I will never forget reading Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. I came to it cold, not knowing anything of what the book was about. The best way to read it in hindsight. It was unforgettable. All the Broken Places is a sequel to that book. While The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is about a young boy, Bruno, this book focuses on his sister, Gretel.
Gretel is now age 91 and recently widowed. She lives in one of those big old apartments in London. She knows everyone in the block and everyone knows how to keep the status quo. But the apartment below her has become vacant and she’s worried about who will move in.
Gretel has a history. One she keeps a secret from everyone. Her father was a Commandant in Auschwitz. She was a child when her family lived in that terrible place.
All the Broken Places flits back and forth between Gretel’s life in modern day London, to 1946 Paris, where she is 16 and lives with her mother, having fled after the war. In Paris they carefully hide their nationality, pretending they have lived different lives. They are vigilant to not let a German accent accidently slip from their lips. The third timeline is 1953 Sydney, where Gretel lives as a young woman.
When a couple with a young boy move into the London flat below hers, Gretel worries that her peace and quiet will be interrupted. She begins to strike a relationship with the mother and the boy, William, who reminds her of her brother, Bruno. But she begins to suspect that this is not a happy family as it first appeared.
I found the beginning a little slow but as I read about Gretel in the three timelines, a picture of her life pieced together. It’s Boyne’s skill as a writer that Gretel is a seamless person through the three timelines. Each timeline has its own experiences that impact Gretel. They are all broken.
There are some moments in this book that shocked me out of any reading complacency I might have had. Others were thoughtful moments to contemplate. All the Broken Places asks if a child can be held to account for being complicit when a parent does wrong. How can a person live a life carrying a terrible burden of their guilt combined with grief?
Boyne writes so well with rarely a word wasted. Comparisons of this book to its predecessor are inevitable. How do you rate it against a classic like The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas? Although a sequel, it’s a different book, set in different times, with different characters. I think it stands very well on its own.
Reviewed by Rowena Morcom
John Boyne
0 Comments