Friday, May 29, 2009

Book Review: Coventry

Author:       Helen Humphreys

Publisher:    W. W. Norton & Co.

ISBN:          978-0-393-06720-0

Website:      http://www.hhumphreys.com/

 Type:         Fiction:Historical

Pages:        180 Hardcover

Purchase:    $13.89 @ Amazon.com (HERE)

The Story

“As darkness falls on the evening of November 14, 1940, Harriet Marsh stands on the roof of the historic Coventry cathedral and marvels at the magnificence of frost glittering beneath a full moon.  But it is a bomber’s moon, and the Luftwaffe is coming to unleash destruction on the city.  For Harriet; for the young fire watcher named Jeremy who stands beside her; and for his artist mother, Maeve, hiding in a cellar, this single night of horror will resonate for the rest of their lives.”

(Above excerpt is from the cover of Coventry)

The Review

This novel, which reads as quickly as a novella, spans the lifetimes of Harriet, Jeremy and Maeve and yet primarily occurs over the course of a bombing raid that fell upon them overnight.  In reading the story of the bombing of Coventry on November 14, 1940, I felt saddened as I watched a city be shamelessly destroyed and lives pitifully wasted in the name of “war.”   I viewed the bombings through the eyes of these characters and shook my head in disgust for what happened in our not-so-distant past. 

As horses ran free and buildings turned to ash, these characters made life-or-death decisions not evening knowing if those decisions would keep them safe from the bombs.  That kind of fear I cannot even begin to imagine.  How do you know if you stay.. and, if so, where?.. or to exile… and, if so, to where?  Viewing this story from there eyes was unsettling, to say the least.

In the aftermath of that fateful night, the reader accompanies both Harriet and Maeve as they assess their immediate losses in the wake of this WWII destruction and recall the great tragedies suffered at the hands of WWI.  Much of their lives and loves were lost to the senseless acts of war.  It makes me ponder such great loss… the loss of your lover or your child… how do you recover, if ever?

The most memorable quote of this book for me came in the form of a poem:

“For hours, for no reason that I could imagine, I drew black swans.  Hunched over a piece of cardboard on the floor of the hotel room, the coal softened to dust on this surface beneath me.

What I wanted was the simple pleasure of seeing you again.  But you didn’t come, couldn’t come.  I don’t know how to make you return to me.

But I did come to know the black swan.  I knew the long snake flex of its neck, knew the shape of the body was a leaf, a wing, an open hand, the human heart.  I fastened these images to paper, called them swan.  And then I rose, black dust dripping from my hands, my arms spread to the empty sky, as I walked out through broken sheets feathered with shadow-darkness lifting me home.”

There is another fantastic review of this book at Anna’s website… one of MY PERSONAL FAVORITES… Diary of an Eccentric.

On Sher’s “Out of Ten Scale:”

This book was a difficult story to absorb, yet very beautifully written.  The story is thought provoking and shadowed with sadness.  But, like other good historical fiction that I’ve read, I learned something from reading this book and I’m glad that I ventured to read this story.  For the genre Fiction:Historical, I am going to rate this book a 8.5 OUT OF 10. 

My thanks to Erica for this poignant and compelling story!

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