Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

I found this book by accident while searching for a book to fulfill Week 9 Book Mentioned in Another Book and I am so glad I did.

I think it's safe to say that this is the most beautifully written book I've ever read. Not surprising I suppose considering the author is better known as a poet.

We meet Jakob Beer as a 7-year-old boy who has witnessed the murder of his family by Nazis and who has been hiding in the bog swamps, emerging only at night to forage. He is rescued by a Greek geologist who teaches him to see meaning in everything from swamp matter to limestone.

There is so much more to this story that I can't begin to describe it.

Highly recommend.

This was an interesting read, although the main characters lived their lives often in solitude and sadness. I read Fugitive Pieces for Week 47: a past suggestion that didn't win (for me, this was a child telling the story).

Jakob, who is seven, is rescued by Greek geologist Athos who finds him hiding in the Polish forest in the midst of WWII. The odd pair live first on the Grecian island of Zakynthos, then on Idhra, setting in Athos' family home. Later, they emigrate to Toronto. Jakob grows up internalizing the horrors of his parents' murders at the hands of the Nazis during WWII; even more so, the haunting disappearance of his sister Bella, presumably murdered as well. It frames every moment of his life and ruins his first marriage to self-absorbed Alex. Through the years, until his death in 1992, Jakob divides his time between his two Grecian homesteads and Toronto, immersing himself in literature and poetry and finally finding love with second wife Michaela.

The first part of the book is all about Jakob Beer and Athos' relationship, but primarily about about Jakob's life, while the second part of the book focuses on Ben and wife Naomi. Ben is the son of Jewish WWII survivors who becomes acquainted with Jakob through a mutual friend. Ben's experience is altogether different from Jakob's, yet he identifies with him completely and at times, seems to become one with him. On their mutual friend's suggestion, he travels to Greece after Jakob's death to locate Jakob's lost diaries. Ben struggles with the remnants of a childhood filled with fear -- at turns guilt-ridden, angry, but more often resentful of his parents' withholding of love, security and understanding -- because of their own unresolved fear. He, too, must deal with personal failure attributed to this.

The writing is poetic and sometimes very heavy. While it's not a long novel, I found myself re-reading many passages because of the philosophies and portent Michaels injects into each sentence. Overall, I found that the second part wasn't at all as meaningful as the first; that where Jakob inspired compassion, Ben could be thoroughly disagreeable. I think Michaels includes the two as a way to continue Jakob's legacy, but I'm not sure. Perhaps a compare and contrast was at work here, too. For that reason, I gave the book four instead of five stars. Even still, this was quite a compelling story.

Read this for #33 - A book you have owned for more than a year and not read. I knew I needed to get to this one, and I'm glad I did. Very meaningful and beautifully written.