A brief, unassuming exploration of cataclysmic loss that delicately thrums the heartstrings and replenishes the spirit.
A woman reflects on the catastrophic history of the Caribbean island of Montserrat and its effect upon her family in this continuation of a story begun in Bruno’s previous novel (Down Memory Lane: With Marguerite and Family, 2010, etc.).
Marguerite, now living in Montpellier in southern France, misses her former life on Montserrat. Her homeland was first devastated by Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and later, by two volcanoes in 1995 and 1997; the latter resulted in the evacuation of the town of Plymouth and the deaths of 19 people who tried to stand their ground. Displaced residents like Marguerite, with their personal possessions and way of life irrevocably destroyed, have little to rely upon but their memories and each other. The tragedies devastated Marguerite’s husband, George, who’s no longer himself. Their newly married daughter, Clementine, and her husband, Christophe, are presumed dead, possibly due to arson; they were registered at a hotel that was consumed by flames. Soon, Marguerite and George learn that the couple is still alive, but they have no clue as to their whereabouts. A distressed Marguerite finds comfort in a visit to the Black Madonna in Barcelona, where she hears a mysterious voice whisper, “Nil Desperandum!” (“Do not despair!”). Although the tale begins with Marguerite, the focus seamlessly shifts to honeymooners Clementine and Christophe, who discuss the locales they visit, including Martinique; they eventually return to Little Bay, an area of Montserrat that has been reopened to the public. Their conversations don’t merely offer sparkling history lessons, but also their perspectives on their loss as they prepare to build a new life together. Bruno’s touching story of devastation and spiritual renewal builds quietly and surely, without treacle or theatrics. In simple, straightforward language, the novel examines the layers of physical and emotional upheaval that come with successive tragedies. It gently addresses themes of despair, hope, faith and rebirth, noting that there is “more mystery to life than the common man dreams.”
A brief, unassuming exploration of cataclysmic loss that delicately thrums the heartstrings and replenishes the spirit.Pub Date: March 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-1466329720
Page Count: 110
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A vivid sequel that strains credulity.
Fremont (After Long Silence, 1999) continues—and alters—her story of how memories of the Holocaust affected her family.
At the age of 44, the author learned that her father had disowned her, declaring her “predeceased”—or dead in his eyes—in his will. It was his final insult: Her parents had stopped speaking to her after she’d published After Long Silence, which exposed them as Jewish Holocaust survivors who had posed as Catholics in Europe and America in order to hide multilayered secrets. Here, Fremont delves further into her tortured family dynamics and shows how the rift developed. One thread centers on her life after her harrowing childhood: her education at Wellesley and Boston University, the loss of her virginity to a college boyfriend before accepting her lesbianism, her stint with the Peace Corps in Lesotho, and her decades of work as a lawyer in Boston. Another strand involves her fraught relationship with her sister, Lara, and how their difficulties relate to their father, a doctor embittered after years in the Siberian gulag; and their mother, deeply enmeshed with her own sister, Zosia, who had married an Italian count and stayed in Rome to raise a child. Fremont tells these stories with novelistic flair, ending with a surprising theory about why her parents hid their Judaism. Yet she often appears insensitive to the serious problems she says Lara once faced, including suicidal depression. “The whole point of suicide, I thought, was to succeed at it,” she writes. “My sister’s completion rate was pathetic.” Key facts also differ from those in her earlier work. After Long Silence says, for example, that the author grew up “in a small city in the Midwest” while she writes here that she grew up in “upstate New York,” changes Fremont says she made for “consistency” in the new book but that muddy its narrative waters. The discrepancies may not bother readers seeking psychological insights rather than factual accuracy, but others will wonder if this book should have been labeled a fictionalized autobiography rather than a memoir.
A vivid sequel that strains credulity.Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-982113-60-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 20, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
A straightforward tale of kindness and paying it forward in 1980s New York.
When advertising executive Schroff answered a child’s request for spare change by inviting him for lunch, she did not expect the encounter to grow into a friendship that would endure into his adulthood. The author recounts how she and Maurice, a promising boy from a drug-addicted family, learned to trust each other. Schroff acknowledges risks—including the possibility of her actions being misconstrued and the tension of crossing socio-economic divides—but does not dwell on the complexities of homelessness or the philosophical problems of altruism. She does not question whether public recognition is beneficial, or whether it is sufficient for the recipient to realize the extent of what has been done. With the assistance of People human-interest writer Tresniowski (Tiger Virtues, 2005, etc.), Schroff adheres to a personal narrative that traces her troubled relationship with her father, her meetings with Maurice and his background, all while avoiding direct parallels, noting that their childhoods differed in severity even if they shared similar emotional voids. With feel-good dramatizations, the story seldom transcends the message that reaching out makes a difference. It is framed in simple terms, from attributing the first meeting to “two people with complicated pasts and fragile dreams” that were “somehow meant to be friends” to the conclusion that love is a driving force. Admirably, Schroff notes that she did not seek a role as a “substitute parent,” and she does not judge Maurice’s mother for her lifestyle. That both main figures experience a few setbacks yet eventually survive is never in question; the story fittingly concludes with an epilogue by Maurice. For readers seeking an uplifting reminder that small gestures matter.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4516-4251-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Howard Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
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