So many books . . .

The Original Sin is an amazing family saga spanning three generations of women, beginning in Spain during the Spanish Civil War and climaxing in 1970s Arizona. It is a tale of family secrets, tragedy, war, passion, obsession, addiction, kidnapping, love, money, shame and redemption. This is the book that made me a Marius Gabriel fan. The first time I read it, in my late teens 10+ years ago, it utterly blew me away. This time around, too, I didn’t want it to end. It’s a shame that Mr. Gabriel is no longer writing novels.

Rating: 5/5 Further reading: Marius Gabriel (wiki)

 

In Maus, Art Spiegelman illustrates his father Vladek’s story -- of growing up as a Jew in Poland, persecuted and eventually captured and sent to Auschwitz during WWII. While portraying tragedy, Maus also manages to have a certain amount of beauty and humor, due partly to the various types of characters being rendered as different animals (e.g. Jews are drawn as mice, Germans as cats, Poles as pigs, etc.). Whenever Vladek and his wife attempt to pass as Poles, they are charmingly drawn wearing pig masks. The scenes portraying Art’s relationship with his father are touching and feel very authentic. I’m looking forward to reading Maus II.

Rating: 5/5 Further reading: Art Spiegelman (wiki)

In this final book in Douglass' Troy Game series Jack, Noah and their friends are living in London under the German air raids of WWII. After millennia of living only to complete the Troy Game, the terrible reality of its true nature compels them to destroy it. However, they are stymied with the realization that Noah and Weyland's daughter Grace's fate is tied to that of The Game -- she will also be destroyed. A pale, mysterious woman offers a dangerous alternative which will also risk Grace's life but is their only hope.

Reading the first three books in the series, starting with Hades' Daughter, is an absolute must. Although I did, the series never felt fully coherent to me -- there are many characters, who change identities during four different time periods, to keep track of, as well as the myriad plot details having to do with The Game itself. I did not come away feeling that I truly understood The Game, which detracted from my overall satisfaction upon finishing.  As does the rest of the series, this book suffers from awful cover art.

Rating: 3/5 Further reading: Douglass' homepage Sara Douglass (wiki)

In June 1941 Tatiana is a 17-year-old girl living with her family in Leningrad, just as Germany begins an invasion of the Soviet Union. A chance encounter at a bus stop seems like fate when she meets an army officer named Alexander and they both instantly sense an unearthly connection to each other. As Alexander helps her home with her groceries they both discover, to their horror, that Tatiana's sister is Alexander's girlfriend. Tatiana is unwilling to hurt her sister, but neither can she deny her own attachment to Alexander. Meanwhile, Leningrad is under a blockade, winter has arrived, and food supplies are dwindling.

The Bronze Horseman is one of those stories that sucks you in right from page one. I could hardly bear to put it down when my breaks at work were over. It is definitely the fastest 637 pages I've ever plowed through!

Rating: 5/5 Further reading: Simons' homepage Paullina Simons (wiki)

Another superb tale by Marius Gabriel. Having enjoyed The Original Sin many years ago, I was interested in sampling more of his work. Upon initially reading the cover flap, I wasn't sure if I could get into this story of Francine, a woman who survives WWII experiences in southeast Asia but tragically loses her young daughter. I don't have any special interest in war stories or Asia. However, any reservations I had disappeared as I was quickly sucked into the story. It's very unfortunate that many of Marius Gabriel's books are no longer in print.

Rating: 5/5 Marius Gabriel is my literary crush, but recently he seems to have fallen off the face of the earth. :(