The monologues in this volume are beautiful, stark and at times almost too painful to read. The first, 'Alma', portrays the dissatisfaction of Alma Mahler who sacrificed her own interests to marriage and children. I found this piece interesting, but thematically familiar; unfortunately, the story of talented women overshadowed by famous spouses is extremely common. Thus, I was interested but a little unprepared for the rest of the volume which I found infinitely more challenging.

This novella is really a collection of short monologic stories -- or perhaps it's better to call them something like fragmentary glimpses into the consciousness of the characters at hand.

I found myself, throughout the entire book, resisting the tragic and melancholy tone for reasons that aren't clear to me. Perhaps the tone range false, or perhaps I'd just had too much coffee. In any event, I like this book well enough that I'll keep it, so that it's at least possible that I'll give it another chance. ( )

This is not a book I would normally choose but once I started to read it I found I was completely absorbed by the monologues and particularly enjoyed 'The Doctor' and 'Cato and Leendert'. The book was thought provoking with the aforementioned stories being the most so. Ann Enquist describes beautifully the settings and the dilemmas in which the characters find themselves. Evocative reading. ( )

One of the joys of the Early Reviewers program is being pointed in the direction of new authors who you may or may not like. Although a slim volume Anna Enquist has been able to paint a clear, vivid picture of the lives, loves and losses of each of these individuals.

The book left me feeling deflated and sad and so although I'm glad I read this I didn't feel I enjoyed. ( )

a Leap consists of five short stories or monologues from the Swedish writer Anna Enquist. I found the majority of the stories enjoyable and well-written, especially the last in the book along with 'The Doctor' Overall, it's well written but I think maybe something that I'm unable to put my finger on is somehow lost in the book's translation. ( )

A Leap is a collection of six dramatic monologues according to the cover, but it really only consists of five, as two of them intertwine, demanding to be read in alternating parts. Enquist is Dutch (the monologues were translated by Jeannette K. Ringold), and all of the monologues take place in Europe, though not necessarily the Netherlands. Two of them occur during World War II, two in the early 20th century, and one in the present. All of them, however, feature, as the title might imply, characters about to step forward into the unknown, characters setting off on a journey.

Sometimes this journey is literal, as in the case of "Mendel Bronstein". A Dutch tailor sets out for America in 1912 and goes crazy. Why? Who knows. The monologue is short and undeveloped; Michael seems to descend into insanity almost instantaneously; he is obviously a little off from the beginning, but his descent is so sharp and sudden as to be uninvolving. One moment, he is pretty much fine, the next he is piercing his own eardrums. (Ouch!) There's nothing for the reader (or, I suppose, the listener) to grab onto here.

A more involving journey is depicted in the intertwined monologues, "Cato and Leendert". These are two young lovers caught in Rotterdam during the Nazi occupation of the city. Cato does not leave with her family so that she can meet up with her lover Leendert (perhaps not her brightest move), but Leendert never comes to her; he's forgotten her. He works at the city zoo and feels compelled to stay with the animals there as they await the German advance. The animals need to be killed, as it would be better for them to be shot than for them to suffer as the city burned down around them. Leendert is a coward, though: he won't fight, and he won't kill his lion when the time comes, either, preferring to set him free. Only then does he finally set out looking for Leendert, who has fallen into the grip of the terror that has consumed the city. The two lovers struggle their way through the city, trying to find one another, but only finding horror instead. They see each other in the end... but not quite. This one works very well, darkly affecting as it is, and though the two parallel stories don't have much in common in terms of plot, they both show two people struggling to come to terms with death, a coming to terms they try to find in each other, or rather their idealized versions of each other, for it never feels like Cato actually knows what Leendert is really like and vice versa. It's images of each other they seek solace in and where they ultimately find it as well, but it is a false solace.

Less literal journeys occupy the rest of the collection. "The Doctor" was probably my favorite in the book, a short, simple story about a black Dutch doctor in a hospital occupied by the Germans during World War II. He has to make a decision: does he save the life of a ruthless German colonel? It is no decision at all for him... but his choice haunts him as he goes forward. It would not have helped him to let the man die, but it did not help him to let the man live either. Perhaps ground that has been trod one too many times before, but it is covered simply and effectively.

I have mixed feelings about "Alma", which depicts the life of Gustav Mahler's wife. Alma is a budding composer who gives up her own music to be with the man she loves-- an idea I find ridiculous and abhorrent. Her journey is her married life with Gustav; her narrative is her struggle with whether or not it was the right thing for her to do; she seems to regret it, but she does really love him and want to stand by him. Alma is very well sketched in this monologue, the longest of those in the books. I may disagree with every choice she makes, but I understand them all. This monologue is (appropriately) the only one to incorporate music; it also has a level of specificity about the staging that the others do not. I don't know that I like Alma as a person, but I like her story, and this is the one I would most wish to see performed.

Last both in the book and in this review is "...And I am Sara". Sara is a modern young woman who graduates from college and finds out that the world is not quite what she expected. Her office job is tedious, yet she is almost too afraid to do anything else. The story of a disaffected college graduate is ground a little too well trod for Enquist to do anything too interesting with it. Especially disappointing is the ending: many of the monologues in the book end this same way, but here it just feels gratuitous and cruel. Sara's story resonates, but she's just not interesting enough as a person to involve me the way the stories of Alma, the doctor, and Cato and Leendert did. It's good enough, but I feel like just from this book that Enquist could do better.

Almost all of the monologues in a Leap are strong, showing people embarking on interesting and life-changing journeys. I don't have much experience with the form myself, but I would think that what a good monologue should do is get inside someone's head fully and completely, and with the sole exception of "Mendel Bronstein," this book definitely succeeds in that regard. I'd like to see almost any of these performed, to be honest.

A really beautiful collection of short drama monologues. The first one is my favorite, a story of Alma who is a talented musician is given the ultimatum: her lover or her music / herself. She chooses her lover and starts her life as "her husbands wife" then "her child's mother" and after introspection she begins to doubt her decision. However, at the end she is given another chance to choose and her decision is heart-breaking.

A lot of them tragic and heart-breaking, but all of them are thought-provoking and well-written. I strongly recommend this. ( )

A breathtaking collection of monologues, it's difficult to put down once you start A Leap. Starting it on my morning commute had me wishing I had called in sick to finish it.

The monologues start 100 years ago with the wife of a famous artist reflecting on the life she has chosen and what the other choices might have been. When faced with another choice, she does something surprising. They end with a contemporary woman. Between are the voices of several men and women throughout the 20th century, experiencing both public and private horrors: love, loss, WWII. Each monologue has a distinct point of view and voice, different from the last, even though two have similar settings and subject matter.

Anna Enquist is apparently a well-loved Dutch writer, and interestingly, she is also a psychoanalyst. This must be why the stories are so vivid and the inner lives of the characters are really well-developed. I'm kind of jaded about new books, having read a lot of crap, so it's really exciting to me to have been sent this book and to discover this author. ( )

I wasn't sure if I will like this book, but I did. Actually - it completely drew me in.
My favorite monologues were the first and last. Especially the first.
The only thing I didn't like about this collection is that so many people die. It was a bit disturbing.

Powerful, I recommend. ( )

This short book is made up of six monologues. Overall they are sad, even tragic stories.

The first one, Alma, was commissioned by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Gergiev Festival and its performance preceded a performance of Gustav Mahler’s Sixth Symphony. I liked the fact that it’s based on historical facts taken from letters and diaries. Alma was Gustav’s wife and she reflects on her life, having given up her own music to support him. It seems he forced her to do so and she is at once repelled and intoxicated by him, but she is torn between her love for him and Alex, a former lover. This is my favourite of the monologues.

The second story, Mendel Bronstein, shocked me. It’s about a Jewish tailor who decides to leave Rotterdam in 1912 to make a new life in America. He is desperate not to forget his own language, with disastrous consequences. This story actually made me squirm.

Cato and Leendert, form the interlinked monologues three and four. Set again in Rotterdam in the spring of 1940 they are a pair of young lovers. Cato first waits in the kitchen for Leendert as the bombs drop on the city and then goes out to search for him as the Germans take control. Meanwhile Leendert is still working at the zoo and ordered to kill the dangerous animals, including his favourite lion, Alexander. I thought this was a touching story full of pathos. It was also based on historical sources and together with Mendel Bronstein was written for the production of Lazarus as part of Rotterdam Cultural Capital of Europe in 2001.

The Doctor is a very short monologue also set in Rotterdam during World War II from a doctor who saves the life of a wounded German general. He wonders if he has done the right thing. This was commissioned by the Bonheur theater company in 2005 for the commemoration of the bombing of Rotterdam in 1940.

The final monologue is …and I am Sara. Sara is alone in her parents house. She is twenty seven and so far her life has not turned out how she wanted. So much has gone wrong, but now it seems life is set to improve but then disaster overtakes her.

In all these stories fate or circumstances take control, no matter how the characters have struggled in their lives. Anna Enquist is a musician, and a pyschoanalyst as well as a poet and novelist. Her writing is clear bringing the people and places to life. I particularly liked the stage directions in first and last monologues and the insights into the characters’ thoughts. ( )

A kind of short short story collection. A leap consist of 5 stories which covers all in all 82 pages. Three of the stories were commissioned by various theater and philharmonic groups and staged at various times. The central charachter of the first story is Alma Mahler who ditches her own career as a condition set down by her fiance --the narcissistic Gustav. The story unfolds as an interior monologue. Alma is almost like a spiritual amputee--in love with another man and pining away for her own musical creativity. Whenever Gustav snaps his fingers though she snaps to attention. It ends with her being forced to choose between her own work and the man she really loves and her husband's fame and fortune. She chooses Gustav.

The story that I liked the best actually is Cato and Leendert. Set in the early days of WWII and with the German army closing in on Rotterdam--amid the chaos and the bombing a young girl Cato separates from her family--staying behind in the city to wait for her lover Leendert to come for her. Leendert meanwhile is working overtime at the zoo. While Cato is wondering what is going on--the managers of the zoo are deciding the fate of their animals. Leendert is especially close to a young lion Alexander who has been raised in captivity. The decision is made that the dangerous animals should be destroyed and Leendert given the task of killing Alexander--and with no one watching him he instead fakes Alexander's death. Cato increasingly disturbed by Leendert's abscence finally goes out to search for him--but then a squadron of Nazi bombers hits the city again--so she takes refuge in a church which collapses on top of everyone inside. Meanwhile Leendert having escaped to the outskirts and searching for Cato thinks he sees her trips over some bric-a-brac and is impaled on an iron spike.

I would also cite 'The doctor' as an excellent story--more or less the same situation as in Cato and Leendert--the Nazi's attacking Rotterdam. As the Germans are taking over the city the Chief Surgeon of a major hospital is presented with an ultimatum--to save the life of the German general who has stragegized the destruction of his city. What's more the surgeon is a black man--a man who has lived his entire life in a tolerant city never seriously even considering that as unique but it is unique to the nazi ideology of the invaders. He does save the general and later on the doctor is forced to flee Denmark because of the color of skin. He regrets not having killed the general. The doctor kills himself.

It's a good book. A little thin in spots. Of the aforementioned--Cato and Leendert is 5 stars. IMO it is perfect and that story in and of itself would make the purchase of her book worthwhile. It is really fine. The doctor is pretty close to that. Both of them are very compelling. Enquist tends to let her characters speak for themselves without interference--drawing out of each a psychological and emotional depth. It's easy to see how these stories could work just as well as one person plays. She is an insightful writer and her prose is very clean and easy to read. Overall I liked it and I can see myself checking out more of her books in the future. ( )

A Leap consists of six monologues, five of which have been performed in theatre. A common theme to several of the monologues seems to be the questions of what makes me me and where do I belong.

"Alma" is set in Vienna in May 1906, with Alma Mahler reflecting on her life as Gustav Mahler's wife (which meant giving up composing), as a mother, as someone who's not quite sure who she is without the thing that meant so much to her, music.

"Mendel Bronstein" follows a Jewish tailor from Poland on his attempt to emigrate to the US - for someone who's world has been shrinking and shrinking before the decision to go, the idea of losing his language (which is linked to identity) becomes too much to bear. The language-related musings made this my favourite of these monologues.

The third and fourth monologues, "Cato" and "Leendert" are intertwined. It's spring of 1940 in Rotterdam where Cato is staying in her parents' house waiting for Leendert who is busy at work in the zoo.

"The Doctor", too, is set in the spring of 1940 - it's about a doctor who saves the life of a German general but has reason to wish he'd not done that in the end.

"...and I am Sara", the final monologue, is set in present day and is about a woman who feels her friends have gone on to achieve so much after university while she seems stuck in temp jobs and is still living with her parents which she sees as not being able to start shouldering adult responsibilities.

I enjoyed all monologues and would definitely recommend this book. I can't remember when I last read a Dutch book but I will look out for Enquist's other books now. ( )

I probably wouldn't have read this if I hadn't received it under the LibraryThing Early Reviewers' scheme, but I'm glad I did.

It is a collection of 6 monologues of varying lengths, 2 of them intertwined. 3 of the stories are set during World War II, two near the start of the 20th century and one in the present day. The general tone is fairly sad for the most part, and they are quite thought-provoking. Probably not a good book to read for light entertainment or to cheer you up, but well worth reading and thinking about.

Anna Enquist, the author, is apparently a musician, and a couple of the stories do have quite musical themes. One even has a number of short musical passages notated, although a non-music-reader would not lose too much by skipping over them.

Two of the stories come complete with performance directions, and I could imagine these (and probably also the others) working well on the stage. ( )