Wednesday 21 September 2011

Half Blood BluesHalf Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The story is played on a large geographical and political stage. It has Europe as it canvas. It covers the experiences of ‘Black’ and ‘Mixed Race’ individuals, living in Europe, during the reign of the Fascist Government. But, it also looks at the lives of individuals. This book is voiced from the perspective of an elderly African American who is looking back on a time when he was living in a racist, Nazi, Germany. He speaks of the lives of his band mates as they; formed friendship, played music, found that they were not as talented as they thought they were, betrayed each other and tried to keep one step ahead of the Nazi police.I loved the lightly poetical language, and the beautiful descriptive passages that make you feel that you are in the scene with the characters. You were with them as they hid in different, uncomfortable rooms in which Louis XIV chairs looked like “geese hiding from the hatchet”. (p.6) in a flat that was so empty that it was “... only depths, like you stranded at sea. Whole place nothing but darkness...” (ibid). You felt their fear as they fled from one country to another. This is an important book that should be read by many people


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