadows. [N]othing loved is ever truly lost. And whatever evil wraps its arms around is, its embrace is only momentary, a fleeting thing.”
Read it. Weep for the dead. Promise yourself that you will not stand idly by when it happens again.
This review is based on a copy of the novel provided by the publisher through NetGalley.com.
Reviewed at http://www.walterbristow.com/2014/08/...
August 25, 2019
Yazarin tum kitaplari muazzam bir kurgu ile ilerliyor. “Son Tanik” yine bu kitaplar gibi karmasik kurgu ile yazilmis.
Hikayenin gercek olaylari da anlatmasi ilaveten cok basarili bir derleme olmus.
Yakin tarihte yasanmis bu travmatik yugoslavya olaylari insanlik adina buyuk utanc.
Kesinlikle okumanizi tavsiye ederim.
Hikayenin gercek olaylari da anlatmasi ilaveten cok basarili bir derleme olmus.
Yakin tarihte yasanmis bu travmatik yugoslavya olaylari insanlik adina buyuk utanc.
Kesinlikle okumanizi tavsiye ederim.
March 23, 2020
Çok akıcı, elinizden bırakamayacağınız bir kitap. Okurken hem bir sonraki sayfada neler olduğunu merak edecek hem de derin bir hüzün hissedeceksiniz.
September 5, 2014
Fantastic First Half But A 180 Degree Reversal In The Second Half!
When I read the Book Description of The Last Witness, I was 100% confident that it would be a book "right up my alley." When I completed the first half of the book, in which the former Yugoslavia serves as the backdrop for this thriller and describes the horrors of ethnic cleansing in Serbia experienced by the main character, Carla Lane, her family and thousands of others, I was mesmerized and couldn't turn the pages fast enough. The first half of this book was among the best I've read this year.
Then, I read the second half.
It's hard for me to believe that the author who wrote such a credible and highly readable first half could write such an incredibly unbelievable second half. While this half had its share of action, almost everything that makes for a "good book" for me was virtually non-existent. This is because, in my opinion:
...The main character's actions shortly after the death of her husband and learning she is pregnant went well beyond my ability to suspend disbelief (and I usually allow for a lot of literary license in this area);
...I found totally incredible the ease with which a man who only briefly met the main character two times agrees to help her in her quest (which I won't mention to avoid any possible spoilers);
...The bad guys as well as most of the good guy secondary characters are very thinly developed and, for me, were not much more than stick figures; and
...The dialogue spoken by the characters often did not ring true for me.
Unless you are able to overlook the above flaws mentioned above, The Last Witness is not a book I'd recommend you rush out to read; which is a shame given the very high regard I had for its first half.
I received a free, advance ecopy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in return for an honest, unbiased review.
When I read the Book Description of The Last Witness, I was 100% confident that it would be a book "right up my alley." When I completed the first half of the book, in which the former Yugoslavia serves as the backdrop for this thriller and describes the horrors of ethnic cleansing in Serbia experienced by the main character, Carla Lane, her family and thousands of others, I was mesmerized and couldn't turn the pages fast enough. The first half of this book was among the best I've read this year.
Then, I read the second half.
It's hard for me to believe that the author who wrote such a credible and highly readable first half could write such an incredibly unbelievable second half. While this half had its share of action, almost everything that makes for a "good book" for me was virtually non-existent. This is because, in my opinion:
...The main character's actions shortly after the death of her husband and learning she is pregnant went well beyond my ability to suspend disbelief (and I usually allow for a lot of literary license in this area);
...I found totally incredible the ease with which a man who only briefly met the main character two times agrees to help her in her quest (which I won't mention to avoid any possible spoilers);
...The bad guys as well as most of the good guy secondary characters are very thinly developed and, for me, were not much more than stick figures; and
...The dialogue spoken by the characters often did not ring true for me.
Unless you are able to overlook the above flaws mentioned above, The Last Witness is not a book I'd recommend you rush out to read; which is a shame given the very high regard I had for its first half.
I received a free, advance ecopy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in return for an honest, unbiased review.
April 13, 2018
Glenn Meade'nin eski ışıltısından eser yok. Harika konular buluyor, tarihi gerçeklere dayandırıyor ama gitgide heyecan unsurunu daha fazla gözardı ediyor. Bu bir tarihsel kurgu değil, olmamalı. Bu tarihi gerçeklere dayandırılan bir aksiyon kitabı olmalı. Sakkara'nın Kumları, 8. Gün, Kar Kurdu hep böyleydi. Onların 700-800 sayfa, bu yeni kitaplarınsa 400-500 sayfa olması herhalde yayıncının baskısı. Çünkü sadeleştirilen kısım nedense hep heyecanlı kısımlar oluyor.
Kitabın başında acaba bu sefer iyi olacak mı diye düşünmedim değil. Güzel başladı ama son 100 sayfada flashback okumak istemiyorum artık. Son 100 sayfada kulübede oturan güvenlik görevlisinin hobilerini okumak istemiyorum. Odaklanmış, saf aksiyon istiyorum. İniş çıkışları olan bir kitap okumak istiyorum. Hani Glenn Meade'nin yaratıcı yazarlık hocası olsaydı bu kitabı okuduktan sonra gözlerinde beklenti ve hayal kırıklığı olurdu. O derece. Neler yazabileceğini bilirdi ancak artık o şekilde yazmadığı için içten içe üzülürdü.
Ben bundan 10 yıl öncesinin popüler romancılarına ne oluyor anlamıyorum. Sanki Space Jam filmindeki gibi yeteneklerini çalmışlar. Dan Brown, Glenn Meade, Jean Cristophe Grange hepsi bir düşüşte. Hem okuyucu sayısı, hem de yıldız olarak. Her nesil kendi yıldız yazarını çıkarıyorsa, o zaman bu neslin yıldız yazarları kimler? Bunu öğrenmeyi çok istiyorum.
Sonuç olarak Romanov Komplosu tadında, düz bir kardiyak çizgide ilerleyen, heyecanlandırmaktan çok Yugoslav İç Savaşı hakkında bilgilendirmeyi hedefleyen, sonu başından belli bir kitap olmuş.
Herkese keyifli okumalar.
Kitabın başında acaba bu sefer iyi olacak mı diye düşünmedim değil. Güzel başladı ama son 100 sayfada flashback okumak istemiyorum artık. Son 100 sayfada kulübede oturan güvenlik görevlisinin hobilerini okumak istemiyorum. Odaklanmış, saf aksiyon istiyorum. İniş çıkışları olan bir kitap okumak istiyorum. Hani Glenn Meade'nin yaratıcı yazarlık hocası olsaydı bu kitabı okuduktan sonra gözlerinde beklenti ve hayal kırıklığı olurdu. O derece. Neler yazabileceğini bilirdi ancak artık o şekilde yazmadığı için içten içe üzülürdü.
Ben bundan 10 yıl öncesinin popüler romancılarına ne oluyor anlamıyorum. Sanki Space Jam filmindeki gibi yeteneklerini çalmışlar. Dan Brown, Glenn Meade, Jean Cristophe Grange hepsi bir düşüşte. Hem okuyucu sayısı, hem de yıldız olarak. Her nesil kendi yıldız yazarını çıkarıyorsa, o zaman bu neslin yıldız yazarları kimler? Bunu öğrenmeyi çok istiyorum.
Sonuç olarak Romanov Komplosu tadında, düz bir kardiyak çizgide ilerleyen, heyecanlandırmaktan çok Yugoslav İç Savaşı hakkında bilgilendirmeyi hedefleyen, sonu başından belli bir kitap olmuş.
Herkese keyifli okumalar.
February 13, 2018
This is the first book that I’ve read by this author & I have to say it won’t be the last. I’ve read more books about the Holocaust than I can count & spent years studying it but I’ve never really read much about the ethnic cleansing/mass murders that took place between in more recent times. I would definitely recommend this book, which kept me intrigued with each chapter
October 10, 2016
I really enjoyed this book. Portions of this book is told in flashbacks that take place during the tragic ethnic-cleansing in Bosnia in the 80s and the after-effects on one of the young survivors.
April 14, 2015
I won a free copy from the Goodreads First Reads Giveaway Program and think that it interesting. I would recommend it to everyone.
November 17, 2018
(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)
After a massacre at a Bosnian prison camp, a young girl is found alone, clutching a diary, so traumatized she can’t even speak. Twenty years later, the last witness to the prison guards' brutal crimes must hunt down those responsible to learn what happened to her family.
Twenty years ago, after the fall of Yugoslavia, the world watched in horror as tens of thousands were killed or imprisioned in work camps during an “ethnic cleansing” in Bosnia. Carla Lane has little knowledge of what went on halfway around the world when she was a child. She is living a near perfect life in New York City, married and soon to have a family of her own. But when her husband is murdered by a group of Serbian war criminals, strange memories start coming back, and she discovers that she underwent extensive therapy as a girl to suppress her memories. She is given her mother’s diary, which unlocks her childhood memories and reveals that she was, along with her parents and young brother, imprisoned in a war camp outside Sarajevo.
As her memories come back, it becomes clear that she is the last witness to a brutal massacre in the prison and that her brother may still be alive. She sets out to find her brother, but first she must hunt down the war criminals responsible for destroying her life. But these killers will stop at nothing to protect their anonymity and their deadly pasts...and are determined to silence the last witness to their crimes.
I have been a fan of Glenn Meade's since reading Brandenburg a number of years ago. Since then, I have read other novels by him, with a varying degree of appreciation.
The weird thing about this book is that it feels like it was written by two separate people. The first half of the book - in which the MC describes the horrors of genocide and ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia. That story was incredibly captivating and horrifying. I was wrapped up in that story for the first half of the book. The settings, the descriptions, the horrors...all sensational...
And then the second half started...and the ability to suspend disbelief was just a bit too much for me. Also, the characters went from being things of flesh and bone in the first half, to being cardboard cutouts in the second. Even the bad guys were just a stitched together version of every action/thriller bad guy you have ever read. And that is a shame.
Would I recommend it? Probably, there is enough good stuff in this book to warrant a read...but probably not a second one.
Paul
ARH
After a massacre at a Bosnian prison camp, a young girl is found alone, clutching a diary, so traumatized she can’t even speak. Twenty years later, the last witness to the prison guards' brutal crimes must hunt down those responsible to learn what happened to her family.
Twenty years ago, after the fall of Yugoslavia, the world watched in horror as tens of thousands were killed or imprisioned in work camps during an “ethnic cleansing” in Bosnia. Carla Lane has little knowledge of what went on halfway around the world when she was a child. She is living a near perfect life in New York City, married and soon to have a family of her own. But when her husband is murdered by a group of Serbian war criminals, strange memories start coming back, and she discovers that she underwent extensive therapy as a girl to suppress her memories. She is given her mother’s diary, which unlocks her childhood memories and reveals that she was, along with her parents and young brother, imprisoned in a war camp outside Sarajevo.
As her memories come back, it becomes clear that she is the last witness to a brutal massacre in the prison and that her brother may still be alive. She sets out to find her brother, but first she must hunt down the war criminals responsible for destroying her life. But these killers will stop at nothing to protect their anonymity and their deadly pasts...and are determined to silence the last witness to their crimes.
I have been a fan of Glenn Meade's since reading Brandenburg a number of years ago. Since then, I have read other novels by him, with a varying degree of appreciation.
The weird thing about this book is that it feels like it was written by two separate people. The first half of the book - in which the MC describes the horrors of genocide and ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia. That story was incredibly captivating and horrifying. I was wrapped up in that story for the first half of the book. The settings, the descriptions, the horrors...all sensational...
And then the second half started...and the ability to suspend disbelief was just a bit too much for me. Also, the characters went from being things of flesh and bone in the first half, to being cardboard cutouts in the second. Even the bad guys were just a stitched together version of every action/thriller bad guy you have ever read. And that is a shame.
Would I recommend it? Probably, there is enough good stuff in this book to warrant a read...but probably not a second one.
Paul
ARH
June 25, 2017
I hate leaving a bad review, and I know I stand out from the crowd with this one, but I just can't help it.
For me, personally, I hated the style of the writing. It's short and choppy, with mostly stilted, often awkward dialogue with barely any description. It's as if it's written in the absolute barest minimal style, so, for me, it was hard to picture things. It was as if I was reading the bones of the story, without colour or flesh, nothing tangible to bring it to life and give it emotion.
I imagine that those who love the book are those affected or naturally touched by the genocide and other events of former Yugoslavia. People who relate to the issue and events of the backstory because they are from the area or culture? I'm sure it'll be a much more positive book for them.
For me, I think the issue was too forced. The message that the time and place were awful felt like it was being forced down your throat, repeatedly. It felt like the point of the story was just to tell readers how awful the time period was, and how awful people are, not to deliver a solid story. I don't want to read a newspaper article telling me that war sucks. I want a story. If you want to show how war sucks at the same time, fine.
In all honestly, after only 70 pages, the story had not gripped me, I hated the style, there was no intimacy with the characters, so I put it down. Not something I do easily or often.
For me, personally, I hated the style of the writing. It's short and choppy, with mostly stilted, often awkward dialogue with barely any description. It's as if it's written in the absolute barest minimal style, so, for me, it was hard to picture things. It was as if I was reading the bones of the story, without colour or flesh, nothing tangible to bring it to life and give it emotion.
I imagine that those who love the book are those affected or naturally touched by the genocide and other events of former Yugoslavia. People who relate to the issue and events of the backstory because they are from the area or culture? I'm sure it'll be a much more positive book for them.
For me, I think the issue was too forced. The message that the time and place were awful felt like it was being forced down your throat, repeatedly. It felt like the point of the story was just to tell readers how awful the time period was, and how awful people are, not to deliver a solid story. I don't want to read a newspaper article telling me that war sucks. I want a story. If you want to show how war sucks at the same time, fine.
In all honestly, after only 70 pages, the story had not gripped me, I hated the style, there was no intimacy with the characters, so I put it down. Not something I do easily or often.
April 29, 2021
This book was bad in so many ways. First, if the author genuinely wanted to document the atrocities in that horrible war, then he should have written a non-fiction book. The endless details presented in the mother's journal went far, far beyond what was necessary background for a book of fiction.
Second, the author could have just told the story. Instead he used every trick in the book to try to turn up the drama and tears. How many times did the heroine ask the question "Why?" about the way these terrible men treated their fellow man? How many weepy moments were there when the characters reflected on all of the sadness in their lives? How many times did the heroine blame herself for her brother's death when it was clearly not her fault? Or bring out that blue blankie?
The book also contained numerous tearful reunions, a helpful friend who was a widower (!) and even had a handicapped boy (!) and became the predictable love interest at the end. Several scenes where explanations were being given were painfully dragged out by saying, "That's a story for another day."
That is all too bad because the last third of the book was a legitimate thriller. The rest was a tear-fest.
Second, the author could have just told the story. Instead he used every trick in the book to try to turn up the drama and tears. How many times did the heroine ask the question "Why?" about the way these terrible men treated their fellow man? How many weepy moments were there when the characters reflected on all of the sadness in their lives? How many times did the heroine blame herself for her brother's death when it was clearly not her fault? Or bring out that blue blankie?
The book also contained numerous tearful reunions, a helpful friend who was a widower (!) and even had a handicapped boy (!) and became the predictable love interest at the end. Several scenes where explanations were being given were painfully dragged out by saying, "That's a story for another day."
That is all too bad because the last third of the book was a legitimate thriller. The rest was a tear-fest.
August 19, 2023
Like some other reviewers here I was deeply disappointed with the second half of this book. Once Carla Lane recovers the horrible memories of her family’s brutal experience in the the “rape camp” where they were held captive by Serb paramilitaries, her personality and actions become flattened and increasingly uninteresting. The revelations at the end of the book are telegraphed and left me wishing the author had found a more effective way to render the struggles of those left alive but scarred for life by the genocide.
The first half, by contrast, was fascinating and taught me things I didn’t know about the Bosnian war, especially how it trapped people before they understood what could happen to them. This made the second half even more disappointing though.
This horrific conflict is not well enough understood by Americans and so if authors choose it as their setting, they need to treat it with care and respect throughout. While Meade does this in the first hundred pages or so, the remainder is overtaken by the need to write a “thriller” and thus loses its vitality.
The first half, by contrast, was fascinating and taught me things I didn’t know about the Bosnian war, especially how it trapped people before they understood what could happen to them. This made the second half even more disappointing though.
This horrific conflict is not well enough understood by Americans and so if authors choose it as their setting, they need to treat it with care and respect throughout. While Meade does this in the first hundred pages or so, the remainder is overtaken by the need to write a “thriller” and thus loses its vitality.
October 26, 2017
Son Tanık'a iki türlü bakıyorum.
1- Seçtiği konu. Çok cesur, delikanlıca, çok az işlenen, filmi pek çekilmeyen yakın zaman Nazilerinin yaptığı katliamlara bu kadar gözü pek girmek hayran olunası.
2- Kitabın kendisi. Maalesef beklentimin çok altında hatta kitap başka bir hikayeyi anlatıyor olsaydı mümkün değil bitirmezdim. Hayatın olağan akışına tamamen aykırı tesadüfler, birinin birinin babası amcası, teyzesi, dayısı bilmem nesi çıkması İrlanda edebiyatında klişe olmayabilir ama artık bana bu klişelerden gına geldi. hikayesini tesadüfe dayandırarak anlatan ne film seviyorum ne kitap. Kaldı ki burada elinde gerçek bir öykü de varken neden bu kadar basit bir kurgu seçti anlayamadım.
Glenn Meade ayarında bir adam için hafif olmuş ama (detaylandırırsam spoiler olur detayı okuyanlar göreceklerdir zaten) dediğim gibi sırf edebiyatta sinemada görmesi gereken ilgiyi görmeyen Bosna katliamını duyurduğu için takdir edilir.
1- Seçtiği konu. Çok cesur, delikanlıca, çok az işlenen, filmi pek çekilmeyen yakın zaman Nazilerinin yaptığı katliamlara bu kadar gözü pek girmek hayran olunası.
2- Kitabın kendisi. Maalesef beklentimin çok altında hatta kitap başka bir hikayeyi anlatıyor olsaydı mümkün değil bitirmezdim. Hayatın olağan akışına tamamen aykırı tesadüfler, birinin birinin babası amcası, teyzesi, dayısı bilmem nesi çıkması İrlanda edebiyatında klişe olmayabilir ama artık bana bu klişelerden gına geldi. hikayesini tesadüfe dayandırarak anlatan ne film seviyorum ne kitap. Kaldı ki burada elinde gerçek bir öykü de varken neden bu kadar basit bir kurgu seçti anlayamadım.
Glenn Meade ayarında bir adam için hafif olmuş ama (detaylandırırsam spoiler olur detayı okuyanlar göreceklerdir zaten) dediğim gibi sırf edebiyatta sinemada görmesi gereken ilgiyi görmeyen Bosna katliamını duyurduğu için takdir edilir.
April 15, 2020
Some parts were realistic vs over the top. I know the Serb/Croatia mafia war was TERRIBLE and most of the country kept their lips sealed. Can't see it, can't tell others about it. It was a bit far fetched the Lana could 1) travel the world with no job, multiple flight, rentals, cabin rental and not worry once about the money. OH and she had a stay in the hospital and left AMA without signing any pprwork. And the bow at the end was Mila being the father of Carla, Mila getting a concisous, breaking down part of the mafia network and Carla staying with Ronnie.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 14, 2020
Kurgu olmasına rağmen, kitap boyunca yaşananların gerçeğin içinden kotarılıp önünüze konduğunu hücrelerinize dek hissediyorsunuz. Glenn Meade ve Ali Cevat Akkoyunlu'nun başarısı da işte tam burda : İç savaşın ortasında hepimizin günümüzde de hasret kaldığı tertemiz duyguları bize samimiyetle aktarabilmesi, böylesi iki zıtlığı tıpkı hayatın kendisi gibi maharetle bir arada sunabilmesi. Yugoslav iç savaşına, Bosna'daki katliamlara farklı bir pencereden bakmak isteyen herkesin göz atması gereken bir kitap.
November 19, 2019
Excellent
Very thought provoking, very interesting, and very well written. But, also still very disturbing as it portrays so dramatically both the good and the evil found in human hearts and minds. I really appreciated the way the one character “found” the good in himself in the end.
Very thought provoking, very interesting, and very well written. But, also still very disturbing as it portrays so dramatically both the good and the evil found in human hearts and minds. I really appreciated the way the one character “found” the good in himself in the end.
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May 18, 2021Racy Glenn Meade..just like the Snow Wolf. Less detailed about the war though. Page turner from beginning to end. We feel for Carla as we race through the novel. Forgetting is a blessing in quite a few cases. Carla would have succumbed to her trauma and the memories much earlier, but for the rightful intervention of the psychologist.
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