This book
has been on my to-read pile for quite a while.
It came to my attention because it kept appearing on the lists of
well-known literary prizes and it also appealed because of its setting. Other than Heidi, one of my favourite childhood books, I’ve read few books set
in Switzerland. I’m pleased that I
finally got around to reading it.
Like a
sonata, the story is told in three movements.
The first part, set in the late 1940s, focuses on the childhood of
Gustav Perle. He lives an impoverished
life with his emotionally distant mother Emilie but his world opens up when he
befriends Anton Zweibel, a Jewish boy who is a precocious pianist. Part II flashes back to World War II. We learn about Emilie’s meeting with Erich
and their marriage until Erich’s untimely death after he makes a decision that has
devastating consequences for himself, Emilie, and Gustav. The third part, set in the late 1990s,
focuses on Gustav and Anton’s faltering relationship as Anton moves to Geneva
obsessed with acquiring fame as a pianist, despite his debilitating stage
fright.
The novel
examines the implications and human costs of self-restraint. When he is a child, Gustav is repeatedly told
that he must master self-control. Emilie
tells him he has to be like Switzerland:
“’You have to hold yourself together and be courageous, stay separate and
strong.’” A tutor repeats this advice by
describing a coconut: “the shell is hard
and fibrous, difficult to penetrate. It
protects the nourishing coconut flesh and milk inside. And that is how Switzerland is . . . We
protect ourselves . . . with hard and determined yet rational behaviour – our neutrality.’” Gustav does achieve emotional self-mastery
but he becomes an anxious individual; he describes himself as being “obsessive
in his quest for superficial order and control” and with “an intolerable pain
in his heart.”
The novel
also shows what life was like in neutral Switzerland during the war. Switzerland was committed to remaining
neutral but was terrified of antagonizing Hitler lest he turn his attention to
the country: “Fear of a German invasion
is a daily agony for the country, seldom talked about, yet always felt.” As one person points out, “’fear of that
extreme kind affects how people behave.’”
Because of fear of an over-concentration of Jews, what was known as Überjudung, the Swiss government passed a law stopping the flow of Jewish
refugees. The police were expected to
enforce the law, but Erich, a policeman, says “’But people forget that
policemen have human feelings and sympathies’” and “’We strive for
indifference. As members of the police
we are taught to feel it. But is not indifference a moral crime?’” It becomes obvious that many Swiss chose to
turn a blind eye to the war; certainly, Emilie is guilty of willful ignorance
because “she has no wish to think about things that are happening outside
Switzerland.” Even her husband calls her
ignorant and blind, and there’s an apt description of her as a “terrified
creature – a bat clinging to the wall of its cave.” Switzerland remained neutral but there was a
human cost and not just for the Jews who were turned away.
Characterization is
certainly a strong element. Emilie
emerges as the least sympathetic character.
Though her life with her mother and events in her marriage explain her
behaviour, it is still difficult to forgive her treatment of her son; she is
cold, severe, and neglectful. She is
self-centred and self-pitying and not deserving of her son’s love which seems
boundless: “He knew that, in spite of
everything, he still loved her. In some
part of himself, he’d always believed that his mother couldn’t die before she’d
learned to love him.”
Gustav, of course, is
the most sympathetic. He is a gentle
soul, always compassionate and kind-hearted.
He seems driven to look after other people. His most outstanding trait is his ability to
love others who do not always love him in return. Besides Emilie, there is Anton who is
sometimes so self-absorbed and disloyal.
It is difficult to see Gustav so unhappy especially when he describes
himself as a “loser sent away to hunger and solitude.” The reader wishes that Gustav were less staid
and decorous. His steadfastness may be rewarded but that
reward is a lifetime in coming.
The style of the book
can be described as understated. The diction
is clean and precise with no excessive emotion, like the neutrality of
Switzerland and the self-restraint of Gustav, yet somehow it highlights the underlying
strong emotions felt by the characters.
I am so impressed with
this author that I’m amazed at my ignorance of her work. I will definitely be checking out her other
novels.
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