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book_concierge's review
3.0
In a small French village near the border with Belgium, Marie Claire, a young Jewish girl, lives with her grandmother who cultivates hybrid irises and roses. It is World War II and a bomb shatters the world Marie Clare knows. Rescued by a pair of Catholic nuns she is taken across the border to their convent in Tournai, Belgium for safekeeping. This is where the nuns have been hiding Jews who await transport to Switzerland. But the Germans are apparently on to their role in the resistance and have planned a raid on the convent. And then the miracles begin to happen.
This haunting debut novel is full of magical realism and religious mysticism. Told in a series of vignettes with limited connective narrative, the reader feels as if s/he is watching the story unfold as if refracted through a series of prisms. Images are so close and vivid, and yet fuzzy and out of reach, lending to the mystical atmosphere. Excepting the innocent 7-year-old Marie Claire, all the characters are full of regrets and struggling to balance devotion with obligation, love with war, and faith with loss of hope.
I enjoyed this short (164 pg) novel, and I am a fan of magical realism, but I'm left feeling a little dissatisfied. I think Kelby might have expanded some of the scenes and worked harder to provide some connective narrative to support the story arc. I liked it, but I’m struggling with whether to recommend it, or to whom. Readers with a high tolerance for ambiguity might enjoy it.
This haunting debut novel is full of magical realism and religious mysticism. Told in a series of vignettes with limited connective narrative, the reader feels as if s/he is watching the story unfold as if refracted through a series of prisms. Images are so close and vivid, and yet fuzzy and out of reach, lending to the mystical atmosphere. Excepting the innocent 7-year-old Marie Claire, all the characters are full of regrets and struggling to balance devotion with obligation, love with war, and faith with loss of hope.
I enjoyed this short (164 pg) novel, and I am a fan of magical realism, but I'm left feeling a little dissatisfied. I think Kelby might have expanded some of the scenes and worked harder to provide some connective narrative to support the story arc. I liked it, but I’m struggling with whether to recommend it, or to whom. Readers with a high tolerance for ambiguity might enjoy it.
tishmisc's review
3.0
The prose is gorgeous, but the story felt too slight to warrant more stars. Will definitely read more of Kelby's work.
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