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Jon Stephen Fink

Autor(a) de Further Adventures: A Novel (P.S.)

6+ Works 209 Membros 2 Críticas

About the Author

Obras por Jon Stephen Fink

If He Lived (1997) 17 exemplares
Long Pig (1995) 7 exemplares
Woke Up Laughing (2002) 3 exemplares

Associated Works

Strange Faeces 15 — Contribuidor — 1 exemplar

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Data de nascimento
1951-12-07
Sexo
male
Nacionalidade
USA
Local de nascimento
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Locais de residência
Manningtree, Essex, UK

Membros

Críticas

Interesting story about an old building in Massachusetts, a long-married couple, and a ghost. Lillian Foy is a psychiatric nurse who starts having strange dreams, then seeing a boy in and around her house, slowly his sad tale is pieced together.
 
Assinalado
earthsinger | Jun 21, 2012 |
In 2004 I escorted a group of students who really wanted to see the International Spy Museum, in addition to the usual landmarks and museums, to Washington D.C. Being the geek that I am, I thought it was a cool idea and off we went. The special exhibit at that time was about the history of terrorism in the United States. What I found interesting, and what I think most people forget, is that terrorism is not a new concept, and it's definition is often muddied by subjectivity.

In December of 1910, a group of Latvian revolutionaries killed three London policemen when a jewelry store heist went wrong. Viewed as an act of terrorism by Londoners of the time, this is the pivotal event in Jon Stephen Fink's A Storm in the Blood. Fink takes the readers into the streets of Edwardian England as seen through the eyes of political refugees and immigrants. It's violent, dirty, and hateful.

Although the book is based on the true story of the Houndsditch Murders and the Siege of Sidney Street, the story follows the fictional character Rivka, a Latvian refugee who has to run for her live after her father tries to kill a Russian Cossack. She is transported to England and is taken in by a group of Latvian revolutionaries who respect what her father did. As events both fictional and historical progress, Rivka falls for Peter Piatkow, an intelligent revolutionary who is beginning to question the movement. Rivka decides she wants to participate in the next planned "action." As we know from history, things do not go as planned, and it all ends tragically for three policemen and many of the revolutionaries, some of whom may not have even been involved. But mysteriously and historically, Peter managed to escape.

Fink's pacing is superb. The book is a page turner. His characters are well-developed, and his phrasing even hints to the fact that he's a poet. The dialogue feels authentic. During the siege, one revolutionary remembers when he was a child he saw an older boy torment a cow:

...The boy went over to her, picked up the rock, took a few steps back and threw the rock again. She went down on her front legs... I couldn't watch anymore. Jesu, the pity of it. He was older than me by five years and a stronger fighter. This house is ours. Mine. I'll struggle for it. You come to take it from me, now you're notified. I'm no cow in a field.


And that leads to Fink's real accomplishment. He subtly captures that underneath all the fiery causes and rhetoric, these revolutionaries, these "terrorists," just want the same things all humans want- safe, autonomous, productive lives, and maybe a little love and beauty thrown in for good measure. I say "subtly" because Fink isn't heavy-handed. He isn't making a political statement. He doesn't condone their actions or reasoning. The revolutionaries are often selfish, stupid, and petty- as all humans are time to time.

The book is entertaining, but it also hits on those nagging questions about the human condition that make good books sink to the bone.
… (mais)
1 vote
Assinalado
wilsonknut | Jan 31, 2010 |

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Associated Authors

Estatísticas

Obras
6
Also by
1
Membros
209
Popularidade
#106,076
Avaliação
3.2
Críticas
2
ISBN
22
Línguas
2

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