First off, welcome me back!It's been a wee bit of a whole lifetime ago since my last post due to this adorable little treat that landed into the world of oxygen on August 17th, 2015. In the meantime, in what felt akin to a very long obstacle course, I managed to complete my reading as a member of the Stonewall Youth Awards Committee too, which meant a lot of great reading but no blogging.
What a treat it's going to be to write about "Anna and the Swallow Man" upon my return.
THE SHORT VERSION:
Set in 1939 Krakow, Poland, seven year old Anna is suddenly alone in the world when her father disappears. A chance encounter with a tall, dark, looming man known only as "The Swallow Man" sets her on a seemingly aimless journey of survival throughout Poland and into Russia and back again while she learns from him the tools she'll need to exist while living in the heart of wartime Eastern Europe.
THE LONG VERSION:
Spare, dark, eloquent. Deliberately written. Rich characters illuminate a highly original tale of wartime survival. Such great ambiguity to characters and plot that I so appreciate about the literary side of young adult fiction. There are great, eloquent hints about who the Swallow Man is, and he really is the great mystery of the novel, but he never sits down to explain himself, that trust in the reader I appreciated above all else.
How uncommon it is to read a young adult novel that brims with it's own unique tone, so much so that I had a hard time deciding who the audience is for this book, which while a conundrum wouldn't prevent me from adding it to my collection.
From the start it has the feel of children's fiction. The main character is seven. The prose is spare enough that the violence and coldheartedness of wartime while present, isn't pointed or explicit. But two thirds of the way in, Anna encounters violence and adult behavior that even if it's spare storytelling is very specific. Throughout the story I kept asking myself who this novel is for, who do I recommend it to. I'm still not entirely sure.
Words can save your life. Knowledge can cause good but also harm. Such beautiful themes woven deftly throughout the story, both in plot and in how the author chose to tell his story, the words he used, the phrases he put together. It doesn't make for the easiest of reads, it's not at all a skimmable read, but a rich and unforgettable one nonetheless.
(Review of an Advanced Reader Copy)
