Synopsis
Through the eyes of a Christian nanny, Marta, we see the struggles of a Jewish family to keep Pepik, their six-year-old son, alive in Czechoslovakia as Hitler's forces begin their expansion across Europe. His father, Pavel, wants to hold on to everything he's built up for his family at his factory, while his enigmatic but practical wife Anneliese is willing to give up her religion and culture for perceived safety and security. Cut into the family's story are snippets from a current-day Holocaust historian, a woman who has grown old while trying to preserve the memories of other people's lives. The two narratives slowly converge as the fates of the Bauer family and their loyal nanny are revealed in an unexpected way.Reason for Reading
I started chatting with Pick on Twitter about Nicole Krauss and Jennifer Egan at the end of last year. Then she made The Toronto Star's Top 10 Reads of 2010 list; and then the biggie (or, at least, my favourite), the Man Booker Prize longlist. I can take a hint.Why you should read this book
Stories from the Holocaust have always held me rapt: how to make sense of a thing of such sheer proportion, an event that brought out the best and the worst in people?In Far to Go, Pick has focused her story on one small family and placed them in the middle of the chaos, as they try to carry on with their lives - bravely, blindly - as Hitler does his best to restrict and pushes their lives into nothingness. The tension crackles throughout the story, the inevitability of war pushing against friendships and love and sex, which loom as large as ever in the characters' minds. Pavel's determination to hold on to his Jewish heritage duels with Anneliese's willingness to give up everything to keep her family alive. Marta is no quiet observer as the narrator, pushing the family in all directions as she struggles to sort out her own feelings from the rampant propaganda. As you read, you'll find yourself sharing the terrors and joys of this unlikely family as their lives twist and turn in shocking ways, even as the snippets of the second narrator, the historian, serve to remind us that history can't be changed. Perhaps, though, it is up to us to interpret it.
Why you should avoid this book
Far to Go is powerful rather than flat-out depressing, but as the book points out from the very beginning, don't expect a fully happy ending (pretty reasonable expectations for a book about the Holocaust, right?). Not a pick-me-up story, but a definite must-read.Opening Paragraph
I wish this were a happy story. A story to make you doubt, and despair, and then have your hopes redeemed so you could believe again, at the last minute, in the essential goodness of the world around us and the people in it. There are few things in life, though, that turn out for the best, with real happy endings.Fabulous quotes
'I simply can't keep living like this. And I don't know why Pavel can't see it. It's dangerous to stay, because you get used to it. You accommodate. You think, well, it isn't so bad if the Herrings don't want to associate with us. It isn't so bad if —' Here she looked up at Marta. 'But it is bad, isn't it? We should leave, don't you think?'
People disappear. Despite all the information available to us, there are cases that are never solved. We can guess what happened but we cannot say for certain. And there is nothing to be done about it now anyway, so late in time. Even in the instances where there are surviving cables and telegrams, they tell only a fraction of the story. For my part, among all the letters I have read, there is one that I always keep with me. 'Your mamenka and I send you a hug and a snuggle...' I could probably recite that letter by heart. And yet, I'm aware of its failure, of all the white space surrounding its words.
