Nancy Huston

“God gave me this body and mind and I have to take the best possible care of them so I can put them to the best possible use. I know He’s got high intentions for me, otherwise I wouldn’t have been born in the wealthiest state of the wealthiest country in the world, with the most powerful weapons system capable of blasting the whole human species to kingdom come. Fortunately, God and President Bush are buddies.” (page 4)

The year is 2004 and six year old Sol, who is wise beyond his show more years, is pontificating about the state of the human species, among other things. He is the first of four related characters who tell the story of their childhood in Nancy Huston’s brilliant 2008 Orange Prize short listed novel, Fault Lines. Huston uses a variety of literary devices to tell the story of four generations of this California family. She very effectively tells the story backwards chronologically, taking us from present day California to 1980’s Hiafa, to 1960’s Toronto, to 1944 Germany. Along the way the author slowly reveals the family’s secret, by planting clues in each narrative and weaving the story together in a way that exposes the mystery as you peel away the narrative layers. Each character telling the story is about six years of age and very intelligent. Almost too intelligent; like the smartest kids I’ve ever heard of with language skills beyond belief. But if you can suspend disbelief here, you’re in for a very enjoyable read.

If I say much more I will give away the secret. So let me just say that if you like a mystery, if you enjoy peeling away layers of intrigue, if unexpected developments are right up your alley, if you like the charm of literary devices and smooth, poetic writing and excellent historical fiction, this may be the book for you. show less

So, by the 5 star rating its pretty clear I liked this book, I like it a lot... I mean a lot. The story itself it really good and interesting but the writing style of Nancy Huston was the cherry on top. The dialogue is fast paced and there was no filler. In a 260 page book there was more character development, more creativity, and more complex intertwining plot than books of almost twice the amount of pages that I've read. Masterful storytelling.

Each chapter is divided into three parts, show more each part follows a different character (Milo, Milo's grandfather Neil, and Milo's mother Awinita... did I spell Awinita right? Let me check... Yes, yes I did, awesome). Every one of these characters has a pretty intense story, Awinita is a prostitute dealing with two pregnancies and her leech of a boyfriend (Declan), Neil the lawyer and political activist who can't seem to write his "classic", and the main main (super main if you will) character Milo who is just hit with every tragedy life can throw at him. I think the author does an amazing job not only telling each individual's story but connecting them at various points.

All this is being told from Milo's lover's/friend's point of view, who is telling the story like he is directing a movie, mentioning camera angles and how the scene is set up. I've seen in the reviews a couple people didn't like that but I found it refreshing and creative.

I don't really have an negatives for this book, the only thing I can think of is that there is some French that is sometimes translated (two or three times) but for the most part isn't translated, personally I'm currently trying to learn French so I can just add this to my daily practice but for other people I can see that being a bit frustrating. Also, if you get uncomfortable with reading about child abuse, rape, incest, and homosexuality then I wouldn't recommend this for you, since they do go into some detail with each of those.

I absolutely love this book and I am very interested in reading more from this author. I received this book from a Good Reads First Reads giveaway. show less

This multi-generational family saga explores the impact of World War II and Nazi Germany, from some very unusual angles. It's told through the eyes of four 6-year-olds, each from a different generation. The reader meets each generation through Sol, a precocious boy living in California in 2004. His father Randall works as a computer programmer, and circumstances have recently forced him to take a job with higher pay but a much longer commute. Randall has a distant relationship with his show more mother, Sadie, and is closer to his grandmother, Erra, a professional singer known as Kristina in her youth. Sol's section of the novel ends as the entire family arrives in Germany to visit Erra's dying sister.

From there, author Nancy Huston takes us back to 1945 one generation at a time, from Randall to Sadie to Kristina (all age 6). She peels the onion of family relationships and secrets to show how they came to North America, and the physical and emotional toll wrought by the Nazi regime. I can't say much without spoilers, but their story was not at all what I expected. Judaism and Nazi atrocities played a part, but in unusual ways. And both the family tree and the inter-generational relationships were much more intricate than they first appeared.

I found Erra/Kristina the most interesting character, perhaps because she appeared in each generation's story. She arrived on the scene first as a staunchly independent elderly woman who dearly loves her great-grandson, and is appalled at some of his parents' philosophies. She despairs over their plans to surgically remove a birthmark. Her fears seem irrational, but by the time Kristina appeared as a child, I understood the birthmark's significance and her modern-day reaction was completely understandable. Fault Lines was filled with revelations like this, that really drove home the importance of understanding the societal and familial forces that shape each generation. This was a well-written, enjoyable, and thought-provoking novel. show less

An extraordinary book about innocence. A young German woman, Saffie, takes on the job of housekeeper for a Parisian Flautist twelve years after the end of WWII. Her reserve combines with a submissiveness that shocks, yet appeals to, Raphael. In short order he marries her, looking for the ideal married life. His blindness to reality keeps him in the dark while she finds a lover, Andras, a Hungarian Jew, and lives a double life.

Saffie is intent on making a normal life for herself after show more suffering the loss of her family in the war, and only after much time is she able to talk at all about what she remembers. Andras is caught up in the Algerian war for independence from France, which is brought home to Algerians living in Paris in a horrifying way. He joins a resistance movement and can't comprehend Saffie's lack of sight. Raphael is not exactly oblivious to the atrocities committed by his own countrymen while he plays his flute sublimely, but he justifies his lack of a response by pointing to the music he makes.

In the end, who is innocent? Now or then? Beautifully written, often sad but with wit that made me smile, this novel brings the Algerian-French war to the forefront without forcing us to choke on it - although perhaps we should. show less