The Jade Cat: A Novel - Couverture rigide

Brogger, Suzanne

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 1590202309 ISBN 13 : 9781590202302

Editeur : Overlook Books, 2009

Synopsis

Book by Brogger Suzanne

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

Beginning with the great-grandfather Isidor Levin and his emigration from Poland in the 19th century, his establishment of The Royal Danish Distillery - creators of the famous Danish snaps - and the family's successful assimilation in Denmark, the story follows the children and grandchildren, as they look for successes in Denmark and abroad, in business and within the arts. Suzanne Brogger's family saga takes us from Denmark to Riga and back, through two World Wars, to India and Afghanistan, to America as it was and as it is, and it takes us through boarding schools, mental hospitals, and almshouses for the poor. At the heart of the narrative is the grandmother, Katze, and her memories. She tells the story from her patrician apartment in Copenhagen's Gammel M-nt 14, where she has lived since the 1940s, and her story is a haunting portrait of the pride, conceitedness, grandness, and despair, that has followed the Levin family while the world outside the old apartment gradually fell apart. The family remains prey to drug addiction and suicide attempts. Some escape into sex, others into evangelical politics or religion. Regn becomes a UN diplomat in the Third World, his wife tries to kill their son, while their daughter serves her sexual apprenticeship in a Thai monastery-brothel and after a brief period of social acceptability, ends her days a bag lady in Copenhagen. As diverse and uncompromising as William Styron's Sophie's Choice and Isabel Allende's House of the Spirits. To have conjured up a cast of grotesques and rendered them sympathetic is a challenge that Suzanne Brogger has triumphantly brought off. .

Quatrième de couverture

The Løvins are a rich, half-Jewish family living in Denmark. Riven by destructive passions, they scatter to the four corners of the globe. The resulting narrative, spanning the twentieth century, chronicles their changing fortunes in an increasingly chaotic world.

Based on a true story, The Jade Cat focuses on one branch of the family tree. In the wake of World War II, the Løvins attempt to reinvent themselves but fall prey to drug addictions and suicide attempts. Some escape into sex, others into evangelical religion or politics. Regn becomes a UN diplomat, his wife a collector of antique porcelain. She tries to kill their son, while their daughter serves a sexual apprenticeship in a Thai monastery-brothel and, after a brief period of social acceptability, ends her days as a bag lady in central Copenhagen.

Woven together from family history, memories, letters and world events, The Jade Cat's protagonists are delineated with arresting black humour. Brøgger has conjured up a cast of grotesques and triumphantly rendered them in a compellingly sympathetic way.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Overlook Books
• Date d'édition: 2009
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1590202309
• ISBN 13: 9781590202302
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 416
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible