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A Thread of Grace, by Mary Doria Russell

“A Thread of Grace“, by Mary Doria Russell is an exceptional novel set in Italy during World War II. There aren’t too many novels that take place in the powerful setting of German occupied Italy during the final year of the war, that explore the humanity, humbleness, the partisans, and the willingness of the Italians to help hide both Jewish refugees and Italian Jews.

Russell infuses “A Thread of Grace” with historical fact, and much of it is based on accounts that Italians have relayed to her, memoirs, and on personal stories of both Italian Jews and Jewish refugee Survivors of World War II. The drama within the book is strong. She combines a deep sense of time and place within the pages. The three main famiiies and characters are given strong traits, including their ideals, ethics and religion, within the framework of World War II.

The characters are all named by Russell, before the book’s beginning. They range in age, and are a colorful group of individuals, from Catholics to Jews, from priests to rabbis, farmers to traders, a war hero and a German deserter, nuns, orphans, and all of them are fighting the same cause. Each one of them is trying to stay alive during the most adverse of times. And, each one of them is determined to try to save their Jewish neighbors and friends, including the Jewish refugees. Within the rubble and bombs the strength of each individual unfolds. Whether they live or die is inconsequential, as far as they are concerned. Whether they fight the fight is the primary issue for each one of them. Each individual is determined to contribute their all, no matter the outcome.

War-torn Italy has seen much horror, damage, destruction and lives lost, not only due to the German occupation, but also the allied bombings. The facists are strong, the German army is powerful and well organized. The resistance and partisans are a force to contend with, and the common thread within the villages and towns and its residents is the sameness of their humanity, the role of human kind under war time circumstances, and the shared losses both Catholics and Jews feel, as one. Each person considers themselves to be a piece of the whole, a thread in the fabric of time.

We have Italian Jews, including the rough, tough Renzo Leoni (my favorite character) along with his widowed mother, Lidia Segre. She is as tough as he is. There is Rabbi Iacopo Soncini and his wife, Mirella Casutto. Angelo is their young son, and Rosina is their daughter. Some of the Jewish refugees are Claudette Blum, a teenager, and her father Albert Blum. Duno Brossler is a partisan from Austria, and Liesl and Steffi are his younger sisters, while Rivka Ivanova Brossler is his paternal grandmother. There are several Italian Catholics, including Suora Marta, Massimo Malcovato, the major, the priest Osvaldo tomitz and the priest Don Leto, Santino Cicala is an infantryman, and so many other Catholics, who strive to help the Jews. There are some British characters, and a German character who is trying to receive absolution from a priest, as he sent 90,000 Jews to their death) woven within the pages.

I won’t go into much detail regarding the story line, but you can gather from what I have stated that it is a story whose setting is German occupied World War II Italy, and whose characters strive for the same ending, regardless of age, nationality or religion. You need to read “A Thread of Grace“, yourself, in order to appreciate the intense story, and the author’s efforts.

Mary Doria Russell has written a tapestry of time, whose threads are stretched, worn thin, and threads that often tear and wrinkle, whose weavings tell tales of courage, strength, determination, ideals, ethics, morals, and love and loss, and even redemption, under the extreme circumstances of war. Her descriptives and visuals are incredible and commanding. The strength behind her words convey paintings before our eyes. “A Thread of Grace” is a brilliant book and a masterpiece of humanity, in a world where the loss of one human being becomes the shared and common loss of the entire village or town, the collective as a whole. Mary Doria Russell brings historical fact into the realm of the novel, sensitively, with her overpowering sense of humankind and careful detail to time, place and people. I highly recommend “A Thread of Grace“.

I personally own and have read this book.

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, by Kim Edwards

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, by Kim Edwards

What would you do if faced with the same situation that Dr. David Henry was faced with. Can you say for sure?

After delivering twins during a blizzard, the doctor is faced with the fact his second-born, a daughter, has Down’s Syndrome. Deciding, during a time of intense pressure and making a split-second on-the-spot choice, the doctor feels it is in the best interests of the child, to have the baby taken away, to an institution. He feels it is for her own good, and convinces himself he is doing it for the baby’s own good. He asks his nurse, Caroline, to take the baby to an institution.

Caroline, chooses to raise the baby as her own daughter, and does it rather successfully, fighting for her daughter’s rights in every phase of her life, making sure she is able to sustain herself and care for herself.

Dr. David Henry obsesses with photography, which has become his outlet for the guilt he constantly feels over his decision. His choice has left a void within his family, a void only he can cure by being forthright, but his apprehensions prevent him from that, and he keeps the secret of his choices.

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter is an excellent psychological study on strength, caring, guilt, parallel lives, and the power to forgive and be redeemed, through the capability of love’s strength.

Kim Edwards manages to fulfill us with her amazing ability to bring us delicate, yet, compelling prose, emphasizing the haunting choices each character has made.

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Open Work, by Adria Bernardi

Open Work, by Adria Bernardi

Three generations of closely knit Italian families are depicted in Bernardi’s novel, Open Work. She has woven a story of the experience of the Italian immigrant in the barren desert and coal mines of New Mexico, and of those who remain behind in the homeland and mountains of Tuscany, Italy.
The fabric of the generations is stretched and pulled, much like the “open work” stitches that were uniquely worked by Imola, one of the main characters. We are given a tapestry of time, mother, children, grandchildren, and others who interweave within the lives of Imola, her brother Egidio, their friend Antenorre.

The assimilation of the Italians in the west, and the attempts by Antenorre to help the miners understand the pitfalls of their existence is written with insight. The realizations and dreams of the immigrants, whether they are realistic or exaggerations of the mind, are also written with sensitivity. The reality of life in America is not what they thought it would be, once the immigrant has landed. The land of opportunity is more inopportune than they imagined.

We are witness to those left behind, and how they struggle to survive within their own villages. We watch them wait for a sign from America, holding their breaths for word of their relatives, through postcards bought through the mine company, and often times written by someone else, before being mailed. We see them wither away, emotionally, unable to cope with loss of family, loss of children moving on to make a life for themselves. The tapestry of life unravels within the pages of Open Work, and the stitches are stretched thin.

The craft of “Open Work” is a metaphor for life’s tapestries. If you want to learn more about the Italian immigrant experience in the southwest, I recommend Bernardi’s Open Work, for its insightful documentation and vivid imagery.

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The Year My Parents Went On Vacation

“The Year My Parents Went on Vacation“, is directed by Cao Hamburger, and was produced in Brazil. The film is subtitled in English, and written in Portugese, Yiddish and Hebrew.

The movie takes place in Sao Paulo, during 1970 Brazil, when the country was run by military regime. The story line isn’t so much about the turbulence and military authority, as it is about Mauro, his coming-of-age, and the changes in his life that he encounters, and adjustments he must make, when his parents drop him off to stay with his Jewish grandfather.

Michel Joelsas, who plays 12-year old Mauro, is very good at conveying the lonely feelings of the boy, and also conveys the confusion he feels over the fact his parents are gone. He keeps asking about them, and is constantly told that they are on vacation. His life before his parents left revolved around soccer/football, and that facet of his life remains the same. In fact, the entire city population lives for the sport.

There are some humorous parts to the film, and many moments that display warmth and vibrancy. I especially enjoyed the portrayal of the Jewish community of Sao Paolo, and how we see how they adored soccer/football, as much as any other Brazilian citizen did, their passion about the game overflowing with vibrancy and exuberance, whether young or old, Orthodox Jews or not.

We are given snippets of daily life, from the apartments to the street noises, the traditions, and the food, and are given views of culture, both social and religious. The film is delightful, humorous, poignant, well-constructed and developed with social aspects, as well as historical perspectives. The cinematography is wonderful. “The Year My Parents Went on Vacation” is a film filled with humanity and acceptance. Cao Hamburger, himself, recognizes the degrees one goes through in order to feel part of their environment, due to his own background. “The Year My Parents Went on Vacation” is a brilliant reflection of his ability to infuse emotion and empathy, history and religion, within political and social confines.

I could go into more detail, but won’t, as I don’t want to give too much away.

I saw this film Saturday, and I highly recommend this film to everyone.

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Jew Wishes…Peace to you all.
© Copyright 2007 - All Rights Reserved - No permission is given or allowed to reuse my photography, book reviews, writings, or my poetry in any form/format without my expresss written consent/permission.

Spring’s Song

Spring is singing its song of life. The landscape is alive with color, as lush green resounds through the rolling hills.

Goats and sheep dot the landscape, dots of white are everywhere against the greenness. The aria of the season echoes throughout the countryside, rural beauty illuminated.