Library for the War-Wounded
Set in Europe after the Second World War, this family novel focuses on the narrator’s father, Josef. Having lost his lower right leg in the war, Josef is given the position of librarian in a convalescent home for men wounded in the war. The books, an impressive collection, were donated to the home upon the death of a professor. Soon, Josef runs the home in the way that suits him.
But when officials arrive to survey the home, Josef buries all the books and tries to poison himself. His recovery is slow. Meanwhile his siblings and his children continue their lives. Not until the final few pages does Josef return as focal character. This novel has no chapters and many long paragraphs. The plot seems somewhat vague. Characterization of the many family members is incisive although perhaps lacking in humor and empathy. The author, however, has created a novel that provides insight into the confusion and unsettling changes taking place in postwar Europe.
Read as a record of one family’s attempts to survive this period and emerge into a new and very different society, the novel offers a window into a time that is seldom explored.
