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2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize Winner
This book is the winner of the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize. See all of the novels on the Giller shortlist. |
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Product Description
Review
“... brilliantly conceived, gorgeously executed novel.”
(Globe & Mail )“Half-Blood Blues itself represents a kind of flowering—
that of a gifted storyteller."
(Toronto Star )“...a stunning, powerful read, a compelling story
brilliantly told.”
(Quill & Quire )“Half-Blood Blues is an engrossing and unforgettable
story.”
(Austin Clarke, author of The Polished Hoe )“With Half-Blood Blues, Esi Edugyan has written a truly
beautiful novel.”
(Lawrence Hill, author of The Book Of Negroes )Product Description
Paris, 1940. A brilliant jazz musician, Hiero, is arrested by the Nazis and never heard from again. He is twenty years old. He is a German citizen. And he is black.
Fifty years later, his friend and fellow musician, Sid, must relive that unforgettable time, revealing the friendships, love affairs and treacheries that sealed Hiero’s fate. From the smoky bars of pre-war Berlin to the salons of Paris – where the legendary Louis Armstrong makes an appearance – Sid, with his distinctive and rhythmic German-American slang, leads the reader through a fascinating world alive with passion, music and the spirit of resistance.
Half-Blood Blues, the second novel by an exceptionally talented young writer, is an entrancing, electric story about jazz, race, love and loyalty, and the sacrifices we ask of ourselves, and demand of others, in the name of art.
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Most helpful customer reviews
50 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The death of jazz at the dawn of Nazism,
By
This review is from: Half-Blood Blues (Paperback)
This is a story of the death of jazz at the dawn of Nazism in Germany. The name 'Half-Blood Blues' takes its inspiration from the book's hero and a jazz legend in the making Hieronymous 'Hiero' Falk is just nineteen when he starts playing with the 'Hot Time Swingers' alongside Charles 'Chip Jones and Sidney 'Sid' Griffiths, the narrator of the tale. The son of a German woman and a French African brought in to marshal the Rheinland after that part of Germany was ceded to France after the Treaty of Versailles. Hiero is a half-breed or 'mischling'.
The story is set both in the 1940s in Berlin and Paris as the Trio try to stay one step ahead of Hitler's ever advancing army but also in the 1990s in a newly reunited Germany at a concert in Hiero's honour. At the heart of the story is the secret Sid harbours as to how Hiero's fate was sealed. I didn't expect to enjoy this book and it starts slowly but it is a tale that draws you in. Literary takes on music rarely seem to work but Edugyan is able to render the atmosphere of 1940s jazz, the language of the trio and banter between them feels authentic. The plot is a little weak to sustain the length and the potentially most interesting of the characters, Hiero, is the least well developed but by the end of the book they seem like minor complaints as is the rather random and quite pointless inclusion of Louis Armstrong who makes an appearance. A more major complaint on my behalf is that the list price for this trade paperback is $24.95 which seems like daylight robbery especially since the text is littered with typos and printing errors; if you're going to charge that much then at least earn it with some better proofreading. However I shall not hold the publisher's problems against the author.
30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good writer, great concept, serious flaw,
By
This review is from: Half-Blood Blues (Paperback)
Ms. Egugyan's literary talent is evident in this book. She is, as the critics like to say, in control of her work. And the concept of developing a novel set among (mostly) black jazz musicians in Germany and France in the immediate pre-WWII days is brilliant. But despite these qualities, it doesn't really work.The plot has been spelled out here by other reviewers, so there is no need to replicate it. I agree that the inclusion of Louis Armstrong added little to the story, and the pivotal character, Hiero, is never really developed although he morphs into a wide icon at the end. For most of the book he is more a sullen juvenile than anyone we can care about. The major flaw is the author''s apparent lack of familiarity with jazz of any era, especially her inability to express the mood of the musicians and the impact of the music itself. This is hardly unique to her, but it seemed to me that it would be totally necessary in order to justify the personalities and actions of the characters. Jazz, after all, is the principal motivator of both the plot and characters. Nothing in the book communicates the passion they feel (or should) for their music; the author's attempts to describe their playing is embarrassing in its ineptness. As a musician I have never heard a trumpeter describe his or her possessing 'pistons'; they are always valves. And it is impossible, by his words, to believe the narrator actually played a bass fiddle (my instrument), as claimed in the story. Small points? Maybe. But verisimilitude is vital to any story, especially one as era- and culture-specific as this. I know the book has won major awards and congratulations to the author for them. But if you know as much as the author should know about one of the two primary subjects (jazz and the Nazis), it's a disappointment.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
I was expecting too much,
This review is from: Half-Blood Blues (Paperback)
Whew! A great storyline, but sadly I did not enjoy the story. I guess I was expecting a lot more when I read the synopsis about the black jazz musicians living under Nazism. I really looked forward to reading and digesting this book, but I found it to be a rambling tale of these old men. The slang at times seemed to confuse me and after being stuck in the middle and getting nowhere, I decided to go to the end, and again I was disappointed when the friends finally met. I was expecting more of Hiero's life etc. etc., but it was really an anti climax. Have I missed something that others saw? Now a novel that should've won such acclaim was The Book of Negroes and it didn't.
Sorry, I so wanted to love this book but I couldn't. BC
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