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Revision as of 15:08, 30 March 2018
, 15:08, 30 March 2018no edit summary
{{infoboxinfobox1
|title=The Origin of Violence
|sort=Origin of Violence
|author=Fabrice Humbert
|reviewer=Robin Leggett
|borrow=Maybe
|isbn=9781846687501
|pages=256
|publisher=Serpent's Tail
|date=December 2011
|summary=French prize winning literary fiction exploring the impact that Nazi occupation and concentration camps has had on one family's life to the modern day. This is a book whose full impact is only revealed in the final pages - not a book to give up on!
|cover=1846687500
|aznuk=1846687500
|aznus=1846687500
}}
However, while that would make an intriguing story of its own, Humbert's book is an altogether more confusing and subtle piece. In part, that is down to the fact that French literature is often heavier on ideas and concepts than English and US literature, which both makes it more interesting but also, harder to discern the author's intentions - at least to this reader. There is no doubt though, that the finale of the book is truly moving and at least partially unexpected and it is moving in the way that the historical events can still impact on lives in the current day.
The book is split into two parts and roughly speaking the first part deals with the discovery of the photo and the experiences of the man in the photo, David Wagner, during the horrific time spent in Buchenwald. There is a tragic love story at the heart of his pre-war life which our narrator quickly discovers. And that was the initial disappointment for me. He seemed to manages manage to discover this history with remarkable ease and he quickly identifies a couple of people who just spill the beans to him. There's no piecing together of fragments of a story which might have been an interesting approach.
Yes, the fictional Wagner's story is well linked into some historically real and important figures responsible for running the camp and this is interesting and well written, although none of the sources of information could possibly have known about the events that Wagner experienced in such depth, although some of it could have been reported. Humbert handles the factual content well and suitably evokes the horrors of the camp life.
At one point the narrator's girlfriend, who is against his writing about David Wagner's life, asks him if the world really needs another book about the concentration camps. I must say that for much of the book I empathized with this view, although I have to say that by the end I had modified my view more towards the view that if it does, then this is certainly a good example. In fact, if you dig deeper it's less about the Nazi regime and more about human weaknesses. I just wasn't convinced with the ease at which the past was discovered.
Human impact World War Two stories have attracted literary prize nominations on this side of the English Channel too this year in the form of Booker long-listed [[Far to Go by Alison Pick]].
{{amazontext|amazon=1846687500}} {{waterstonestextamazonUStext|waterstonesamazon=84588921846687500}}
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