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A review by tonitrap
House on Endless Waters by Emuna Elon
3.0
At the heart of this book is a mystery - a mystery of love and loss, family, history, and identity. The mystery begins when Yoel Blum, a noted Israeli author, arrives in Amsterdam, the city where his family lived until the war, for a book tour. During a visit to the Jewish Museum, Yoel sees a black and white filmstrip that, ostensibly, shows his mother and an infant son who is not himself. So begins Yoel's quest to decipher precisely it is what he saw.
At the point, the book constructs itself in two separate but parallel narratives - the story of Yoel uncovering the secrets of his family, and the story of his mother, Sonia, in the days before and during the German occupation of the Netherlands. The device of using parallel narratives to tell a story can be a tricky one as one narrative may outweigh the other in the mind of the reader. That is what occurs in this case. Yoel's narrative drags a bit, understandably due to the fact that it is mostly centered around his wanderings and musings in the city of Amsterdam. While Sonia's story is centered on her fraught realizations that the terror of the war is not-so-slowly encroaching on her once-happy life. I found myself wanting a little less of Yoel and little more of Sonia.
Nevertheless, there are some truly poignant and moving parts to this book. As it leads up to the heartbreaking denouement, there are so many engaging and taught moments that make the reader want to follow Yoel until he discovers what has been hidden from his history.
Thank you to netgalley, the author, and Atria Books for an arc copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
At the point, the book constructs itself in two separate but parallel narratives - the story of Yoel uncovering the secrets of his family, and the story of his mother, Sonia, in the days before and during the German occupation of the Netherlands. The device of using parallel narratives to tell a story can be a tricky one as one narrative may outweigh the other in the mind of the reader. That is what occurs in this case. Yoel's narrative drags a bit, understandably due to the fact that it is mostly centered around his wanderings and musings in the city of Amsterdam. While Sonia's story is centered on her fraught realizations that the terror of the war is not-so-slowly encroaching on her once-happy life. I found myself wanting a little less of Yoel and little more of Sonia.
Nevertheless, there are some truly poignant and moving parts to this book. As it leads up to the heartbreaking denouement, there are so many engaging and taught moments that make the reader want to follow Yoel until he discovers what has been hidden from his history.
Thank you to netgalley, the author, and Atria Books for an arc copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.