- Paperback: 146 pages
- Publisher: Vintage (Nov 12 1984)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0394711084
- ISBN-13: 978-0394711089
- Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 13.2 x 1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 204 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,987,015 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Set in occupied Greece during WW II, Dorfman's first novel to be translated into English limns the women of a village whose men have been imprisoned and killed as conspirators. Confronting their oppressors, the widows stubbornly resist their power and what it represents. "His beautifully understated tale is as powerful as it is moving," PW remarked.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
A smouldering political allegory from the author of Death and the Maiden, written in collaboration with Tony Kushner, author of Angels in America. In a war-torn village the men have disappeared. The women – their mothers, wives, daughters – wait by the river, hope and mourn. Their anguish is unspoken until bruised and broken bodies begin being washed up on the banks and the women defy the military in the only form of protest left to them.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.ca
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good, but Should Have Been Great, Sep 5 2011
By Loves the View "Louise" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Widows (Paperback)
This story takes place in an unnamed Greek village during WW2. The men of this village, (who presumably resisted the Nazis and their local collaborators) have been arrested or otherwise disappeared. Disfigured and unidentifiable bodies wash up on the shore of the river where the women wash clothes. The women follow the lead of Sofia Angelos, claiming the bodies are their spouses and pushing the military officer in charge of "pacifying" their village for a decent family burial.The European Nazi setting was chosen in hopes that this book would pass censors and be available in Pinochet's Chile, the actual setting envisioned by the author. For further disguise, there was to be an original European (Danish? French?) publication and a later Spanish translation by a prominent South American writer.
The book does not live up to its idea. Too much is vague, unclear or, for its length, extraneous. First, the switch from third to a first person (and back again) seemed to be unnecessary styling; Figuring out the identity of the first person narrator was distracting. In proportion to the short text, there was too much time spent on Emmanuel and his girlfriend, and they (particularly she) are not that germane to the story. The final meeting of Sofia (Grandma) and the Captain and the thoughts (a jumble of maybe thought and thought dialog between Alexis and his Grandmother) are sketchy. Sofia says her husband wasn't involved in politics. It doesn't ring true, but there are only vague clues as to why the men of this town were targets for the authorities. The gap between Chapters 7 and 8 is disappointing and makes for a unsatisfyingly vague ending.
The idea is very good. Some of the dialogs such as the Captain and the priest, the Captain and the journalist, the trial, Yanina defending Serguei to Sofia, and Emmanuel describing his talk with his mentor are excellent and you can see how this has been brought to the stage. There are glimpses of character, such as that of Father Gabriel, the Angelos family, the Captain and the landowner Kastoria that illustrate the forces at work in an occupation. This could be a very powerful work because it has many good elements, but I see this novel as a missed opportunity.
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
