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A review by andrew61
Charlotte by David Foenkinos
emotional
sad
fast-paced
5.0
I feel a little ashamed that I had not heard of Charlotte Saloman a young German artist who died in Auschwitz in 1943. Her life story as told in this book which is written in a prose/poetry style is an incredible one and desperately sad.
Born in an affluent family her father is a WW1 veteran decorated for bravery. Charlotte's mother is from a female line dogged by the tragedy of suicide and the book opens with a reflection on Charlotte's aunt also named Charlotte who killed herself years before. Charlotte's early life thus has the shadow of grief dominating the maternal family with her mother grandparents haunted by loss.
As the book moves into the 1930's the Nazi regime poses a direct threat to this Jewish family even though her father is both a hero and renowned surgeon and her step mother a famous opera singer.
As Charlotte manages to move to France to follow her maternal grandparents the threat is only briefly lessened before the Nazi's take over the whole country.
The story is told with what is obviously an obsessive eye by the writer to the extent that the authors voice is often expressed within the text through his own observations from present day but this adds to to the emotional impact as Foenkinos cannot escape how wonderful Charlotte's painting is as well as the whole tale of a young woman whose life is full of a love of life, love and art. Her passion is inescapable .
This is a book which I put down feeling incredibly sad and spending time looking at the art work on line.
Born in an affluent family her father is a WW1 veteran decorated for bravery. Charlotte's mother is from a female line dogged by the tragedy of suicide and the book opens with a reflection on Charlotte's aunt also named Charlotte who killed herself years before. Charlotte's early life thus has the shadow of grief dominating the maternal family with her mother grandparents haunted by loss.
As the book moves into the 1930's the Nazi regime poses a direct threat to this Jewish family even though her father is both a hero and renowned surgeon and her step mother a famous opera singer.
As Charlotte manages to move to France to follow her maternal grandparents the threat is only briefly lessened before the Nazi's take over the whole country.
The story is told with what is obviously an obsessive eye by the writer to the extent that the authors voice is often expressed within the text through his own observations from present day but this adds to to the emotional impact as Foenkinos cannot escape how wonderful Charlotte's painting is as well as the whole tale of a young woman whose life is full of a love of life, love and art. Her passion is inescapable .
This is a book which I put down feeling incredibly sad and spending time looking at the art work on line.