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A review by lorees_reading_nook
Blooms of Darkness by Aharon Appelfeld
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.75
“... Sometimes it seems to me that what once was will never be again, and that when we meet after the war, we'll be different.”
When the Jewish ghetto to which they have been confined continues to be liquidated, eleven year old Hugo is taken by his mother to a local brothel where Mariana, one of the prostitutes, agrees to hide him in her closet. What follows is a relationship that assuages the fears and insecurities of both as the story moves towards its inevitable outcome.
This book is written in a simple, stark and restrained style. There is much that is merely suggested and a lot that is left unsaid. It is repetitive, because so is Hugo's routine, and there is an underlying sense of confusion as he can only surmise the passage of time from the brief glimpses of the outside world that he gets through the cracks in the closet in which he is confined. His past and his dreams merge into his new reality. Afraid and alone, Mariana is his only friend, his whole world, his only explosion of colour in the dark and gloomy world he inhabits.
So, although she is as old as his mother, Hugo starts to love her. Innocently, at first. In turn, she encourages this love, feeds on it even - as if to assuage the hurt and abuse her clients hurl at her. But this is not a mother-son relationship, or even a platonic one, because Mariana eventually seduces Hugo - and although it's referred to in such a subtle way that we almost don't notice it, we know it's happening. Perhaps it was inevitable. Perhaps we are meant to see the loss of Hugo's innocence as just another victim of the war, a small price to pay for his survival. But I admit that it did make me feel uncomfortable.
Unsurprisingly, the ending is left open. Whereas we are aware of Mariana's fate, we can only imagine what Hugo's will be.
Poignant, heartbreaking and sad, Blooms Of Darkness dares to explore the often-overlooked consequences of war and persecution.
“Take my love and hide it in your heart, and from time to time say to yourself, Once there was Mariana.”
When the Jewish ghetto to which they have been confined continues to be liquidated, eleven year old Hugo is taken by his mother to a local brothel where Mariana, one of the prostitutes, agrees to hide him in her closet. What follows is a relationship that assuages the fears and insecurities of both as the story moves towards its inevitable outcome.
This book is written in a simple, stark and restrained style. There is much that is merely suggested and a lot that is left unsaid. It is repetitive, because so is Hugo's routine, and there is an underlying sense of confusion as he can only surmise the passage of time from the brief glimpses of the outside world that he gets through the cracks in the closet in which he is confined. His past and his dreams merge into his new reality. Afraid and alone, Mariana is his only friend, his whole world, his only explosion of colour in the dark and gloomy world he inhabits.
So, although she is as old as his mother, Hugo starts to love her. Innocently, at first. In turn, she encourages this love, feeds on it even - as if to assuage the hurt and abuse her clients hurl at her. But this is not a mother-son relationship, or even a platonic one, because Mariana eventually seduces Hugo - and although it's referred to in such a subtle way that we almost don't notice it, we know it's happening. Perhaps it was inevitable. Perhaps we are meant to see the loss of Hugo's innocence as just another victim of the war, a small price to pay for his survival. But I admit that it did make me feel uncomfortable.
Unsurprisingly, the ending is left open. Whereas we are aware of Mariana's fate, we can only imagine what Hugo's will be.
Poignant, heartbreaking and sad, Blooms Of Darkness dares to explore the often-overlooked consequences of war and persecution.
“Take my love and hide it in your heart, and from time to time say to yourself, Once there was Mariana.”