A Country Road, A Tree
Book - 2016
Samuel Beckett is a young writer living in Paris--intoxicated by new friendships with James Joyce and the other writers and artists making the vibrant city their creative home--when war breaks out in 1939. He determines to stay and is swiftly drawn into the maelstrom, joining the Resistance. With him we experience the terrifying excitement yet stubborn vibrancy and camaraderie as the Parisians flee the Nazis and the Resistance goes underground; his friendships with the astonishing group of men and women who find themselves caught up in the Occupation; his quiet, committed love for Suzanne, the Frenchwoman who will become his lifelong companion; and his dangerous work encoding critical messages in translations and narrow escapes from the Gestapo. Here is a remarkable story of survival and determination, and a portrait of a uniquely brilliant mind.
- Details
- Full Record
- Additional Info
Searching for more content…
Searching for more content…
Opinion
From the critics
Community Activity
Quotes
Add a QuoteThe last paragraph Chapter 8 page 114 in The American edition: 'And a year passes. And it goes on. His hands hands shake less now when he goes to make the drop. The bag no longer swells to the size of a wardrobe. And it all becomes normal. more or less, because anything can become normal, more or less, given time'
Comment
Add a CommentAs told through the eyes of Samuel Beckett, an author and famous writer who was close friends with James Joyce, another great author and his time spent in France just before the beginning of the Second World War and the part he played in the Resistance. He was born in Ireland and spent most of his time in France during this very dark time in history. He was deeply affected by it and so the book is the reality of this and how it played out in his day to day existence. A time of survival of the fittest. I found it difficult to stay focused as the sentences were short, crisp and repetitive but certainly the feelings of those involved in this great time in history brought to light the immense difficulties that the French people endured. Certainly Samuel Beckett helped in his own small but very needed way.
I really enjoyed this imaging (based on her research) of Beckett's time during the Second World War. If you are a Beckett or Joyce fan, you will appreciate it, and even if you know nothing of them, the rigors of everyday life in France at the time is well told.
I really enjoyed Baker's imagining of Beckett's life in France during WW II. The author illuminates the genesis of Beckett's later works.
4/5 stars. This book was a wonderfully descriptive book about Samuel Beckett and his time in France during World War II and its aftermath.