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A review by fiction_aficionado
The Crooked Path by Irma Joubert
4.0
I’ve been wanting to read one of Irma Joubert’s books for some time now, so when I was given the opportunity to review The Crooked Path, I snapped it up. I’ll admit it took me a couple of chapters to get into the story, because it begins with a lot of narrative that provides a summary of Lettie’s childhood through to attending university during WWII. It may have been partly the fact that this novel is translated to English from the original language (Dutch or Afrikaans—I’m not sure which), but the writing in the opening chapters felt abrupt to me and even detached.
But then, in the third chapter, we meet Marco Romanelli, and although he is introduced in much the same way, I was quickly drawn into his story as a young Italian man in love with a Jewish girl as war breaks out in Europe. It was eye-opening to know just what some people went through to survive the war, and as his story progressed, I began to get an inkling of how his path might eventually cross with Lettie’s, and by then I was hooked.
Lettie’s mother once told her that life sometimes leads you along a strange crooked path, but in the end it will always take you where you’re supposed to be. On the other side of the world, as the political unrest heightens in Europe, Marco observes: “Even a crooked path has to lead somewhere.” This book takes us along those crooked paths with Marco, Lettie and Lettie’s friends Klara, Christina, and Annabel over a span of some thirty or forty years, navigating life’s important relationships—friendship, romance, and parenthood—and both the joy and the sadness encountered along the way. And although there are obviously times when the books skips large sections of time, there is continuity in the path the story takes through those years.
I really don’t want to say anything more about the plot—that’s best left to the book itself—but there was a sense in which this story came full circle by the end. I would have liked a bit more of a dénouement, as there wasn’t really any time to enjoy the ending once we got there, but this is an engaging story for those who want to experience life in a different time and place, and be reminded that even when we don’t get what we want, even when life takes unexpected detours, there is beauty to be found on a crooked path.
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not influenced the content of my review, which is my honest and unbiased opinion.
But then, in the third chapter, we meet Marco Romanelli, and although he is introduced in much the same way, I was quickly drawn into his story as a young Italian man in love with a Jewish girl as war breaks out in Europe. It was eye-opening to know just what some people went through to survive the war, and as his story progressed, I began to get an inkling of how his path might eventually cross with Lettie’s, and by then I was hooked.
Lettie’s mother once told her that life sometimes leads you along a strange crooked path, but in the end it will always take you where you’re supposed to be. On the other side of the world, as the political unrest heightens in Europe, Marco observes: “Even a crooked path has to lead somewhere.” This book takes us along those crooked paths with Marco, Lettie and Lettie’s friends Klara, Christina, and Annabel over a span of some thirty or forty years, navigating life’s important relationships—friendship, romance, and parenthood—and both the joy and the sadness encountered along the way. And although there are obviously times when the books skips large sections of time, there is continuity in the path the story takes through those years.
I really don’t want to say anything more about the plot—that’s best left to the book itself—but there was a sense in which this story came full circle by the end. I would have liked a bit more of a dénouement, as there wasn’t really any time to enjoy the ending once we got there, but this is an engaging story for those who want to experience life in a different time and place, and be reminded that even when we don’t get what we want, even when life takes unexpected detours, there is beauty to be found on a crooked path.
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not influenced the content of my review, which is my honest and unbiased opinion.