camcam007's review
4.0
I'm on chapter "a little time the leaves are green" and it is good so far, I like how Kennedy writes straight to the point with short sentences.
acton's review
4.0
In the Company of Angels, by Thomas E. Kennedy is a beautifully written novel set in Copenhagen, Denmark. Straightaway, that makes it a unique experience for me.
There are four different narratives, first and foremost, Nardo (Benardo Greene), a Chilean who has suffered physically and mentally at the hands of the Pinochet regime for about two years. He is now taking refuge in Copenhagen and being treated by a psychiatrist at the Torture Rehabilitation Center. We are given a window into the life of this psychiatrist, Thorkild Kristensen, who feels plenty of stress and self-doubt. Concurrently, we meet Michela Ibsen, a woman who will become intimately involved with Nardo. Michela's domestic life has exposed her to both emotional and physical trauma. When this novel begins, Michela is dealing with end-of-life issues for her parents and dealing with a very intense relationship with a younger lover, Voss. Voss is someone I'd describe as a sick puppy, a sort of "poor little rich boy" who has never felt loved or needed, and Michela has enough past experience and maturity to end this affair; he's a self-destructive young man with a mean streak. Meanwhile, Michela's father, Mikhail, is suffering mightily during his last days in a nursing home.
Believe it or not, Kennedy does provide enough humor in this intriguing journey to keep the reader from feeling the utmost despair. Nardo and Michela do prove to be a real love match, two people who instinctively know how to hold the other one up.
This is a beautifully written novel that addresses what meaning life has for us, and what love is.
*This was a freebie from LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program
There are four different narratives, first and foremost, Nardo (Benardo Greene), a Chilean who has suffered physically and mentally at the hands of the Pinochet regime for about two years. He is now taking refuge in Copenhagen and being treated by a psychiatrist at the Torture Rehabilitation Center. We are given a window into the life of this psychiatrist, Thorkild Kristensen, who feels plenty of stress and self-doubt. Concurrently, we meet Michela Ibsen, a woman who will become intimately involved with Nardo. Michela's domestic life has exposed her to both emotional and physical trauma. When this novel begins, Michela is dealing with end-of-life issues for her parents and dealing with a very intense relationship with a younger lover, Voss. Voss is someone I'd describe as a sick puppy, a sort of "poor little rich boy" who has never felt loved or needed, and Michela has enough past experience and maturity to end this affair; he's a self-destructive young man with a mean streak. Meanwhile, Michela's father, Mikhail, is suffering mightily during his last days in a nursing home.
Believe it or not, Kennedy does provide enough humor in this intriguing journey to keep the reader from feeling the utmost despair. Nardo and Michela do prove to be a real love match, two people who instinctively know how to hold the other one up.
This is a beautifully written novel that addresses what meaning life has for us, and what love is.
*This was a freebie from LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program
rossjenc's review
5.0
I was fortunate to win this book from the blog written by Mary Whipple. I am very happy she lead me to a new author to eagerly await material from.
The story tells about a teacher who is brutally tortured in Chile, a divorced woman who has lost a child, her father with many life regrets, the therapist who is helping Nardo heal, and a young, immature, and self-centered boyfriend who is forced to self reflect.
I really enjoyed this story. Kennedy does an amazing job of capturing the human spirit through life, death, love, as well as the spirit of Denmark itself. This story will stay with me for a long time.
Although, I am far removed from the setting and have had a much different life experience than the characters of Nardo and Michela, I could recognize a little bit of myself and my loved ones in their story. Kennedy does an amazing job of connecting the characters of the story to the everyday reader. I wish I could pinpoint how exactly he does it but it felt different than I often feel when reading books where I really like the character or am intrigued by a characters story.
It is a heavy read yet somehow you remain hopeful during the most painful parts. Without giving too much of the ending away, I must say it was a well deserved ending that was believable.
The story tells about a teacher who is brutally tortured in Chile, a divorced woman who has lost a child, her father with many life regrets, the therapist who is helping Nardo heal, and a young, immature, and self-centered boyfriend who is forced to self reflect.
I really enjoyed this story. Kennedy does an amazing job of capturing the human spirit through life, death, love, as well as the spirit of Denmark itself. This story will stay with me for a long time.
Although, I am far removed from the setting and have had a much different life experience than the characters of Nardo and Michela, I could recognize a little bit of myself and my loved ones in their story. Kennedy does an amazing job of connecting the characters of the story to the everyday reader. I wish I could pinpoint how exactly he does it but it felt different than I often feel when reading books where I really like the character or am intrigued by a characters story.
It is a heavy read yet somehow you remain hopeful during the most painful parts. Without giving too much of the ending away, I must say it was a well deserved ending that was believable.
hikereadbeer's review
3.0
I can't say that I actually liked this book. I liked the writing style, Kennedy sure knows how to make a boring story seem beautiful. But that's all it was...boring. I felt like I could skip pages upon pages and still know exactly what was going on. And how can it be such a great love story when the two main characters don't even get together until almost the end?
melanie_reads's review
5.0
Let me say this - I love, love this book. Best book I've read all year, maybe two. It packs a whole lot in - the immigrant experience, aging/dying parents, democracy versus socialism, the violence of humanity and at the very bottom of everything, the sliver of hope.
mandi_m's review
One of my great readers reviewed this one - thanks Penny!
I am uncertain how I feel about this book although I think it is very well and descriptively written. His writing about the torture moved me greatly but I felt a little let down when the other characters were introduced. i know they were also broken souls but I felt distracted from what was the main story.
I liked the meeting and developing relationship between Bernardo and Michaela and feel this in itself was sufficient - the other characters didn't need to be so developed. The psychiatrists's story however was relevant.
I am uncertain how I feel about this book although I think it is very well and descriptively written. His writing about the torture moved me greatly but I felt a little let down when the other characters were introduced. i know they were also broken souls but I felt distracted from what was the main story.
I liked the meeting and developing relationship between Bernardo and Michaela and feel this in itself was sufficient - the other characters didn't need to be so developed. The psychiatrists's story however was relevant.
nmcspadd's review against another edition
4.0
I won this AR copy as part of a Goodreads giveaway, and I'm so glad I did!!
This is a beautifully written novel that centers around Bernardo, a man who was tortured horrifically at the hands of the Pinochet regime in Chile and then escaped to northern Europe. There are many other characters, and the POV changes with each chapter. At times, that was confusing, and there were characters I liked more than others. But the prose Kennedy employs to tell this story is practically poetry; it's just so beautiful to read that my complaints pale in comparison. I think that at its heart, the book is about the human capacity for evil and for good, which often coexist in one person, and also about the human capacity for self-healing and moving on. Moving and beautiful.
This is a beautifully written novel that centers around Bernardo, a man who was tortured horrifically at the hands of the Pinochet regime in Chile and then escaped to northern Europe. There are many other characters, and the POV changes with each chapter. At times, that was confusing, and there were characters I liked more than others. But the prose Kennedy employs to tell this story is practically poetry; it's just so beautiful to read that my complaints pale in comparison. I think that at its heart, the book is about the human capacity for evil and for good, which often coexist in one person, and also about the human capacity for self-healing and moving on. Moving and beautiful.
jdscott50's review
3.0
In the Company of Angels is a story about how we deal with the violence we see all around us how we heal from violence.
Nardo has been a political prisoner, tortured, with loved ones that may have been killed, all for teaching poetry to children. He is in Denmark getting psychological help in order to heal. His doctor, even though he has the best intentions to help him, is severely affected by what he learns about how Nardo was tortured. The severity of the violence even affects his family, causing problems at home.
Michela is another character who has met with violence of an unfortunately more common kind, the abuse from her former husband and current boyfriend. We also see Michela’s father and her boyfriend Voss’s perspective in the story, demonstrating their weak character. This aids Michela’s perspective later in the book and is a critical point in her meeting and helping to heal Nardo. The book has many beautiful points about violence and healing, but it seems to fall a little short for me in story development.
We are not solely defined as a victim. I understand the point was to demonstrate the violence and healing but it seems to be its only purpose. I like to see more of a fleshing out otherwise it’s just an attempt to show the depravity of violence in contrast to the beauty of healing, of letting go of the pain. I think by overemphasizing that point, it can result in someone being too defined by that experience.
Best Passages:
"How much of a survivor, in fact survives? How much must remain of a survivor for him also to be called a man? Some of us who are still present and accounted for perhaps are desapareceido nonetheless, invisible pieces missing from the whole. You tell me to remember. All over again. To remember. Perhaps there is nothing left doctor. Perhaps it is all gone perhaps all that is left is the screaming. empty screaming to fill empty ears." P 13
"She knew what she would say now to him because it made sense to her suddenly, Made and Voss and the violence they let loose on her. It was not her weakness, it was theirs. It wasn't her fault, it wasn't Nardo's fault, it was the fear men had in their hearts, fear of themselves, of other men, of women who could see their fear if they did not stop them seeing with their fists. page 165
The angels apologized to him that they had to take him back again, but explained they had been allowed to show him this, to bring him out, as a promise, assurance that after a time he would again be free, that these things of beauty still existed, that he would again experience them, that he must remember this, to keep his strength." page 96
"Humankind is a mystery; even if a man spends his entire life trying to solve that mystery and fails, he will not have wasted his time."
Nardo has been a political prisoner, tortured, with loved ones that may have been killed, all for teaching poetry to children. He is in Denmark getting psychological help in order to heal. His doctor, even though he has the best intentions to help him, is severely affected by what he learns about how Nardo was tortured. The severity of the violence even affects his family, causing problems at home.
Michela is another character who has met with violence of an unfortunately more common kind, the abuse from her former husband and current boyfriend. We also see Michela’s father and her boyfriend Voss’s perspective in the story, demonstrating their weak character. This aids Michela’s perspective later in the book and is a critical point in her meeting and helping to heal Nardo. The book has many beautiful points about violence and healing, but it seems to fall a little short for me in story development.
We are not solely defined as a victim. I understand the point was to demonstrate the violence and healing but it seems to be its only purpose. I like to see more of a fleshing out otherwise it’s just an attempt to show the depravity of violence in contrast to the beauty of healing, of letting go of the pain. I think by overemphasizing that point, it can result in someone being too defined by that experience.
Best Passages:
"How much of a survivor, in fact survives? How much must remain of a survivor for him also to be called a man? Some of us who are still present and accounted for perhaps are desapareceido nonetheless, invisible pieces missing from the whole. You tell me to remember. All over again. To remember. Perhaps there is nothing left doctor. Perhaps it is all gone perhaps all that is left is the screaming. empty screaming to fill empty ears." P 13
"She knew what she would say now to him because it made sense to her suddenly, Made and Voss and the violence they let loose on her. It was not her weakness, it was theirs. It wasn't her fault, it wasn't Nardo's fault, it was the fear men had in their hearts, fear of themselves, of other men, of women who could see their fear if they did not stop them seeing with their fists. page 165
The angels apologized to him that they had to take him back again, but explained they had been allowed to show him this, to bring him out, as a promise, assurance that after a time he would again be free, that these things of beauty still existed, that he would again experience them, that he must remember this, to keep his strength." page 96
"Humankind is a mystery; even if a man spends his entire life trying to solve that mystery and fails, he will not have wasted his time."
ldv's review against another edition
3.0
I don't know what to make of this book. No complaints about the writing -- it was good, but nothing specific about it stood out to me. It's the story(s) that puzzle me. Five narrators interspersed, omitting only one significant character (the mother with dementia). Nardo was tortured in Chile and has to deal with his demons (real and/or imagined?); his therapist who seems to take on one of the demons (and the only character to narrate in first person); Michela who has relationship problems and has to care for two ailing parents; and Mikhal, her father, who has only a few longer chapters. There are themes of love and dealing with the past and brokenness, but I'm not sure what or if there was a larger point to the book that I missed. I don't think it's necessarily the book's fault; maybe this is one of those books that needs to be reread and studied to actually get.
Certainly different.
Certainly different.
featherbooks's review against another edition
2.0
This book started out well with the Chilean torture victim's survival tale and adjusting to life in Copenhagen but once the author spent time with the female character's dying parents and despicable boyfriend, I was through with it. These characters seem to be peripheral and do not add to the story. Skimmed through to see if anything changed, but was not encouraged to finish the book in spite of some good writing.
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