It worries me when a new book about the Holocaust comes out. Not with history books, but fiction, particularly with books like Martin Amis' Time's Arrow or here with Fugitive Pieces, because the authors generally haven't lived through that period of time, so it seems odd they think that they'd do justice to it. Then again, Time's Arrow (which I haven't read) was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and Fugitive Pieces was critically acclaimed (and rightly so) when it came out, so I'm not sure why I'm worrying. I guess I'm not very good at this sort of thing.
The point is, Fugitive Pieces is a very, very good book, and obviously written by an excellent writer. Rather than dealing with the Holocaust itself, it details the life of Jakob Beaer, who escaped from his house after his family was killed and was saved by a Greek geologist, Athos. The Holocaust hangs over Jakob, mentioned in detailed, shocking asides, and provokes a feeling of guilt in him even though he was, in a sense, one of its victims. The 'Fugitive Pieces' of the title refer not only to the diaries and documents hidden underground, and Jakob's and Athos' notebooks, but also what their lives have become, as after such a traumatising experience it is only until the end of the first part that Jakob is able to find any closure. The chronology of the novel is fractured and fragmented. It is almost like looking at a bombed building - when looking at it, you can tell where each room was, more or less, but the details of the room, such as furniture or even where the walls once were, are mixed up together and hard to make out.
I wish I had liked the book more. It deserved it. Yet I only managed to get into the book in the last sixty pages or so. I suppose part of the reason is because Michaels presents a real life. There are no sudden reappearances, or coincidences; instead, it is how Jakob, and many others, tried to have normal lives afterwards. However, in doing so the book felt uneventful and quite dull rather than being a riveting psychological drama. Also, the characters didn't feel like they had different voices, and there seems to be no difference in the perspective of the character in part one and the character in part two.
But I think the main problem was me - that is, it wasn't my kind of book. It certainly had a large effect on a lot of people, and it is obvious from turning to any page that Anne Michaels knows exactly what she is writing, how she is writing it, the effect of it all. It's hard to write a book dealing with this era of history, alongside books like If This Is a Man and Anne Frank's Diary, but Michaels has written something which is original as well as respectful. I don't know whether it'll be remembered with Anne Frank and Primo Levi, or even whether it should. Even though I said above I worry when new books on this subject come out, I think books on this subject need to be written, especially now when we're dangerously near a time when no-one living remembers it, no-one has first hand experiences of it. The First World War has been lost. It's only a matter of time.
Fugitive Pieces can be bought here
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