August Selection: The Hare with Amber Eyes

Title: The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance
Author: Edmund DeWaal
Host: Vicky

From Publishers Weekly

In this family history, de Waal, a potter and curator of ceramics at the Victoria & Albert Museum, describes the experiences of his family, the Ephrussis, during the turmoil of the 20th century. Grain merchants in Odessa, various family members migrated to Vienna and Paris, becoming successful bankers. Secular Jews, they sought assimilation in a period of virulent anti-Semitism.

In Paris, Charles Ephrussi purchased a large collection of Japanese netsuke, tiny hand-carved figures including a hare with amber eyes. The collection passed to Viktor Ephrussi in Vienna and became the family's greatest legacy. Loyal citizens of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Vienna Ephrussis were devastated by the outcome of WWI and were later driven from their home by the imposition of Nazi rule over Austria. After WWII, they discovered that their maid, Anna, had preserved the netsuke collection, which Ignace Ephrussi inherited, and he settled in postwar Japan. Today, the netsuke reside with de Waal (descended from the family's Vienna branch) and serve as the embodiment of his family history. A somewhat rambling narrative with special appeal to art historians, this account is nonetheless rich in drama and valuable anecdote.

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

More About Netsuke

The International Netsuke Society

Video

Interview with the author in his studio

Hot Weather, Lovely Garden, and Spirited Discussion

Although we missed several of our regulars, our group of seven guaranteed a lively discussion of Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin. The fact that we met on the hottest day of the year -- anywhere on the globe -- was softened by air-conditioning, a lovely garden view, and Heathcliff the dog.

Tableau with non-soggy biscotti

Insights and opinions

+ Phillipe Petit's unauthorized tightrope walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center is the unifying thread in this work, but the characters and their stories are so compelling they could have stood on their own without the wire walk. The feat is a metaphor for the struggles of McCann's characters. Each is poised over a personal abyss, risking everything.

+ The author skillfully inhabits his characters, bringing each of them to life, making them believable, and making the reader care.

+ Some found the structure of the book jarring at first. Just as you sink into a character's story, you're forced to leave that character and meet another. But within a few paragraphs, the new character takes over and you are fully engaged. The reader is in good hands. And, patience pays off in the end.

+ McCann is particularly adept at engaging all of the senses in his writing. We smell the city, hear its sounds, taste what the character is tasting. He is equally comfortable in the judge's chamber, the hooker's stroll, and the wire walker's training -- and we believe it all.

+ The female characters in this work are more fully fleshed out than the male characters -- interesting, given the fact the author is male.

 

Would we recommend?

With seven of seven "recommends," the answer is a strong "yes."

July Selection: Let the Great World Spin

Title: Let the Great World Spin: A Novel
Author: Colum McCann
Host: Linda

From Publishers Weekly

McCann's sweeping new novel hinges on Philippe Petit's illicit 1974 high-wire walk between the twin towers. It is the aftermath, in which Petit appears in the courtroom of Judge Solomon Soderberg, that sets events into motion. Solomon, anxious to get to Petit, quickly dispenses with a petty larceny involving mother/daughter hookers Tillie and Jazzlyn Henderson. Jazzlyn is let go, but is killed on the way home in a traffic accident. Also killed is John Corrigan, a priest who was giving her a ride. The other driver, an artist named Blaine, drives away, and the next day his wife, Lara, feeling guilty, tries to check on the victims, leading her to meet John's brother, with whom she'll form an enduring bond.

Meanwhile, Solomon's wife, Claire, meets with a group of mothers who have lost sons in Vietnam. One of them, Gloria, lives in the same building where John lived, which is how Claire, taking Gloria home, witnesses a small salvation. McCann's dogged, DeLillo-like ambition to show American magic and dread sometimes comes unfocused—John Corrigan in particular never seems real—but he succeeds in giving us a high-wire performance of style and heart.

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Video

Philipe Petit's Twin Towers tightrope walk.