Inara Verzemnieks

This is a remarkable book. A combination of personal memoir and deeply researched history, it is written in a looping, dreamy way, lyrical and ordinary at the same time. The author's metaphors are original and striking. Her vocabulary of structural decay (of abandoned houses and bombed out buildings) is in itself worth the price of admission. I learn much of my history through fiction or creative non-fiction and this book led me to a much deeper understanding of the plight of the Latvians during and after WWII. Also, the parallels of the fate of the Latvians to that of the present day Ukrainians under Putin's onslaught make the book even more timely and relevant. It turns out that the "filtration camps" which Ukrainians are being sent to, in Russia, against their will, is nothing but a continuation of the forced evacuations perpetrated on the Latvians under Stalin. But seriously, read this book for its, stark beauty, its original metaphors, and the deep emotion of a truly great personal memoir, uncovered slowly over time.… (mais)

Lovely exploration of family -- and lost -- memory. Is it usually true that our forbears try to hide the painful memories of the past? I wonder if that is one of the roots of our bad history-telling even in school. If we can't tell -- or bear -- the truth about our own families, then how can we bear the truths of our communities and nations? Verzemnieks quote Rebecca West - it's hard to examine "what history meant in flesh and blood." Especially in places where violence has been the rule, not the exception -- Verzemniek's Latvia, witness of "centuries of migration and flight;" my Scotland and Ireland, home of dispossession, colonization and famine; or the deep wounds of slavery, genocide and mass dispossession. Americans especially think of ourselves as geneology fans, but I suspect it's mostly for the feel-good stories of overcoming adversity and achievement, the unbearable losses and the ones who fell by the wayside, were erased, never made it off the ships -- or who never managed to board in the first place.… (mais)