As someone interested in Eastern European history, I enjoyed this book greatly. Each of the three sections of the novel was well-developed, providing a different facet of the narrator's life within its historical context. Although a quick read, this novel isn't the easiest read. Some of the sentences are a bit convoluted and the word choice seems at times to be a little too deliberate and academic. However, the characters are well-crafted (if not overly developed) and the novel evokes a visceral mood of longing vs detachment. This is one of the classics of World War I literature, a different tale told from the perspective of the side that did not win that great and ugly conflict.In this small book (less than 200 pages), Krivak tells the epic story of a boy, born in America to immigrant parents, who travels back to Europe with his father after his mother is killed in a tragic accident. On his arrival back in Europe’s Austria Hungary, his father remarries a cruel and abusive woman, who favours who own two sons and has no feeling for either Jozef or his father Ondrej. Father and son however, escape her malicious ways by living part of the year in a lonely cabin in the Carpathian mountains, where they toil as simple shepherds.A distant cousin, Zlee soon joins them and is adopted and raised by Ondrej. The two boys become fast and loyal friends considering themselves “brothers”. Their father teaches them both shepherding and hunting in the mountains and the boys become expert shooters. As Jozef ages, he distances himself from his father and when the war comes both of the boys sign up.During their army training, they are pulled from the main group because of their shooting skills and trained as sharpshooters or snipers. They head to the Italian front where they work as a pair, identifying and shooting highly valued targets. But they get caught in a crossfire and Zlee is killed. Jozef struggles on, until he is captured and lives out the rest of the war as a prisoner in Sardinia.When the war ends he is released, left to his own devices, and told to find his own way home. He treks across miles of mountains and interrupts the rape of a young pregnant girl by two drunken soldiers. He travels with the young girl and they settle for a few months living in a deserted cabin. After helping her deliver her baby, he fulfills his promise to her and takes the baby back to its native village. From there, he heads back home to find his father has died. His stepmother is still alive and hands him a small package left to him by his dying father, a package which contains the two gifts Jozef needs to start a new life in America. This is a tale of many things: a story of brotherly and parental love, a story of survival and a story about the American dream.The narrative is of epic proportions and yet it is told well within this slender volume. This is not a sentimental look at war. The short prologue which introduces the book has more emotion than the entire volume and the scenes of violence and devastation during the war are told quietly and quite dispassionately. I think however, that style reflects how anyone survived. Those overcome with emotion would never have been able to muster the persistent and dogged determination to survive the horrors of endless killing, dysentery, starvation, and chaos. Most of the story is set in the mountains, villages and battlefields of Europe that no longer exist. Most of the time, it is difficult to know exactly where Jozef is and to follow his travels over the years. It would have been helpful to have a map at the beginning to guide us, so that we could follow his travels.It is also interesting to see things from the perspective of a soldier from a European country, to view the events and the challenge of war from the eyes of the defeated. It is a wonder that the Czechs, Slovacs, Austrians and Germans were ever able to fight together, considering they were so divided by language, culture and social class.This is a debut award winning novel, a powerful story and a fine read.I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Do You like book Sojourn (2000)?
A good insight into a part of the world and a time I know very little about...
—twibieberac
no review since i didn't finish it. moving on
—eli75
