A slight disappointment | A Partisan's Daughter

European Fiction | A Partisan's Daughter | Louis De Bernieres

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	• A Partisan's Daughter Louis De Bernieres Knopf, 2008 - 208 pages average customer review:based on 9 reviews view larger image
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extremely complex relationship drama

In the late 1970s in wintry London, fortyish salesman Chris detests his life; he loathes his job and hates his marriage; though widower status gives him some hope to get past the despair of being with the "Great White Loaf" late wife. Discontented with his lot he keeps asking himself is that all there is?

When he spots Yugoslavian expatriate Roza walking, he assumes she is a hooker. He bungles his efforts to hire her services. She corrects his misconception and they begin to talk. He drives her home and she invites him in her flat for coffee. A friendship forms that he believes is the underpinning of a romance and she assumes is platonic. She explains she came from her homeland seeking a break but so far has found only hardship that has her considering a return to her homeland where her father is a die hard Tito backer.

This is an extremely complex relationship drama. The dark gloominess of both protagonists makes this a difficult novel to read as the focus is actually on opportunity costs, especially those not chosen. Roza is the more interesting star as her tale is sensationally erotic over the top and at times ugly, but also feels hyperbolic symbolizing the plight of minorities everywhere (especially Iron Curtain Europe during the Brezhnev Era). Chris is the more realistic characterization of the western middle aged normal who wonders why life is depressing so finds excitement in his companion's tales. Not for everyone, as at times overly dramatic and extremely reflective including the action scenes, A PARTISAN'S DAUGHTER is a deep look at the late 1970s.

Harriet Klausner

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A slight disappointment

After reading Corelli's Mandolin I have had a high expectation for the next De Bernieres novel and have always found myself slightly disappointed. His new novel is no exception. While I enjoyed the quick chapters and overall story the depth that I enjoyed in Correlli's Mandolin was not there.

European Fiction

Is it any wonder, European fiction is whipping the American fiction world by leagues. de Bernieres writing reaches new heights of post-Modernist literature. While America can only understand its own pop fiction, thriller, comedy, false memoir, murder mystery, etc., the gamut of "beach books," Europeans and Asians are creating the new literature of a global community. You will fly through 'A Partisan's Daughter' and never be bored, faster than 'Corelli's Mandolin.' The Slavic sense of humor will floor you, and you'll be in love with Roza from page one. I pined-away for the lost Yugoslavia, and Yugoslavians, through Roza's stories, she made Tito feel like an old friend, misunderstood by modern times and history. de Bernieres writes with ease, no push, like Cormac McCarthy without the violence. 'Partisan's Daughter' is glowing fiction, hip and smart, a great read for any serious reader of European fiction.

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From the acclaimed author of Corelli?s Mandolin and Birds Without Wings (?de Bernières has reached heights that few modern novelists ever attempt? ?The Washington Post Book World) comes an intimate new novel, a love story at once raw and sweetly funny, wry and heartbreakingly sad.

He?s Chris: bored, lonely, trapped in a loveless, sexless marriage. In his forties, he?s a stranger inside the youth culture of London in the late 1970s, a stranger to himself on the night he invites a hooker into his car.

She?s Roza: Yugoslavian, recently moved to London, the daughter of one of Tito?s partisans. She?s in her twenties but has already lived a life filled with danger, misadventure, romance, and tragedy. And although she?s not a hooker, when she?s propositioned by Chris, she gets into his car anyway.

Over the next months Roza tells Chris the stories of her past. She?s a fast-talking, wily Scheherazade, saving her own life by telling it to Chris. And he takes in her tales as if they were oxygen in an otherwise airless world. But is Roza telling the truth? Does Chris hear the stories through the filter of his own need? Does it even matter?

This deeply moving novel of their unlikely love?narrated both in the moment and in recollection, each of their voices deftly realized?is also a brilliantly subtle commentary on storytelling: its seductions and powers, and its ultimately unavoidable dangers.

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