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A review by marginaliant
The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Family's Century of Art and Loss by Edmund de Waal
5.0
This is an book with incredibly lush, inviting writing that's become a favorite of mine overnight. It brings you into the story of Edmund de Waal's family, a wealthy Jewish banking dynasty who build up their art collections alongside their fortunes and then lose it all with the rise of the third Reich and the outbreak of World War II. The central focus of this experience are a family collection of 264 netsuke, a kind of Japanese miniature sculpture, which were handed down from the late 19th century all the way to his hands today.
Along the way De Waal constantly asks 'How did they interact with the netsuke?' He is able to knit his questions about the specifics of his family legacy with broader, more philosophical questions about the afterlives of artwork. Here's an example of his prose that I absolutely adored:
"Some things in the world are meant to be looked at from a distance and not fumbled around with. And, as a potter, I find it a bit strange when people who have my pots talk of them as if they are alive: I am not sure if I can cope with the afterlife of what I have made."
There is an illustrated version of this book which you might enjoy reading but personally I absolutely adored the audiobook as narrated by Michael Maloney. It felt like hearing a story told by an older member of my family.
Along the way De Waal constantly asks 'How did they interact with the netsuke?' He is able to knit his questions about the specifics of his family legacy with broader, more philosophical questions about the afterlives of artwork. Here's an example of his prose that I absolutely adored:
"Some things in the world are meant to be looked at from a distance and not fumbled around with. And, as a potter, I find it a bit strange when people who have my pots talk of them as if they are alive: I am not sure if I can cope with the afterlife of what I have made."
There is an illustrated version of this book which you might enjoy reading but personally I absolutely adored the audiobook as narrated by Michael Maloney. It felt like hearing a story told by an older member of my family.