Two Lives - Couverture rigide

Seth, Vikram

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0316727741 ISBN 13 : 9780316727747

Editeur : Little, Brown & Company, 2005

Synopsis

TWO LIVES tells the remarkable story of Seth's great uncle and aunt. His great uncle Shanti left India for medical school in Berlin in the 1930s and lodged with a German Jewish family. In the household was a daughter, Henny, who urged her mother 'not to take the blackie'. But a friendship developed and each managed to leave Germany and found their way to Britain as the Nazis rose to power. Shanti joined the army and lost his right arm at the battle of Monte Cassino, while Henny (whose family were to die in the camps) made a life for herself in her adopted country. After the war they married and lived the emigre life in north London where Shanti, despite the loss of his arm, became a much-loved dentist. During his own adolescence in England, Vikram Seth lived with Shanti and Henny and came to know and love them deeply. His is the third life in this story of TWO LIVES. This is also a book about history, encompassing as it does many of the most significant themes and events in the 20th century, whose currents are reflected in the lives of Shanti, Henny and their family: from the Raj and the Indian freedom movement to the Third Reich, the Holocaust and British postwar society.

A propos du livre

Revue de presse

“[A] thoughtful, evocative, moving book . . . [Seth] is an amazingly gifted, accomplished, resourceful and charming writer.” (Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World)

“A great love story, involving two remarkable people.” (New York Times)

“Seth turns biography into powerful literature, distilling the universal human emotions of passion, grief and the will to survive.” (Denver Post)

“Full of affection and tenderness . . . An unfailingly respectful memoirist.” (Anita Desai, New York Review of Books)

“A subtle portrait of the complexities of a long companionship . . . A wonderful book.” (The Economist)

“I cannot remember ever being quite so moved by a memoir... [Seth’s] achievement has exceeded all possible expectations.” (Simon Winchester)

“Irresistible... Another triumph for one the most versatile and engaging of all contemporary writers... An immensely moving narrative.” (Kirkus Reviews (starred))

“Eloquent and elegiacal . . . An intricate study of the way lives and worlds can intertwine.” (Los Angeles Book Review)

“Sensitive and compassionate... Fulfills the obligation Primo Levi once defined for writers on the Holocaust: it is unadorned and clear.” (Pankaj Mishra, New York Times Book Review)

“Seth has few equals as a literary techinician.” (The New Yorker)

“Something extraordinary... A thoughtful, engrossing narrative... This remarkable book offers rich rewards.” (Entertainment Weekly)

“Engaging new memoir... Even as you enjoy one [story], you discover another within.” (Christian Science Monitor)

“[A] beautiful, loving, clear-eyed book... Translucent, telling prose.” (Seattle Times)

Wonderful . . . A truly heroic tale which demonstrates just how much can sometimes be achieved against monstrous odds.” (Washington Times)

Présentation de l'éditeur

Two Lives weaves together two extraordinary stories that comprise one astonishing love affair: that of Vikram's great-uncle Shanti, brought up in India and sent in the 1930s to Berlin to study dentistry, and that of his great-aunt Henny, whose German-Jewish family took Shanti in as a lodger. When Henny fled to England just before the war, she was met by the only person she knew in the country: Shanti.

The events that shaped their lives shaped a century: war took Shanti to North Africa, the Middle East and the battle of Monte Cassino, where his right arm was blown off; persecution left Henny desperately searching for news of her mother and sister. After marrying Henny, Shanti defied his injury and once again resumed his profession, and in the 1970s the childless couple welcomed a new arrival to their home: their great-nephew from India, the teenage student, Vikram Seth.

Two Lives is a remarkable tapestry encompassing the history of the twentieth-century; part biography, part memoir, part meditation on our times, it is a true tale masterfully told by one of our greatest living writers.

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Little, Brown & Company
• Date d'édition: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0316727741
• ISBN 13: 9780316727747
• Reliure: Relié
• Numéro d'édition: 1
• Nombre de pages: 512