Here we are - almost halfway through the first month of 2012. I've been reading and knitting and baking for the past two weeks, and I've finished one wonderful book and I'm partway through a second wonderful book.
The finished book is The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer. It's a long, harrowing 758 pages of terrific writing. The story of Andras and Clara in Paris and Budapest before and during WWII is a romantic tale, but the undertone of the coming horror is always there. I kept thinking of Ravel's La Valse with it's underlying theme of approaching war. I learned so much about Hungary during the war - things never taught in school! The idea that although you were Hungarian by birth - you never really belonged as a Hungarian, if you were also Jewish. I suppose it was that way in all the countries in Europe. I had never thought of it in quite that way. It made it so easy for Hitler. The Hungarians, Poles - the people of all those countries felt that the Jewish people didn't really "belong." Even England - and the USA.
So this is a book I recommend strongly. Thank you, daughter, for my Christmas gift!
