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Loading... Guernica: A Novelby Dave Boling
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. This isn't a book I would normally read, not my genre. Having said that, I was drawn into the story in the first page, wanting to learn more about Justo with the one arm. Brilliantly written. At times, I had a tear in my eye, or a chuckle, or an outright laugh at the antics. Boling has written a story that conveys the tragedy that occurred, but also raised hopes that things can, over time, get better, that a people can be resilient. I would not be surprised if this becomes a mini-series or movie. I would definitely go to see it. (  ) cycoduck | Nov 22, 2009 |  In this novel, we get a very powerful picture of the bombing of Guernica by the Luftwaffe just before WWII, Through the portrayal of various characters, we experience the devastating loss and the cost of innocent human life caught up on a warped political stage. Boling cleverly weaves the story in a way that brings the whole historical context together and in so doing imprints this act of war in our consciousness and in our souls. Real characters such as Picasso appear in the book to enable a wider historical context, but it is the fictional characters that you get to know initimately and they in turn represent all the hundreds of people who lost their lives and the remaining members of the community who were left to try and rebuild what was left of their lives and the town. We get a strong sense of the region from the characters in their work on land or at sea and in their traditional Basque family lives. I thought that the story was beautifully written, although initially I found the introduction of real characters jarring in the way that the passages were inserted, seemingly out of context. However, as the novel progressed, I thought that the technique served the story well. I loved the romance of the story and the humour. I found that I read a lot of it with a smile on my face and then in the aftermath of the bombing, with more than a few tears in my eyes. (  ) silvercowrie | Nov 8, 2009 | Guernica follows the lives of two Basque families and their neighbors before, during and after the bombing of Guernica by the German Luftwaffe during the Spanish Civil War. Picasso also plays a small part with his famous "Guernica" painting, covering the horror of the bombing. The story starts out a bit slow and sometimes it seems a bit scattered as it moves around from character to character. In my opinion, it would have been a tighter story if the author had focused on fewer characters. Some characters, such as Justo, the patriarch of the story, are more interesting than others. The author really makes the location and time come alive. Highly recommended for people interested in Basque culture and history or the Spanish Civil War. Others may find it a bit slow. (  ) morgaine0000 | Nov 8, 2009 | What a fantastic novel based on historical events of the Basque world during WWII. While the characters are fictional they give an intimate and real view of how individual families and communities are affected by the horrors of modern warfare and oppressive regimes. The story is masterfully written and engaging for anyone interested in WWII or just those who love a good story. I was particularly surprised to find that this was the author’s first book. I have read veteran authors that do not have his gifts for composition, character development, and the ability to draw the reader into the novel and into the people’s lives. While, in review, the characters may be a little too perfect, the reader is not distracted because the writing itself keeps you in the narrative. This is the first ER book that I don’t have a problem with. Well done to Dave Boling and I look forward to reading his next work. Madcow299 | Oct 30, 2009 | This wasn't a book that appealed to me initially, when Richard & Judy announced their last set of book club reads. But I changed my mind after looking at the book, as I thought it sounded like an interesting story of family and war, and looked reasonably easy to read. However, the first part was very slow, introducing a large cast of characters and skipping through their lives very quickly to cover a 30 year period in little depth. Eventually we got to the crux of the story, the bombing of Guernica, but by that time I cared little for the story or the characters, and what should have been a momentous event in the book seemed dulled somehow. By that stage I had started to skim read the story. The problem for me with this book is that the author doesn't inject a great deal of emotion into the story, and tries to give too much information and introduces too many characters in the first part of the book. It does end very well though, and I thought the ending was a nice touch. (  ) nicx27 | Oct 17, 2009 |  no reviews | add a review
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