danata's review
I was really excited that this book was partly in Ladino/Spanjol, the language of the Jews who got expelled from Spain in the 1490s. It's kind of like a medieval, oddly-spelled Spanish, and its speakers mostly diffused throughout the then-Ottoman-empire (Istanbul, Sarajevo, Salonica) and into Mexico and New Mexico (where a lot of "crypto-Jews" -- people who either disguised their identities or, after generations, forgot them, settled).
It make sense that that Hemon, who was forced into the life of a refugee when Sarajevo got besieged while he was overseas, would vibe with the Jews, who can feel semi-permanently not home. It also makes sense that he would be compelled to write this plot, about a sweet, inebriated Sarajevan Jew who gets knocked out of the Sarajevan carsija by war, and who -- like a good Bosnian -- falls into a cross-religion love affair.
I wasn't prepared, however, for the fact that Pinto, once leaving Sarajevo, would never go home again. The book takes us from Archduke Ferdinand's assassination straight to the bloody fields of Galicia, then by train to prisoner of war camps in Tashkent. Pinto is the narrator and he is not interested in any of the bird's eye political view of his situation, or even what you might write to your mom in a letter (Pinto fails to write his mom letters) -- so if you don't understand how he got into World War I, or who they were fighting, or what all the tumult is about when they reach Tashkent, or what's going on with the Great Game player they meet up with there -- well, you're going to stay ignorant.
While the text is beautiful and intimate and Pinto's love for Osman shines through it all, the rest feels like it's seen through a glass darkly. Together with the lack of driving plot -- TWAATIH is more of a chronicle than a set of rising actions -- the failure to ever orient towards the "larger focus" of what Pinto is living through started to make me feel frustrated and claustrophobic. I felt like I was seeing everything through multiple layers of gauze.
So, while I'm a big fan of Hemon's first book and I might come back to this later, I just don't have the steam for it during this dark February.
It make sense that that Hemon, who was forced into the life of a refugee when Sarajevo got besieged while he was overseas, would vibe with the Jews, who can feel semi-permanently not home. It also makes sense that he would be compelled to write this plot, about a sweet, inebriated Sarajevan Jew who gets knocked out of the Sarajevan carsija by war, and who -- like a good Bosnian -- falls into a cross-religion love affair.
I wasn't prepared, however, for the fact that Pinto, once leaving Sarajevo, would never go home again. The book takes us from Archduke Ferdinand's assassination straight to the bloody fields of Galicia, then by train to prisoner of war camps in Tashkent. Pinto is the narrator and he is not interested in any of the bird's eye political view of his situation, or even what you might write to your mom in a letter (Pinto fails to write his mom letters) -- so if you don't understand how he got into World War I, or who they were fighting, or what all the tumult is about when they reach Tashkent, or what's going on with the Great Game player they meet up with there -- well, you're going to stay ignorant.
While the text is beautiful and intimate and Pinto's love for Osman shines through it all, the rest feels like it's seen through a glass darkly. Together with the lack of driving plot -- TWAATIH is more of a chronicle than a set of rising actions -- the failure to ever orient towards the "larger focus" of what Pinto is living through started to make me feel frustrated and claustrophobic. I felt like I was seeing everything through multiple layers of gauze.
So, while I'm a big fan of Hemon's first book and I might come back to this later, I just don't have the steam for it during this dark February.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Drug abuse
softanimal's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Drug abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Violence, Drug use, Genocide, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, War, and Xenophobia
spec_tacles's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, War, Addiction, Death, Gore, Genocide, Violence, Murder, Drug use, Grief, and Drug abuse
Minor: Homophobia and Islamophobia
danaaliyalevinson's review
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I was floored by this book. Told over the course of 35 years, this is the story of an epic love between a Jewish man and a Muslim man from Sarajevo set against the backdrop of the first half of the 20th century, covering WWI, its aftermath, and WWII. This book is a lyrical and deeply moving portrait of war, trauma, grief, displacement, and Jewish longing. As a Jewish reader, there’s a certain ineffable Jewishness that can sometimes be imbued into an author’s work. I think of Nicole Krauss’ work as an example, or also Nathan Englander. It’s this balance of emotionality, an almost biblical poeticism, a sense of past always being present, and a sprinkling of absurdism and surrealism. This book oozed it. I was also impressed by how much Hemon utilized these tools to draw a vivid picture of war and being a refugee, not in the external details, but in the emotional ones. I know it’s only January, but this will be a book that all others I read this year are held against. A stunning read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, War, Colonisation, Death of parent, Addiction, Medical content, Blood, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
More...