Helpful Score: 6
You cannot find peace by avoiding life, wrote author Virginia Woolf.
The time - 1939. The place - a small village in Romania. The residents of the village are hearing news of the war that is spreading across the globe, and when a stranger washes up on the shores of their river, the villagers learn firsthand how dreadful things are out there. They decide to re-invent the world, to create an insular place that is safe from the war. For years, guided by the strength of their denial and their imagination, they abide peacefully. Not even the best-laid plans, though, can stop the forward march of war, and the novel crashes to a heartbreaking collision with reality.
No One is Here Except All of Us is a fabulist story that requires a suspension of disbelief to be fully enjoyed. It is not meant to be logical or truthful, but instead conveys a thematic moral about reality versus illusion. The writing is poetic, casting a soporific spell that captures the reader in a sea of dreaminess. The author deftly tells the story from multiple viewpoints, and the pacing is both languorous and compelling. And what reader doesn't identify with that longing to be like an ostrich with its head in the sand, ignoring a problem in the hope that it will vanish?
I enjoyed every second I spent with this book, and its profound message is one that will stay with me. Ausubels debut novel is unlike any other book I have ever read, and is a stunning achievement that I highly recommend.
The time - 1939. The place - a small village in Romania. The residents of the village are hearing news of the war that is spreading across the globe, and when a stranger washes up on the shores of their river, the villagers learn firsthand how dreadful things are out there. They decide to re-invent the world, to create an insular place that is safe from the war. For years, guided by the strength of their denial and their imagination, they abide peacefully. Not even the best-laid plans, though, can stop the forward march of war, and the novel crashes to a heartbreaking collision with reality.
No One is Here Except All of Us is a fabulist story that requires a suspension of disbelief to be fully enjoyed. It is not meant to be logical or truthful, but instead conveys a thematic moral about reality versus illusion. The writing is poetic, casting a soporific spell that captures the reader in a sea of dreaminess. The author deftly tells the story from multiple viewpoints, and the pacing is both languorous and compelling. And what reader doesn't identify with that longing to be like an ostrich with its head in the sand, ignoring a problem in the hope that it will vanish?
I enjoyed every second I spent with this book, and its profound message is one that will stay with me. Ausubels debut novel is unlike any other book I have ever read, and is a stunning achievement that I highly recommend.
