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Fault Lines by Nancy Huston
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Fault Lines (original 2006; edition 2008)

by Nancy Huston

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7304030,764 (3.7)94
Sol is a gifted but also terrifying six year old; his mother believes he is destined for greatness. He has a birthmark, like his dad, his grandmother and great-grandmother. But when they all make an unexpected trip to Germany, terrible secrets emerge about their family's story during World War II. Perhaps birthmarks are not all that has been passed down through this family. With its domestic focus but epic scope, Fault Lines is a compelling, touching and often funny novel about four generations of children and their parents. From California to New York, from Haifa to Toronto and Munich, the secrets unwind back through time, the present haunted by the past, until the devastating truth is reached.… (more)
Member:LizzySiddal
Title:Fault Lines
Authors:Nancy Huston
Info:Atlantic Books (2008), Paperback, 320 pages
Collections:Your library, Read but unowned
Rating:***1/2
Tags:fiction, read 2008, C21

Work Information

Fault Lines by Nancy Huston (2006)

  1. 10
    The History of Love: A Novel by Nicole Krauss (anneemall)
  2. 00
    The Night Watch by Sarah Waters (jayne_charles)
    jayne_charles: Both employ reverse chronology to tell a story with its roots in WWII
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» See also 94 mentions

English (29)  French (5)  Spanish (4)  Galician (1)  Dutch (1)  All languages (40)
Showing 1-5 of 29 (next | show all)
This book definitely got better as I got into it; in fact, I almost put it down during the first chapter. A six year old with a mind like Sol's is very disturbing and not even realistic. However, as the stories of the father and grandmothers were told, I found myself hooked.

War is messy and creates messy situations, events and families. I have never read about the Germanization of stolen children under the Nazis. This provides a fascinating read to anyone interested in stories of WWII; however, I must agree with some of the reviewers who pointed out the lack of connection with the characters. I did immediately go back to the first and reread parts that took on much more significance after I knew the ending.

Perhaps this story also demonstrates the profound effect mothers have on their children even when they aren't a part of their lives. I found this book interesting, readable, and thought provoking. I just wish I would have liked these people a bit better, but maybe that's the point: each generation was doomed to carry the baggage accumulated by those that came before them. ( )
  maryreinert | Oct 6, 2017 |
Ugh. So did not like. No six year old expresses themselves like any of the four narrators in this novel and the use of the congenital birthmark as a symbol of inherited behavior was offensive. ( )
  laurenbufferd | Nov 14, 2016 |
Review: Fault Lines by Nancy Huston.

This book was a well written fascinating story. Nancy Huston wrote and narrated four generations by a six year olds point of view in each section written in a reverse order. Each six year old narrator relates their childhood story connecting the different version to the generations gone by. Sometimes confusing but amazingly Huston did make a connection throughout the different sections of the book.

Fault Lines is a powerful story revealing a period in history where the Nazi Lebensborn program of World War II was used. This program resulted in the abduction of more than 200,000 children from subjugated countries. The children were placed in German homes that had lost one of their own children due to the war. Four incidents center on four amazing children in one family. The four children’s names were Erra, Klarysa, GG, and Kristine.

The story starts with Sol who is a gifted, terrifying child whose mother believes he is destined for a better life because he has a birthmark like his dad, his grandmother, and his great-grandmother. The child narrator takes the reader from present day, 2004 California to 1980’s Hiafa, to 1960’s Toronto, to 1944’s Germany. As the story goes on the author slowly reveals the family secrets by hints in each narrator’s story and weaving the story together in a way to expose the mysteries of this family. While building an emotional story of the abducted children Huston’s prose is spare and skillful, placing the reader within each child’s world during times of stress, revelation and change.

The abducted children all shared the same secrets of their family and the mystery behind the birthmarks talked about within each section. Each generation was doomed to carry the baggage accumulated by those that came before them. The last part of this book regarding Germany during the war is another emotional eye-opener as many other World War II stories that sit along the shelves in many homes…..
( )
  Juan-banjo | May 31, 2016 |
Wonderful, sad, profound, witty and everything you could ask for in a novel.
  Judy_Ryfinski | Jan 20, 2016 |
Wonderful, sad, profound, witty and everything you could ask for in a novel.
  Judy_Ryfinski | Jan 20, 2016 |
Showing 1-5 of 29 (next | show all)
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Epigraph
'What was it—that burning, that amazement, that endless insufficiency, that sweet, that deep, that radiant feeling of tears welling up? What was it?'

R. M. RILKE
Dedication
For Tamia

and her song
First words
I'm awake.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Original title: Lignes de faille
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Information from the French Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
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Sol is a gifted but also terrifying six year old; his mother believes he is destined for greatness. He has a birthmark, like his dad, his grandmother and great-grandmother. But when they all make an unexpected trip to Germany, terrible secrets emerge about their family's story during World War II. Perhaps birthmarks are not all that has been passed down through this family. With its domestic focus but epic scope, Fault Lines is a compelling, touching and often funny novel about four generations of children and their parents. From California to New York, from Haifa to Toronto and Munich, the secrets unwind back through time, the present haunted by the past, until the devastating truth is reached.

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familiegeschiedenis, verteld door 4 kinderen van opeenvolgende generaties
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