The Sojourn (2011)

Book Info

Author

Andrew Krivak

Genre

Historical Fiction

Rating

3.74 of 5 Votes: 3

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ISBN

1934137340 (ISBN13: 9781934137345)

Language

English

Publisher

Bellevue Literary Press

Shops

Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble

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About book The Sojourn (2011)

A very moving portrait of a young man in World War I that feels deceptively simple, at times. It is brutal and powerful; a scene toward the end of the novel left me close to tears. It shows the way that war and nature carelessly throw lives away for finite, unclear goals. The bodies are strewn around, and our narrator traverses the carnage. The dialogue is sparse, but the language is poetic and rich. I was deeply affected and recommend it heartily. Krivak turns in a wonderful novel (and it is his first!) that grips you from the word go.Jozef's tragic back story in Colorado quickly unfolds into life in the Carpathians and the horrors of war. I'm not at all a quick reader, and I devoured this book in just a few days - a testament to Krivak's fluid style.It can be easy to get tripped up on Slavic names, but only briefly and that is more my fault as a reader than his as a writer.For me, it belongs up with Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front" and Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms," in the canon of World War One literature. Great read.