This is quite an ambitious undertaking, tracking a Polish
family, the Radovaks, and their connections through the six years of the Second
World War, across Europe and North Africa. Although the story follows all members
of the family from time to time, it focuses most closely on the two sons, Stefan
and Igor and, to a lesser extent, their father, Max.
The point of view (POV) adopted in this novel is crucial to how
well it works or doesn’t work. When the focus is on Igor and Stefan, the POV
tends to be third person and intimate. This is also sometimes true from time to
time of other characters, but it is Igor and Stefan whom we come to know most
intimately. We are made privy to their emotions and thoughts; we are taken into
situations of suspense, jeopardy and intimacy with them. These are the parts of
the novel that work best. Having said that, sometimes, even during these more
intimate moments, the POV might shift momentarily to another (sometimes quite
minor) character. This was not always successful. As far as other members of
the family are concerned—particularly the mother, Anna, and Igor’s wife,
Trishka—even when the narrative concerns them, the POV tends to be more remote
and external, and events are often related quickly and sketchily. Sometimes
they are not seen for many chapters, and even when they are finally seen again,
the reader never comes to know them very well. As a result, the reader does not
become very heavily invested in their fate.
There are large gaps even in the stories of Igor and Stefan.
Sometimes they disappear for several chapters, and many months might pass. Although
the external events of their stories are quite different, I never really
acquired a sense of these men as distinct personalities. They remain, rather
generically, young men involved in dangerous circumstances. These circumstances
and the men’s activities dominate over personalities. Nevertheless, some of
these individual episodes are very well told. Max, although given less airtime,
seems to have a more distinctive personality, perhaps because he is an older
man. Among the women, Anna the wife and Trishka the daughter-in-law scarcely
come to life. It is actually Marie, the love interest of Stefan, who acquires
the most substance among the women, probably because there is at least one
chapter in which her POV is adopted and becomes very intimate. Minor characters
come and go throughout the story, some given—briefly—more prominence than
others, only to disappear off stage, never to be seen again; or to have their
fate reported briefly later. One character is introduced only very briefly and
his death scene is reported. We are then informed that over several months Igor
had become close friends with him. This has important implications for the
final chapters of the novel. Yet this friendship is only very briefly reported,
and his death leaves the reader unmoved because the reader has no relationship
with this character. This is an example of the inconsistency in the treatment
of minor characters which is sometimes problematic.
I would rather the author had made a firmer decision to
follow closely the trajectory of the two sons (and, to a lesser extent, the
father) through the war, rather than popping back occasionally to relate what
had been happening with the women for the past few months. In the end, these
brief episodes were a distraction from the central narrative. The alternative
would have been to give a much closer and more intimate account of the women
too, which would, of course, have made this a much larger novel, perhaps of Gone With the Wind or War and Peace proportions.
All in all, I felt that the author the captured period quite
well. As to the historical accuracy of the events reported I am not entirely
sure; but I did notice one historical discrepancy: although referred to several
times here in 1945, the KGB was not formed until 1954. This did make me wonder
about the historical accuracy of other parts of the story.
As seems to happen so often in many (particularly self-published)
novels, there appeared to be an increasing number of typographical errors as
the novel progressed, as though whoever undertook the editing and proofreading
became tired and lost focus along the way. I was particularly irritated by the persistent
use, during one section of the novel, of mien
for the German mein. This inevitably
stood out in the italicised font.
I did, in the end, enjoy this novel, although the way the
author sometimes skipped lightly over important events, or made large jumps in
time, irritated me. Overall, I felt the novel could have used a firm editor’s
hand. I give it three stars.
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