Akin

"Akin" was a good find. An eighty year old man had come to America without his mother, at four years of age, as a refugee from France during WWII. He had become a chemistry teacher with his wife, who had died childless a few years before the book opens. The man is just about to go back to France for the first time, and look up his heritage. However, due to several calamities, his 11 year old grand nephew comes to live with him when his father dies of a drug overdose and his mother is arrested for drugs. The social worker gets an emergency passport for the boy, and off they go to Nice. There isn't much of a story, just these two trying to get along with each other, having never met before taking off to France. The old man's grandfather had been a famous pre-war photographer, and his mother had helped her father. Among her possessions were a few photographs she treasured, but the old man didn't know why. So they tried to identify places in the photographs, and reconstruct their importance. The boy helps surprisingly with his cell phone and new eyes on old problems. But the story is basically the uneasy relationship between the man and the boy, when both are in new circumstances. The descriptions of Nice are wonderful, and makes the reader want to go visit. No violence, no explosions, but some explorations in family memories and history. Was the old man's mother a collaborator with the Nazis? Or a hero? There are some ups and downs, against the background of Carnival parades. If anything, this is a coming of age story about an eighty year old man. A good read, interesting characters, and highly recommended.

Its main weakness was the repetition of Noah’s imaginary tale of his mother. Noah’s theoretical machinations grew tiresome. Nevertheless, the interactions between Noah and Michael were well told and the story was compelling. I kept reading because I wanted to know what happened in the end.

If you loved "Room," you will likely be disappointed with "Akin." Donaghue saddles herself with the tired plot of a crusty childless elder who reluctantly agrees to take in a sullen child relative s/he's never met. And of course the first thing they do is head off to Nice during Carnival. There's a family mystery to be solved, but the plot advances through extended periods of thinking, on-line researching, book reading and speculation. Occasionally snip of this loose end. Once in a while tuck in this little corner. Read some more, talk a lot, think, think, think. It is a wonder the child does not die of ennui. There's an historical nugget deep inside this novel, the story of a small cell of Nicoise who sheltered hundreds of Jewish children and saved them from the eastbound trains. That's a story I'd like to read more of. Another book like "Akin"? Not so much.

I bought this book because I liked Room so much, and I liked the set up for this story of a 79 year old man making a trip to Nice, France with his newly aquatinted, 11 year old foul mouthed great nephew. Others have summarized the story. I’d just like to say that I am a huge reader and I loved this book. I liked the two characters, the setting, their interactions with each other, the humor and the empathy that the uncle was able to display in order to understand and interact better with his gr-nephew. The reason for the trip, in order to learn more about his own mother’s life during the war, was interesting and helped start the fragile bond the young boy began with this side of his family.

The plot was week with the mystery and the developing relationship between the two main characters.

We first meet Upper West Sider Noah Selvaggio on the cusp of his 80th birthday as he makes final preparations to spend a week in Nice, the city of his birth, a city he hasn't seen since being removed from there as a child in 1944. Having been widowed 10 years before, he is accustomed to being alone, but just before his departure date he finds himself with an eleven year old grand nephew, and "Being alone, his normal condition for the past decade, was forbidden to Noah this week." What makes Emma Donoghue's writing so immersive is she doesn't take the easy route, there are no shortcuts or cliches here. This is a perfect example of why author visits are so important. Although I finished the book yesterday, I decided to write my review after lunch with her today, and was rewarded with insights unavailable previously. For instance, she shared the part her own son played in the development of the character of Michael, how an eleven-year-old would behave and talk, is given shape through her son's suggestions. So Michael is more relatable as a person than usual. When asked how she made all her books so different from one another, she remarked that she got easily bored, and would use research only once instead of regurgitating the material in future works. And this book grew out of fascination and affection with the city of Nice through living there for a year, the landscape and the history, the food (she giggled when saying that all those delicious meals could be written off as research). And the life of Henri Matisse and his relationship with his daughter. This therefore is not the usual Holocaust story, but one based on a little known historical fact thanks to the unique geographic location of Nice and the part it has played. Emma Donoghue says she looks at the sun drenched beauty of Nice's seascape, and also sees the dark underside that took place there, and she illuminates even while she humanizes.

Very interesting characters and plots.

I very much enjoyed this novel by Emma Donoghue, the unexpected relationship between a young boy and and older gentleman was really well written and rang authentic to me. The secondary tale of the underground system of hiding Jewish children from the Nazis was unfamiliar to me, and hence quite interesting. I do like it when novels are not perfectly tied with a bow, and indeed this is true here. I dont want to spoil anything, so I will stop. Lol. A good casual read that sweeps you along.

I loved this book--so satisfying and told skilfully through the eyes of an elderly man and through the reactions of a 12 year old boy. The story carries you along so well. I'm sorry to have finished it!

Loved this book. The dynamics between the two key characters (great uncle and great nephew) was really interesting and the background story was fitting.

Combining contemporary times with the dark history of World War 2, Emma Donoghue weaves a compelling story. Helpful with research for my own book about the Marcel Network this is an excellent snapshot into a fascinating time.

Der emeritierte New Yorker Chemie-Professor Noah Selvaggio hat kurz vor seinem 80. Geburtstag endlich eine Reise nach Nizza gebucht, um weiße Flecken in seiner Familiengeschichte zu füllen. Als eine Sozialpädagogin sehr kurzfristig eine Notpflege für Noahs Großneffen sucht, bleiben dem alten Herrn nur zwei Möglichkeiten: er storniert seinen Flug oder er tritt die Reise mit dem 11-jährigen Michael gemeinsam an. Wer schon einmal kurzfristig einen Reisepass für ein Kind beantragen musste, dessen Erziehungsberechtigte nicht zu erreichen sind, wird sich Noahs Marsch durch die Bürokratie vorstellen können, bis er endlich mit Michael gemeinsam im Flugzeug sitzt. Zwei Welten krachen hier aufeinander: der verwitwete, unvorstellbar wohlhabende Akademiker und der Sohn drogensüchtiger Eltern, dem außer der verlässlichen Zuwendung seiner Großmutter im Leben bisher wenig Positives begegnet ist. Allein die Übersetzung von Michaels Straßen- und Gamerslang für Noah und Noahs aus der Welt gefallenen Ansichten für Michael entfaltet eine unglaubliche Situationskomik. Die beiderseitige Verblüffung, dass ein Handy bei Jugendlichen angewachsen zu sein scheint wie ein 6. Finger (Noah), alte Menschen dagegen vieles nicht googeln müssen, weil sie es erlebt haben (Michael) skizziert Emma Donoghue so treffend wie komisch. Das Schicksal von Noahs Mutter Margot scheint zunächst wie ein Buch mit sieben Siegeln. Margot hatte während des Zweiten Weltkriegs zunächst ihren Mann nach New York geschickt (vordergründig zur Rettung einer historisch wertvollen Sammlung), kurz darauf den kleinen Noah – aber warum war sie anschließend untergetaucht? Noah hat sich bisher nie gefragt, was seine Mutter, die bei seiner Geburt Mitte 40 war, vorher erlebt haben könnte. Hat er evtl. Ältere Geschwister? Noah will quasi in letzter Minute das Schicksal seiner Mutter aufklären, während Michael Ähnliches suchtartig am Handy mit „20 Fragen“ durchzieht. In Nizza kann Noah froh sein über Michaels Begleitung, der geradezu schlafwandlerisch Noahs bürgerliche Fassade zum Einsturz bringt. Auch wenn das Setting der Bonuszeit eines kinderlosen alten Mannes mit einem überraschend entdeckten Großneffen streckenweise zu optimistisch wirkt, eine feinfühlig erzählte Geschichte vor realem historischem Hintergrund.

Readable, and slowly enjoyable, but not a blockbuster like Room.