The Ephrussis were a grand banking family, as rich and respected as the Rothschilds, who “burned like a comet” in nineteenth-century... read full description
reviews
Oct 02, 2010
Cynthia
rated it: 
This is a wonderful blending of history, biography with a sprinkling of art. The Ephrussi were a prominent Jewish family who originated from Odessa Russia. Part of the family emigrated to Paris and another part to Vienna. Along the way they collected beautiful things including a collection of Netsuke which are miniature decorative figures used to hold a money case in traditional Japanese dress.
The netsuke were originally collected by De Waal’s great great uncle Charles and were on More...
The netsuke were originally collected by De Waal’s great great uncle Charles and were on More...
38 comments
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(11 people liked it)
May 27, 2011
Beautifully evocative and elegiac, a history of a family. You know it will not end well, as this family is Jewish and the history begins a few generations before WW II, but de Waal is determined to bring the family to life through his descriptions of their homes, their idiosyncrasies, and above all their passion for art.
De Waal traveled to all the places this family had lived, and did his best to walk in the spaces they walked, look out the windows they did, and endeavor to imagine t More...
De Waal traveled to all the places this family had lived, and did his best to walk in the spaces they walked, look out the windows they did, and endeavor to imagine t More...
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Jul 05, 2011
Chrissie
rated it: 
NO SPOILERS!!!
ETA: I changed this to two stars. For most of this book I struggled to keep turning the pages. I think it is wrong to judge an entire book by the last 100 pages. Back to two stars, which reflects my feeling for the majority of the book.
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On completion: So how can I complain so much about a book and then give it 3 stars? (See ETA!) The answer is simple, this is how I felt when I finished the book. I have been di More...
ETA: I changed this to two stars. For most of this book I struggled to keep turning the pages. I think it is wrong to judge an entire book by the last 100 pages. Back to two stars, which reflects my feeling for the majority of the book.
*********************************************
On completion: So how can I complain so much about a book and then give it 3 stars? (See ETA!) The answer is simple, this is how I felt when I finished the book. I have been di More...
41 comments
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(7 people liked it)
Aug 06, 2011
Vivian
rated it: 
I read this for my library book review group. It was great. Edmund de Waal is a descendant of the (once) fabulously wealthy Ephrussis family, a Jewish family who made a Rothshcild-like fortune in banking. Originating in Odessa, they were integral parts of Paris society in the nineteenth century and Viennese society up to the Nazi takeover of Austria. Avid art appreciation and art collecting accompanies their financial prowess. The book is a superb history, as gleaned and researched by the c
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(2 people liked it)
May 16, 2011
Gail
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If you love history and art—and the melding of the two—that I think you will find it impossible not to be taken with Edmund de Waal's "The Hare with Amber Eyes."
To be fair, this is high-brow storytelling. If "The DaVinci Code" is the McDonald's equivalent of a book that incorporates these two themes, then "Amber Eyes" is the four-course French meal complete with palette-cleansing sorbet.
The book is a biography of de Waal's inherited collectio More...
To be fair, this is high-brow storytelling. If "The DaVinci Code" is the McDonald's equivalent of a book that incorporates these two themes, then "Amber Eyes" is the four-course French meal complete with palette-cleansing sorbet.
The book is a biography of de Waal's inherited collectio More...
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(4 people liked it)
Jul 04, 2011
Andy
rated it: 
Oh my good Lord, what did I do that you put me through the torture of reading that book?
Did I like it? No.
It is a story of the authors family in a blindly tunnel vision view of how everyone was out to get his Jewish family as they rose to the pinnacle of society in the Austrian empire, survived more or less as well as anyone else did in the 2nd world war and on to his gay uncles exploits in Japan.
With such wonderful chapter starters as "It wasn't ju More...
Did I like it? No.
It is a story of the authors family in a blindly tunnel vision view of how everyone was out to get his Jewish family as they rose to the pinnacle of society in the Austrian empire, survived more or less as well as anyone else did in the 2nd world war and on to his gay uncles exploits in Japan.
With such wonderful chapter starters as "It wasn't ju More...
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Feb 14, 2012
Andy
rated it:
I feel bad for only giving this 2 stars, especially with all the critical and personal acclaim, and it is well written, it's just that for a long while it did nothing for me. The majority of the book slowly meanders through Paris and a new way of life, society, collecting and art. It just didn't captivate me. Reading about a non-fiction family that I have no connection or personal sympathies with felt more a catalogue of occasion, name dropping and a lot of history from an era and movement I
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Feb 12, 2012
Kerfe
rated it:
This is a wonderful book on many levels. De Waal immersed himself in his family's wanderings, both voluntary and forced, parallelled by the acquisition and movements of 264 Japanese netsuke.
Where is home?
Both the Ephrussi family and the netsuke are, finally, citizens of the constantly changing borders and interactions of the world.
The writing itself is special; de Waal is a man who loves words and knows how to use them. He is especially good at creating a sense More...
Where is home?
Both the Ephrussi family and the netsuke are, finally, citizens of the constantly changing borders and interactions of the world.
The writing itself is special; de Waal is a man who loves words and knows how to use them. He is especially good at creating a sense More...
Jan 22, 2012
Jean
rated it:
This is the biography of a family; not a family that is famous, at least not in America and probably not anywhere in the world today. The early ancestors may have been well known in Odessa in the early to mid-eighteenth century because they were exceeding weathy bankers and importers and exporters of grains - but by the 20th century, not so much.
It is also the story of a people - Eastern European Jews. Because it is one family's story it is many families stories, even the Jews who we More...
It is also the story of a people - Eastern European Jews. Because it is one family's story it is many families stories, even the Jews who we More...
Jan 20, 2012
Cameling
rated it: 
Having inherited 264 netsuke, Japanese wooden and ivory carvings, Edmund de Waal, a ceramicist, decides to try and trace the origins of these little ornaments. His search and research take him to how netsuke are created and then segues into the history the man who bought and built this collection, Charles Ephrussi, the youngest son of the House of Ephrussi from Odessa, the Kings of Grain, the family he belonged to and ends with the author's connection to the family.
His research becom More...
His research becom More...
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Dec 31, 2011
Susan
rated it:
I was attracted to this book because of the author's profession as a potter. I've taken pottery classes and share his appreciation of art objects that you can hold, and the intimacy of such appreciation. He traces his family's history via a collection of Japanese netsuke, small carvings made of bone and wood. My grandfather collected these as well, in the years after WWII, when he helped with Japanese reconstruction. de Waal's family are Jewish bankers in Paris and Vienna before and between
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Nov 29, 2011
Joanne
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I loved this book! It's a history of the Efrussi family, who began as grain traders in Odessa, went into banking, moved to Paris and Vienna, and became as rich as the Rothchilds, even marrying one of them. They collected everything, and lived like princes until the Nazis came and Austria became its true self--a virulently anti-Semetic country. There are, of course, lots of books out like this, but this one is special because the great-great grandson of the Odessa founder inherited 264 netsu More...
Oct 25, 2011
Sheri
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It's hard to categorize this book. It's a non-fiction account of how a collection of 264 netsuke (a carved buttonlike ornament, esp. of ivory or wood, formerly worn in Japan to suspend articles from the sash of a kimono) came to be owned by one of the author's ancestors, and where the collection went until it finally fell in his hands. The author isn't a professional writer; rather, he's a recognized ceramic artist who specializes in Japanese style celadon pottery. So his writing tends to be
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Oct 18, 2011
Peter
rated it:
There are many excellent reasons for reading The Hare with Amber Eyes. Its author, Edmund De Waal, is known to the world as a fine ceramic artist, whose work is widely shown in museums and galleries. He is also an exceptionally fine writer, bringing an artist’s sensibility to this other medium: a meticulous attention to the detail of language, its rhythms and its evocative potential. Read the book for its exhaustive descriptions of interiors, whether bel époque Paris or Wiener Werkstatt Vie More...
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Sep 26, 2011
Paula
rated it:
I don't remember how I came to reserve this book at the library; indeed I was surprised when I received the notice that it was in, since the title meant nothing to me. In any case, this is a most fascinating book. Edmund de Waal is a professional potter; he makes fine porcelain objects; he has studied his art in Japan; as it turns out, he is also the scion of a quite illustrious & once fabulously wealthy European family, the Ephrussi (originally Efrussi from Berdichev, then Odessa).
de Waa More...
de Waa More...
Jul 29, 2011
Ian
rated it:
Never before have I encountered the word vitrine so often in such a short period, and I hope that I don’t come across it again for a long time. I suppose that’s what I deserve for straying away from the world of fiction. However, The Hare with the Amber Eyes is a book which has won many accolades and is loved by many – I suspect, therefore, that the problem lies somewhere within me rather than with the book. It is by no means a badly written or uninteresting story. Edmund de Waal explores th
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Jul 23, 2011
Marleen
rated it:
The Hare mentioned in the title is one of 264 netsuke; tiny Japanese wood and ivory carvings which Edmund De Waal inherits when his great uncle Iggie dies in Japan.
The little carvings fascinate Edmund and he decides to look into their history. What was supposed to be a project taking no more than a few months turns into two years of research into his family’s history, from before the netsuke were first acquired until the moment he installs them in a glass vitrine in his own home.
The st More...
The little carvings fascinate Edmund and he decides to look into their history. What was supposed to be a project taking no more than a few months turns into two years of research into his family’s history, from before the netsuke were first acquired until the moment he installs them in a glass vitrine in his own home.
The st More...
Jun 21, 2011
Alison
rated it:
This book has attracted many very complimentary reviews here, and there's no need for me to add much more, but I thought I'd share what made a particular impression on me. Most importantly I was fascinated by relationship between the private history of the author's family, the Ephrussi, and yet much more public history made familiar by literary and artistic figures in both Paris and Vienna. I know much more about Paris and French art and literature than about Vienna so I was particularly struck
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May 13, 2011
John R.
rated it:
I finished THE HARE WITH AMBER EYES by Edmund de Waal a couple of days ago. Quite a lovely book, suffused with darkness and pain and the melancholy of loss but also filled to overflowing with the love of art, creativity and family. History at its best, focused on the small and intimate and yet encompassing the great and overwhelming. The moment when Elizabeth, returned to Vienna for the first time in a decade with war, slaughter and so much else in between, meets Anna again and learns about the
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May 07, 2011
Jack
rated it:
A sensational study of the author's family, one of the richest European Jewish families, on par with the Rothschilds. They hail from Odessa, but reign in the salons of Paris and Vienna - aesthetes, bankers, collectors, taste-makers. One of the authors relatives collected 264 miniature Japanese carved figures, netsuke, which are carefully passed from one generation to the next.
The history of this collection of remarkable miniatures provides a framework for examining the family i More...
The history of this collection of remarkable miniatures provides a framework for examining the family i More...
Apr 13, 2011
Kathy
rated it:
4 1/2 stars
This book was beautifully written and absolutely fascinating. Edmund De Waal learns he is to inherit a collection of Japanese netsuke - small wood and ivory carvings. This book begins as an investigation to learn about the history of these netsuke in his family but it turns into so much more. De Waal discovers an amazing family history that takes us from Odessa to Paris, Vienna, America, England and Tokyo. It is a family history that is meticulously researched, intrica More...
This book was beautifully written and absolutely fascinating. Edmund De Waal learns he is to inherit a collection of Japanese netsuke - small wood and ivory carvings. This book begins as an investigation to learn about the history of these netsuke in his family but it turns into so much more. De Waal discovers an amazing family history that takes us from Odessa to Paris, Vienna, America, England and Tokyo. It is a family history that is meticulously researched, intrica More...
Mar 01, 2011
John
rated it:
A very lovely book that does not fit well into any one specific category, this work loosely traces the historical trail of a collection of netsuke (small intricately carved japanese figurines and objects) that were in the author's family through their acquisition to their arrival in the authors home. What is most striking is the rise and fall of a fantastically wealthy family before and through two world wars.
Edmunds ancestors were the family Ephrussi, a jewish banking clan that spre More...
Edmunds ancestors were the family Ephrussi, a jewish banking clan that spre More...
Feb 26, 2011
Louise
rated it:
This was a wonderful book. Edmund de Waal tells the story of his family, from the late nineteenth century to the present, using a collection of netsuke (very small carved objects from Japan)which are passed down from one member of the family to another, as the connecting link between different parts of the story. I have to say it started slowly, and I wasn't as interested when the narrative focused on the first collector in France during the Impressionist period, because it seemed to be so entir
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Feb 21, 2011
Lynne-marie
rated it:
One of the best things I have read in a long time. de Waal takes a family collection of netsuke through his family's history of its possession from the generation co-existant with the Impressionists, when his Jewish banking family was a force to be reckoned with in Paris & Russia; on to a generation later in Vienna, where another branch of the family ruled over the Ringstrasse and the netsuke moved out of the salon into the boudoir; through the division of the family by WWI and the dispossessi
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Dec 08, 2011
Khaya
rated it:
I've been struggling to figure out how to download library audiobooks to my iphone (if anyone out there wants to clue me in, please feel free) and thought I'd finally succeeded with this one after many failed attempts, only to find that I'd only actually downloaded parts 1-3 of 9. I'm really not loving this book enough to make myself crazy trying to figure out how to get the other parts, so I'm putting it on hold for now and reserving the right to change my mind about it if I end up picking it
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May 16, 2011
Dena
rated it:
Just started reading this after seeing it discussed by Paul and Chrissie at the History group. The idea of tracing the path of a collection of netsuke to find where they've been, who had touched them, what they had encountered is intriguing.
This is a personal history rather than a broad historical coverage of the time and subject. The author inherits a collection of netsuke which is the remaining treasure from a very large family fortune. As a potter he is intrigued with the touch of these More...
This is a personal history rather than a broad historical coverage of the time and subject. The author inherits a collection of netsuke which is the remaining treasure from a very large family fortune. As a potter he is intrigued with the touch of these More...
Jan 03, 2011
Nicholas
rated it:
This is a beautiful book, unlike any memoir I have crossed paths with. It is at once focused and conversational. De Waal's voice balances that of the critic, historian, artist, and heir; his touch is delicate and purposeful. He finds captivating stories in the scattered fragments of his family's gilded past - one which has so much to tell - and the intricate netsuke that are his inheritance.
He consciously avoids lamenting his family's tragic loss of wealth and power. While revisi More...
He consciously avoids lamenting his family's tragic loss of wealth and power. While revisi More...
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Jan 03, 2012
Shauna
rated it:
'How objects are handed on is all about story-telling. I am giving you this because I love you. Or because it was given to me. Because I bought it somewhere special. Because you will care for it. Because it will complicate your life. Because it will make someone else envious. There is no easy story in legacy. What is remembered and what is forgotten?'
The author claims, toward the end of this book, to 'no longer know if this book is about my family, or memory, or myself, or is still a More...
The author claims, toward the end of this book, to 'no longer know if this book is about my family, or memory, or myself, or is still a More...
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Nov 28, 2011
Kay
rated it:
The story of an Rothchild level rich Russian family that lost it all during WWII. Written by a great-grandson who frames the story around a box of netsuke that was the only thing saved. Some of the famly members are interesting but the author, a potter not a writer, sucks the life out of all of them with his fascination with acquisitions. It's hard to breathe life into stories when all you have is a scattering of papers but Rebecca Sloot showed how magically it can happen in The Immortal Life o
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Mar 01, 2011
Amanda
rated it:
Mr. Edmund de Waal started researching the origin of the netsuke that had been in the family for one hundred years. How did these tiny, ornate Japanese carved figures come to be in the family, and stay in the family. He wanted to get to the bottom of the story, not just the broad strokes that seemed 'thin' to him. This was the synopsis and opening of the story in the sample I was able to get for my Kindle. It read well, so I got the whole book. After reading a bit more, I realize I am in fo
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