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freshminttea's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
faintgirl's review against another edition
3.0
I'm a bit fed up now of the splurge of sensible, pretty average books I've hit on the list recently. Fugitive Pieces is another of these, a rather earnest look at the life of a young Jewish refugee, Jakob who is adopted by a Greek archaelogist as he flees the terror of the Nazis. It describes how his loss affects his journey to adulthood, and damages his relationships until he finally receives redemption in the shape of a young woman in Toronto.
Jakob grows to become a writer, to use the English language to heal his pain, and the second half of a novel visits a brief acquaintance of his, who travels back to Greece to discover some of Jakob's unpublished writings. Jakob's experiences in turn alter his own view on life, enrich his being, and his own troubles begin to be redeemed.
Again, it's an interesting little twist on a straight forward novel, but I'm now ready for something to hit me in the face with amazingness rather than interest to mild levels.
Jakob grows to become a writer, to use the English language to heal his pain, and the second half of a novel visits a brief acquaintance of his, who travels back to Greece to discover some of Jakob's unpublished writings. Jakob's experiences in turn alter his own view on life, enrich his being, and his own troubles begin to be redeemed.
Again, it's an interesting little twist on a straight forward novel, but I'm now ready for something to hit me in the face with amazingness rather than interest to mild levels.
maryvdb2024's review against another edition
4.0
Very powerful book about despair, loss and love - healing deep wounds. Stories within stories and stunningly beautiful prose.
paola_mobileread's review against another edition
4.0
I know, “mesmerising” is abused in far too many movie trailers, but it is the word best describes the effect this book had on me. When I say the book, I rather meant its main part - there are two of them, with two different narrators, and it is Jakob Beer’s that had me hooked. The final part felt somewhat contrived, less fluent and natural, both in “plot” (if we can talk of plot) and in the prose itself. But the first part alone is magnificent, wonderful read.
reading_rambles's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The story was beautiful, powerful and poetic
novabird's review against another edition
5.0
As Michaels says in her own words, “A poem is as neural as love . . . these aren’t poems they are ghost stories.” p. 163. Michaels gives herself over entirely to her own poetic voice and gives us the brilliance of this combination into a beautiful haunting.
Jakob is haunted by the sense that he had forgotten his sister, Bella, during the traumatic memory of the murder of his family. He holds onto his memories of her, that colour every aspect of his life, as if by constantly remembering her he can redeem himself of the sin of his original forgetting.
Michaels gives life to both Jakob’s and Ben’s survivor guilt by imbuing her narrative structure with an unbridled poetic license told through two first person points of view that bear witness to the repercussion of deep injury to their psyches.
Fugitive Pieces is about the slow process of truly healing from the inside out. It occupies the liminal space between the past and the present, where memory transforms from grave injury to an invocation towards hope, both collectively and individually,
Michaels sanctifies wherever our memories exist in, “A hiding place, rotted with grief.” She returns what can’t be saved, to the earth in her lush descriptions of landscape, as personified in Jakob’s relationship to Athos. She shines light, “Until (leaves) become so dark they can take in no more (light), reflect the light like smoky mirrors.”
Unlike the leaves, Michaels’ mirrors are dazzling bright. They quicken the heart; they leave an ache in your throat because you see much more clearly than you had before reading her offering.
Fugitive Pieces flaws are relatively inconsequential, so that they hardly mar near perfection. I give this 4.75 stars.
If you can allow the poetic narrative to sweep you along the currents of a slow moving river, that has no need for being steered away from the minor obstacles of unfamiliar Greek words, or terminology, and just allow the sounds of moving water to speak about its own passage of time in waves of lyricism, then you will be rewarded simply by the experience itself.
“I couldn't turn my anguish from the precise moment of death. I was focused on that historical split second: the tableau of the haunting trinity—perpetrator, victim, witness.”
Jakob is haunted by the sense that he had forgotten his sister, Bella, during the traumatic memory of the murder of his family. He holds onto his memories of her, that colour every aspect of his life, as if by constantly remembering her he can redeem himself of the sin of his original forgetting.
Michaels gives life to both Jakob’s and Ben’s survivor guilt by imbuing her narrative structure with an unbridled poetic license told through two first person points of view that bear witness to the repercussion of deep injury to their psyches.
“like a building that’s burned out inside, with the outer walls still standing.”
“The memories we elude catch up to us, overtake us like a shadow.
Fugitive Pieces is about the slow process of truly healing from the inside out. It occupies the liminal space between the past and the present, where memory transforms from grave injury to an invocation towards hope, both collectively and individually,
“How can one man take on the memories of even one other man, let alone five or ten or a thousand or ten thousand; how can they be sanctified, each?”
“When I first read this I could not imagine it. But later I felt I understood. Sometimes the body experiences revelation because it has abandoned every other possibility.”
Michaels sanctifies wherever our memories exist in, “A hiding place, rotted with grief.” She returns what can’t be saved, to the earth in her lush descriptions of landscape, as personified in Jakob’s relationship to Athos. She shines light, “Until (leaves) become so dark they can take in no more (light), reflect the light like smoky mirrors.”
Unlike the leaves, Michaels’ mirrors are dazzling bright. They quicken the heart; they leave an ache in your throat because you see much more clearly than you had before reading her offering.
Fugitive Pieces flaws are relatively inconsequential, so that they hardly mar near perfection. I give this 4.75 stars.
If you can allow the poetic narrative to sweep you along the currents of a slow moving river, that has no need for being steered away from the minor obstacles of unfamiliar Greek words, or terminology, and just allow the sounds of moving water to speak about its own passage of time in waves of lyricism, then you will be rewarded simply by the experience itself.
mya_kershaw_dann's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
jess_mango's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 out of 5 stars. This book is packed with metaphors and poetic prose. Sometimes the beautiful writing got a bit in the way of the story for me though.
lean_bean's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75