Take a photo of a barcode or cover
rajeshkan 's review for:
War and Turpentine
by Stefan Hertmans
In my view, some books emphasize the transient nature of life and there are others that focus on the importance of the past. The former might trivialize everything and the latter emphasizes a few important things while ignoring the rest. ‘War and Turpentine’ takes a different route by emphasizing the transience and beauty in an individual life, a life that was remarkable in itself, but did not leave a permanent mark. The author does this by revisiting and reconstructing his grandfather’s life using a combination of his grandfather’s notes, his memories, talking to others, and revisiting the places that were part of his grandfather’s life. The book is categorized as a novel, but it relies heavily on real life.
The exploration of the past and the use of memory reminds one of Sebald, but the use of old diaries and trying to stay close to the problems of the subject reminds me of Stegner.
Mr. Martien, the author’s grandfather, was a decorated soldier who grew up impoverished and wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps as a painter. He led a hard but admirable life. While his grandson succeeds in showcasing the beauty in life while acknowledging the impermanence of life, he might have also ensured that Mr. Martien’s life lingers with us longer and brighter.
The author portrays this combination of beauty and transience of life in many ways using his reconstruction of his grandfather’s life as a canvas, while not looking past him. Here are a few of them. He explores the role of objects that play a role, become part of us, lead our memories, and even live across generations and are gone. He points both to the beauty in remembering things and the unreliability of memory. But he also speaks about the power of certain incidents in shaping our memory and hidden lives. He shows how the journey from being alive and present to the dead and forgotten is not straight but can traverse multiple unexpected ways (One of the most remarkable scenes was when his grandfather goes looking for the works of his own father’s fresco works in Liverpool. His father was a painter who lived a short and sad life who spent a short time in Liverpool far away from their home in Belgium. He finds a fresco where his father had used his own face in the fresco, immortalizing himself at least for a time, but where no one would have recognized him). His curiosity on motivations and reasons why certain things occurred the way they did shows how we will never have the complete picture.
His deep exploration of all this does make me wonder if I am guilty of paying too little attention to my past? Or is he guilty of obsessing over his past too much? But in any case, it is enjoyable to explore the thoughts of someone whose attitude to the past is very different from oneself.
The book starts with the author cleverly bringing us as coconspirators in his journey to reconstruct the life of his grandfather from the diaries and other recollections using a variety of approaches. The latter half is written as a story of Mr. Martien’s war life. It works without appearing as wild swings within 300 pages.
Overall, this is a wonderful book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading and thinking out in between. The book does require us to invest time in thinking about the structure and intent but does pay many times over.
The exploration of the past and the use of memory reminds one of Sebald, but the use of old diaries and trying to stay close to the problems of the subject reminds me of Stegner.
Mr. Martien, the author’s grandfather, was a decorated soldier who grew up impoverished and wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps as a painter. He led a hard but admirable life. While his grandson succeeds in showcasing the beauty in life while acknowledging the impermanence of life, he might have also ensured that Mr. Martien’s life lingers with us longer and brighter.
The author portrays this combination of beauty and transience of life in many ways using his reconstruction of his grandfather’s life as a canvas, while not looking past him. Here are a few of them. He explores the role of objects that play a role, become part of us, lead our memories, and even live across generations and are gone. He points both to the beauty in remembering things and the unreliability of memory. But he also speaks about the power of certain incidents in shaping our memory and hidden lives. He shows how the journey from being alive and present to the dead and forgotten is not straight but can traverse multiple unexpected ways (One of the most remarkable scenes was when his grandfather goes looking for the works of his own father’s fresco works in Liverpool. His father was a painter who lived a short and sad life who spent a short time in Liverpool far away from their home in Belgium. He finds a fresco where his father had used his own face in the fresco, immortalizing himself at least for a time, but where no one would have recognized him). His curiosity on motivations and reasons why certain things occurred the way they did shows how we will never have the complete picture.
His deep exploration of all this does make me wonder if I am guilty of paying too little attention to my past? Or is he guilty of obsessing over his past too much? But in any case, it is enjoyable to explore the thoughts of someone whose attitude to the past is very different from oneself.
The book starts with the author cleverly bringing us as coconspirators in his journey to reconstruct the life of his grandfather from the diaries and other recollections using a variety of approaches. The latter half is written as a story of Mr. Martien’s war life. It works without appearing as wild swings within 300 pages.
Overall, this is a wonderful book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading and thinking out in between. The book does require us to invest time in thinking about the structure and intent but does pay many times over.