This novel, and it does purport to be a
novel, is in three sections: ‘Memoir’, ‘Intermezzo’ and ‘Novel’.
In the memoir the narrator tells
episodically of his childhood growing up in 1950’s America, the son of Czech
parents. The comings and goings of other émigrés, the stories told, the chat
overheard, and secrets eavesdropped indicate a family history of drama,
romance, tragedy and an aftermath that still echoes down the years into his own
life.
In the intermezzo he travels to Prague to
investigate wartime events. The details of Czech history, the facts, are in the
national record to be uncovered, but unravelling the part in them played by his
parents defies his efforts.
Not to worry, the novel section re-imagines
it all anyway. In Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia in 1942 there is the palm-sweatingly
tense drama of the resistance struggle; romance, bitter-sweet enough to tug the
heartstrings; tragedy, inevitable but in an unexpected way and all the worse
for that; and an aftermath, articulated with more difficulty but still
thought-provoking.
It is reasonably well written, particularly
the third, novel, section that in truth could stand alone. Is the preceding memoir Slouka’s own? The
dedication references his parents ‘who lived the years and half the story’ but
the standard disclaimer says it is all fiction.
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