false 2818398 9 In a red brick mansion block off the Marylebone Road, Vivien, a sensitive, bookish girl grows up sealed off from both past and present by her timid refugee parents. Then one morning a glamorous uncle appears, dressed in a mohair suit, with a diamond watch on his wrist and a girl in a leopard-skin hat on his arm. Why is Uncle Sandor so violently unwelcome in her parents' home? This is a novel about survival -- both banal and heroic -- and a young woman who discovers the complications, even betrayals, that inevitably accompany the fierce desire to live. Set against the backdrop of a London from the 1950s to the present day, <i>The Clothes on Their Backs</i> is a wise and tender novel about the clothes we choose to wear, the personalities we dress ourselves in, and about how they define us all. 2844331 25 1 2008 The Clothes on Their Backs total:301|5:21|4:103|3:108|2:56|1:13| 301 966 626 87 3 3 false false Thu Aug 14 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 09 16:40:12 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 17 09:31:31 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 20 18:36:43 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 20 18:37:09 -0800 2008 But this is not your usual novel about fashion, written by a disgruntled magazine editorial assistant and studded with designer n...more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Sep 17 06:19:40 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 17 06:36:12 -0700 2009 The Clothes on Their Backs, by Linda Grant is a story of a first generation American woman's search for her family's past, something her parents have deliberately kept from her. Isolated in their British flat, her parents keep a kind of old-world mixed with fear outlook on life.

Growing...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Dec 28 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 27 07:14:52 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 28 09:37:00 -0800 2008
"Not a smart man, but's that what you want--the last thing we need is for the intellectuals to gain power; I tell you, some ideas are s...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Aug 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 30 08:29:26 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 02 00:20:56 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 04 20:42:22 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 08 13:55:26 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Apr 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri May 01 06:13:47 -0700 2009 Fri May 01 06:26:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon May 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat May 02 21:49:34 -0700 2009 Tue May 19 17:42:23 -0700 2009
The main character, Vivien, embarks on a search for her family history by talking with her father's estranged brother, Sandor, once convicted of being a slu...more...]]> 2 2 false false Mon Feb 09 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 09 10:52:51 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 09 10:48:48 -0800 2009 ]]> 2 0 false false Fri Oct 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 23 05:51:29 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 23 06:01:45 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 20 09:56:03 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 02 09:29:05 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Apr 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun May 03 11:36:42 -0700 2009 Sun May 03 11:42:13 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Fri Jan 30 11:16:13 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 30 11:16:30 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jan 19 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 16 12:35:35 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 19 17:21:09 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 01:48:13 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 29 01:23:09 -0700 2009 All throughout the book The Clothes On Their Backs, clothes play a big part in the story of Miranda, daughter of Hungarian Jewish immigrants, and, specifically, ni...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 03 05:28:49 -0800 2008 Mon Mar 09 08:24:30 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Nov 08 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 02 18:37:48 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 10 16:27:30 -0800 2008 1 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Sep 23 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 14 13:09:29 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 23 08:45:12 -0700 2008
Here's the deal: I liked it, but I didn't love it. I thought it was good, but not great.

The narrator of this story is Vivien Kovacs, the only child of two refugees who left Hungary when the tide of anti-Semitism began to rise and make itself obvious. Ervin and Bert...more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Mar 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jan 28 17:54:21 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 30 14:57:24 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jan 18 07:16:42 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 18 07:32:06 -0800 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=2818398