Luisa Lanza Lanza itibaren 17800 Bougneau, France
I did some research on his writing style and learned that it's categorized as, "biblical" which I found interesting. It made me think twice about the sentence structure which I first took as too "simplistic." I found myself entranced by the idea of a post-apocalyptic earth and the loving bond between father and son something we can all strive for in our intimate relationships. I gave this book a 3 rating because I felt I had to fill in some of the blanks of the story by reading reviews of it when I finished the book.
These bitter glimpses of the Holocaust in Poland ring like small folorn bells tolling us all to hell. I'll give you one example. In "The Key Game" there's a couple and their three year old boy. They finish dinner, it's late, 10 at night, but before the boy goes to bed he has to play the Key Game. They have been playing it every night for two weeks and the boy still hasn't got it right. The problem is not the boy, it's the father who just isn't quick enough. The game starts. The mother calls out "Ding dong!" imitating the doorbell. That's all she has to do. The boy jumps up and runs to the door. "Who's there?" he says. And then, "Just a minute, I have to find the keys." Then he runs back into the main room and runs about making a lot of noise with his feet. He pulls out drawers, slams doors and yells "Just a minute, I can't find them, I don't know where Mummy put them!" Then more stamping about and finally "I found them!" That's it, that's the key game. In a minute or so, the father reappears from the bathroom. He says "I still need more time, he has to look for them longer. I slip in sideways... but it's so tight. And he's got to stamp his feet louder." The mother says to the boy "You're doing a wonderful job. You know that if someone should ring the doorbell one day when Mummy is at work, everything will depend on you? And what do you say when they ask where your parents are? " The boy says, "Mummy is at work. " "And Daddy?" The father yells "And Daddy??" The boy says "Daddy is dead."
This collection of Western stories is both beautiful and soothing. Erlich really dug into her subjects. A great read - Erlich made me homesick for somewhere new.