Caroline's review
Two Lives: A Memoir
by Vikram Seth
Caroline's review
Two Lives: A Memoir by Vikram Seth
Caroline's review
rating:
I was very surprised by how quickly this book went by. It wasn't written in a particularly exciting way, nor did it make any effort to express an atmosphere or immerse you in the narrative (the author commented a lot on his approach as he went along), but there was still something touching about it. And it was definitely interesting to read all of the letters from the author's great-aunt (in-law), who was a German Jew who escaped to Britain in the late 30s, to her acquaintances in Germany at the end of WWII, in which she attempted to figure out which of her friends had been loyal to her mother and sister (who were killed in concentration camps) and which didn't do enough to prevent the tragedy from occuring. The book sets you up for a great love affair between the author's great uncle and his great aunt in-law, so in the end it's quite sad to discover that it was, for her at least, actually more a marriage of security and companionship than passion.
