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Anna and the Swallow Man

Gavriel Savit

3.68 · Rating details · 6,173 ratings · 1,445 reviews

Kraków, 1939. A million marching soldiers and a thousand barking dogs. This is no place to grow up.Anna Łania is just seven years old when the Germans take her father, a linguistics professor, during their purge of intellectuals in Poland. She’s alone.

And then Anna meets the Swallow Man.He is a mystery, strange and tall, a skilled deceiver with more than a little magic up ...more

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Hardcover, 232 pages

Published January 26th 2016 by Knopf Books for Young Readers

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Jan 26, 2016 Maja (The Nocturnal Library) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: arc-2016, best-of-2016, historical-fiction, own-a-dtb, reviewed-iin-2016, literary-fiction, penguin-random-house

Gavriel Savit’s literary debut is one of those rare, gorgeous little gems that leave you completely in awe of the author’s talent. Savit is incredibly skillful with words, a true artist fully aware of the importance of every single sentence. Each one is a small work of art, poetic and beautiful in its simplicity.

The best thing about Anna and the Swallow Man is that it’s told entirely from a child’s perspective, a world seen through a seven-year-old’s eyes. It is a bleak, desperate world; the war is slowly brewing and people are disappearing left and right, including Anna’s father, who is an academic. Anna is left in the care of the town’s doctor, her father’s acquaintance, likely because her father thought that she would be most safe in the hands of a German. But the good doctor abandons Anna that very afternoon, leaving her to fend for herself on the streets of Krakow in 1939.

Swallow Man is a nameless wanderer, a man with the ability to adapt and survive at the worst of times. He takes Anna with him like it’s the most natural thing to do, but he never becomes one of those empty, unrealistic characters. He is, in fact, very complex, and as the story progresses and we learn more about him, we realize that he’s not always very likeable or pure-hearted. He too has many issues to work through on his journey with Anna.

The war plays a big part in this book, but solely as the motivator. It’s constantly in the background, something to run from and something to adapt to, but it never quite touches our Anna. It’s almost like yet another secondary character, constantly present, but never overwhelming. Overall, theirs is an emotional journey that brings trial after trial and story after sad story, all seen through the eyes of a child, but interpreted through those of an adult. What a wonderful, wondrous thing Savit has done by showing us something for what it was, but through a lens that makes it look softer and so much different.

Anna and the Swallow Man is a book that will leave you breathless and in complete wonderment. The quality of this work is at the highest level, and its soul is brilliant and simply too gorgeous for words. It may be Savit’s first literary work, but it is a testament to his tremendous talent and a promise of more delightful books to come.

A copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher for review purposes. No considerations, monetary or otherwise, have influenced the opinions expressed in this review.
...more

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Nov 04, 2015 Stacey (prettybooks) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-my-twenties, young-adult-fiction

Anna and the Swallow Man is stunning. It's the first thing you'll notice about the book – the captivating cover accompanied by instantly beautiful writing. Itis among the few literary young adult novels I've read and it won't be the last.

Anna and the Swallow Man retells a story we've heard a million times; one that needs to continue to be told, and it makes you feel like you're hearing it for the first time. You feel the sadness and anger and confusion that our young protagonist feels, seeing ...more

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Jul 13, 2015 Beatrice rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

This book took me by surprise and impressed me consistently. Weaving elements of fairytale, folktale, historical fiction, magical realism, and the precarious balance between the adulthood and childhood world, Anna and the Swallow Man is a book of many facets that is nevertheless cohesive. The Swallow Man is one of the most intriguing characters I have read about, and the mix of admiration and fear that I feel towards him is quite unique. Anna's understanding of the Swallow Man and his world was ...more

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Feb 02, 2016 Claire Talbot rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: teen

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Let me start by saying this is a very strange book, that upset me in several ways. I picked it up because of the comparisons to "The Book Thief", which I loved. I found it disturbing on several levels. One - Anna, aged 7, is left to fend for herself after her father, a talented linguistics professor is seized by the Germans. Anna waits for a day or so, and is spurned by neighbors, and former friends of her fathers. Locked out of their apartment, her mother long dead, she heads for the streets. Let me start by saying this is a very strange book, that upset me in several ways. I picked it up because of the comparisons to "The Book Thief", which I loved. I found it disturbing on several levels. One - Anna, aged 7, is left to fend for herself after her father, a talented linguistics professor is seized by the Germans. Anna waits for a day or so, and is spurned by neighbors, and former friends of her fathers. Locked out of their apartment, her mother long dead, she heads for the streets. There, she meets up with a mysterious man, who also speaks many languages, and calms her by having a beautiful bird come and land on his hand. She decides to follow him, and for years they evade the war, scavenging the Polish countryside.
Mystery 1: One, I found her complete and total reliance on this adult male stranger a little creepy. The swallow man as Anna calls him, controls their every move. She must "forget" her identity as Anna, learn to speak "Road" a new language he has devised, and begin a life of deception and survival. After a time, the swallow man reluctantly allows a third party to travel with them, the Jewish man Reb Hirschl, who brings some music and joy back into Anna's life. While traveling with the two men, Anna is out in the woods going to the bathroom when a peddler happens upon her. Immediately you call tell that Anna has become his prey. After spending a day telling stories, the Reb and the Swallow Man argue about a course of action, both wanting to protect Anna, but through different courses of action. More disturbing is the peddler claims to recognize the Swallow man, and offers his wares for "some time alone" with Anna. Equally creepy is the "meat" that the peddler offers them - a human arm. The swallow man disappears in the night, kills the peddler, and Reb who is disgusted by what he sees as the swallow mans betrayal of a moral code - a point where he becomes "a spiller of blood, a taker of life - all because the peddler recognized him." Reb leaves the trio, and a week later they find that he has hung himself.
Mystery #2: The swallow man takes pills. Lots of them - religiously. After discovering Reb's body, they stay in an abandoned house, Swallow Man runs out of pills, and appears to loose his mind. You would think that the pills are for a depression or anxiety condition. Not so. Later, as a last resort, Anna finds the prescription for 130 mg of potassium iodide, which is traditionally used to protect the thyroid from radiation poisoning, or as an expectorant. Swallow Man is described as being mentally ill. This did not make sense to me. Another truly abhorrent scene, Anna goes to a pharmacy with the prescription for the Swallow Man, and is forced to undress and "assume positions" for the pleasure of the pharmacist.
Mystery #3: After getting to Gdansk, Anna overhears a conversation that would indicate that "Swallow Man" is also a professor. And, and years of caring for Anna, he takes her to a man in a boat, who takes her away, presumably to freedom and a new life outside of occupied Poland. He also alludes to the fact that she can kill this mysterious fisherman, the same way he killed the peddler, if necessary.
Mystery #4: Unbelievable. It was totally unbelievable to me that this older man and a young girl were able to travel about war torn, occupied Poland for years without getting caught, shot, etc.
Mystery #5: the baby shoe? Greta? did I miss the clues as to how we were supposed to understand these very important references?????

Sorry, but this was no "Book Thief" for me. I also never cared for the Swallow Man - he was just too mysterious, too cold, and you did not learn enough about him as a character to really care. Anna also was supposed to be 7 when the ordeal began, but did not really act like a 7 year old. I did not feel I really knew her, but instead read about vivid descriptions of the travels of this mysterious pair. I just had no connection personally with these characters. The whole thing was bizarre. ...more

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Jun 17, 2016 Snotchocheez rated it really liked it · review of another edition

3.5 Stars

I'm not sure what to make of this thing. I'm mostly pretty impressed, but my emotions run the gamut from WOW! to WHAT THE?!? Ultimately it left me bewildered, but it's the kind of bafflement that keeps replaying in my head, begging me to figure out what I just read. I guess I need to ask a kid. After all, the first Library of Congress categorization for Anna and the Swallow Man reads: 1. Poland---History---Occupation, 1939-1945---Juvenile Fiction

Okay, yeah, sure,. It's just a 3.5 Stars

I'm not sure what to make of this thing. I'm mostly pretty impressed, but my emotions run the gamut from WOW! to WHAT THE?!? Ultimately it left me bewildered, but it's the kind of bafflement that keeps replaying in my head, begging me to figure out what I just read. I guess I need to ask a kid. After all, the first Library of Congress categorization for Anna and the Swallow Man reads: 1. Poland---History---Occupation, 1939-1945---Juvenile Fiction

Okay, yeah, sure,. It's just a Poland-centric The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, right?

Well, not quite. Yeah, they both deal with the holocaust and they both are told with a child's viewpoint, (And they're both marketed to younger readers, though I cannot possibly imagine a young reader getting past a couple of extremely gruesome scenes nor comprehending (or appreciating) the allegory/Polish folklore/magical realism of Anna and the Swallow Man).

The story itself is pretty straightforward: In November, 1939, the Gestapo arrives in Krakow, Poland to round up Jews and intellectuals, one of whom being Anna Lania's father, a linguistics professor, who she never sees again post-sweep. Having no other immediate family in Krakow, Anna is forced to take to the streets to avoid the Gestapo herself. After several days of loneliness and hunger, she meets a mysterious, tall spindly man with a predilection toward communicating with birds, especially swallows. The Swallow Man convinces her that the only way she can stay alive during wartime is to avoid the Wolves (the Germans) and the Bears (the Russians) and. live out in the forest.

The confusion (for me) lies with this bird guy. Where did he come from? How did he find Anna? Why does he seem omniscient? Some things are answered.as the novel progresses, while other beguiling questions keep popping up about the guy's very erratic behavior.

I enjoyed this quite a bit throughout, despite my mounting confusion (with the Swallow Man and his actions). Gavriel Savit writes with ethereal beauty and optimistic ebullience and strikes a balance (perhaps in deference to his potential audience) of keeping things hopeful yet keeping it "real". Despite the overwhelming bleakness going on around Anna and her protector, the novel (thankfully) never becomes too awful to read (though it comes perilously close a few times). Now I just need to find someone to explain to me that ending... ...more

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Jul 22, 2015 Jessica rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, middle-grade, own

This is a slim, beautifully written little book. The first half is wonderful, and really gives you a sense for how confusing the beginning of the war would have been for a child. It's almost fairy tale like. But as the book, and the war, go on the ethereal writing stopped working for me. I needed to know some concrete things, none of which were answered, leaving me ultimately very frustrated.

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Feb 15, 2016 Eve rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016-books

Actual Rating: 2.5

I'm still SO confused about this novel. But I don't really care enough about it to go sleuthing around on the interwebs.

I would say don't waste your money on this perplexing piece of literature, but there is a small chance that Gavriel Savit is a mastermind and I'm just too much of a dumbass to understand what was going on.

So.

Do with that what you will.

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Jan 07, 2016 Bonnie rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, arcs, war-wwii, middle-grade, debut

‘There is no labyrinth as treacherous as that with neither paths nor walls.’

When seven-year-old Anna is placed in the company of a neighbor while her father attends to some business, she never thought that would be the last she would see of him. The year is 1939 during the very beginning of World War II and the Germans are beginning their round up of scholars and Anna’s father is a professor at Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Unsure what to do, Anna turns to a mysterious stranger she names Swallow Man after he displays his proficiency with languages including the ability to speak to birds. Intrigued by this man, Anna begins to follow him and the two stay together, walking across Poland, for many years.

“A riverbank goes wherever the riverbank does. […] I’ll be the riverbank and you be the river.”

During this duo’s travels, the Swallow Man teaches Anna many lessons, cultivating her ability to survive with or without him. The two that bear repeating most: “To be found is to be gone forever,” and “One can’t be found as long as one keeps moving.” And keep hidden and moving they do. Within this short novel, years pass and it becomes more and more difficult to continue to survive in a world that has transformed around them, blanketing them in war. Throughout their time together, the Swallow Man persists in fascinating Anna with his perpetual crypticness and continues to keep the reader curious about the circumstances which brought him to this point.

‘It was very difficult for her to take her attention away from the thin man, even for a moment. Somewhere, tickling the back of her brain, she felt a certainty that if she wasn’t constantly watching this fellow, she would miss whole miracles, whole wonders – things that he let fall incidentally off himself as other men might shed dandruff.’

There was something supremely enchanting about this well-written story. It combined the heartrending historical aspects of The Book Thief with the magical realism of The Snow Child. Unfortunately, Savit built up a mesmerizing tale of survival only to lose steam and fizzle out at the end. The hazy inscrutability that is cast over this story leads to the magical feeling of mysteriousness but by the end I was expecting that haze to clear and it never did. (view spoiler)

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. ...more

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Oct 22, 2015 Rashika (is tired) rated it really liked it

Shelves: middle-grade, read-2015, good-characters, i-need-to-go-cry, arc, historical

***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato

I don’t read a lot of historical fiction but I absolutely adore middle grade novels so when I heard about Anna and the Swallow Man, I knew I was going to have a lot of feels and would probably need a lot of tissues. The book; however, turned out to be not exactly what I expected. When I read the blurb, I thought that Anna and the Swallow Man would be right in the middle of the war instead of spending their time skirting its edges. Don’t ***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato

I don’t read a lot of historical fiction but I absolutely adore middle grade novels so when I heard about Anna and the Swallow Man, I knew I was going to have a lot of feels and would probably need a lot of tissues. The book; however, turned out to be not exactly what I expected. When I read the blurb, I thought that Anna and the Swallow Man would be right in the middle of the war instead of spending their time skirting its edges. Don’t get me wrong, you can tell that there is a war going on and the war definitely impacts their life, it’s just I thought their circumstances would be different.

Having said that, Anna and the Swallow Man is a beautiful, lyrical book and one I wouldn’t fail to recommend to someone who really wants to be sucker punched in their feels (because who doesn’t want that?)

Here are a bunch of reasons to read this book

1. Anna. She is one of the saddest main characters I’ve read in middle grade and Savrit works magic in the way he writes her. She is a very aware child but the way Savrit writes her constantly reminds readers that she IS a child no matter how smart she is. It’s why my heart constantly broke for her and her struggle.

2 Secondary Characters. The Swallow Man is a wonderfully complex character. He, at the beginning of the novel, is someone who comes off as a savior but as the novel progresses, we find out that there is a whole lot more to him. He isn’t a perfect character and there were parts during the middle of the book where I wanted the ground to swallow him whole (I am so clever) because he was really getting to me. By the end of the novel, I liked him as a character since there is SO much to him. Reb Hirschl one the other hand was my favorite character in the world. Okay perhaps not in the world but in this book, yes. He broke my heart a million times over and made me smile like no one else in the book.

3. The Journey. Or the journey to nowhere as it should more accurately be called. Throughout the entire book, Anna and the Swallow Man are walking to somewhere yet we don’t know where. The Swallow Man tells Anna that they are trying to find a bird that is almost extinct but a lot of the time, they just seem to go on and on in circle. Their journey is full of many hardships and even though they are never in the middle of the war, the war is never forgotten. It impacts them when they run out of food and slowly start to starve, it impacts them when they attempt to cross German borders, it impacts them when they come upon mass graves. Even though the story doesn’t seem to be about the war, it IS. Savrit weaves in the war into their journey and as the war rages on, we become more and more aware of the horrible effects the war has. The book spirals into darkness and starts to tear open our hearts. It loses its innocent charm and turns into something darker.

So hopefully I have convinced you to read this book… if not OOPS? I TRIED, OKAY. I did my best. I am going to go home and sleep now because emotions.

Note that I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ...more

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Dec 22, 2015 Sarah Churchill rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, received-for-review

Lyrical writing based on a fairy tale and set during WWII... this book should have made my head and heart implode with happiness. Unfortunately I struggled to get as immersed in this as I would have liked. The journey of Anna and her Swallow Man was a gruelling one, walking across countries over the span of years (no idea how long, there's a lack of any kind of time reference) through all seasons. I should have felt the exhaustion, the cold and the hunger. But I really didn't.

I think that the ...more

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Dec 15, 2018 may ❀ rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical, real-problems, library, audiobook, standalones, aaaaaaaaaa, my-heart, 200-pgs

this book is unexpectedly brilliant. i went in with a mindset that it would be a historic book taking place in WWII but its so much more complex than that

after anna's father doesn't return to her, the seven year old girl meets a strange man who can speak in every language that she knows (with the addition of one), knows pretty much everything about everything, and doesn't have much of an identity but goes by the "Swallow Man"

it follows them as the Swallow Man takes it upon himself to protect ...more

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Mar 07, 2016 Diane S ☔ rated it really liked it

Anna's father is a professor in Krakow, he sometimes leaves Anna with a friend and returns formatter later. But this time he doesn't return, he is taken in the intellectual purge of the Nazis. So Anna waits, but then knowing something is wrong, but not what, she meets the Swallow Man. A very tall, thin man who can speak all the languages she and her father can, but he can also speak bird. So she follows him and he will teach her how to survive in this strange new landscape.

Not very good at ...more

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Mar 17, 2016 Jill rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

To my thinking, this book exemplifies astonishing achievement in writing, both on the literal and symbolic levels.

There are only three characters for most of the book; who they are and my best guess at who they are on a “meta” level is as follows: Anna, a seven-year-old girl when we first meet her, personifies both innocence and later innocence destroyed; The Swallow Man, a Werner Heisenberg-like character who, I think, represents the uneasy balance between knowledge (especially, technological ...more

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Dec 31, 2015 Summer rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own-physical, reviewed, arcs-and-review-copies, historical-fiction, unsolicited-review-copies, blog-tour

Later rerated to*: 4 Stars

*I'm rerating a lot of the books I read in the past to fit my current taste. Most of the time it's downrating books that I thought I really liked at the time but there are a few exceptions. :) And it'd be too much to try to reflect these changes on my blog, so the ratings will remain as the original ones on Xingsings.

4.5 Stars, Completed December 31, 2015

“I need a SparkNotes interpretation of this” was the first thought that popped into my head when I finished page 232. Later rerated to*: 4 Stars

*I'm rerating a lot of the books I read in the past to fit my current taste. Most of the time it's downrating books that I thought I really liked at the time but there are a few exceptions. :) And it'd be too much to try to reflect these changes on my blog, so the ratings will remain as the original ones on Xingsings.

4.5 Stars, Completed December 31, 2015

“I need a SparkNotes interpretation of this” was the first thought that popped into my head when I finished page 232.

Initially, I thought this was going to be a light historical fiction novel set during the early years of World War II (but then again when is a book about WWII ever light?), but I’m quite surprised by how this read more like a fairy tale mixed with some magical realism. And strangely, as I was flipping through each page I had these sudden urges to recognize every rhetorical device and wanted to annotate the entire thing. Anna and the Swallow Man rekindled the literature student in me (in a pleasant way).

In Anna and the Swallow Man, readers meet young, precocious Anna. Her father is a linguistic professor and naturally he knows many languages. In fact, so many that Anna doesn’t know what her father’s native tongue is. She grows up not really knowing how to identify herself. All she has are the many ways to say Anna. Anja. Khannaleh. Anke. Anushka. Anouk. But then one day her father leaves her in the care of an old friend and he never returns. Soon after, with the war wearing down the civilians, the hospitality her father’s friend once has dissipates and she finds herself at a level of despair and fear she’s never anticipated to experience before. All changes when she meets the mysterious Swallow Man. Despite his intimidating looks, Anna grows attached to this tall and peculiar man because he’s just like her and her father, one that is skilled in many tongues. They embark on a seemingly aimless journey and he teaches her his language, Road. A language that uses deceit for the purpose of protection and survival.

In a rapid riot of conflicting languages, she answered all his questions.

In Yiddish she said, “I am better now,” and then in Russian, “I do not think my father will come back.” In German she said, “I am myself,” and then in Polish, “And now I am waiting for you.”

Aside from the deep messages the story presents, the writing is probably my favorite part of this book. The prose was quite unusual but very beautiful. It was not easy to read at times since Savit really enjoys expressing things implicitly through riddles and a lot of uncommon rhetoric, but almost every detail seemed to serve a purpose in the story. Most of the book was told in thoughts and long paragraphs; there was very seldom any dialogue. But the lengthy passages were appropriate for a story like this.

Savit has a compelling voice and great flow in his writing, but the story did drag with the first third of the book, which is the only reason why I’m deducting half a star. Like the premise suggests this band of vagrants walk for several years with no apparent goal (or so readers thought initially; we later gain more insight behind everything). But as more is explained and a certain character is introduced it picks up and becomes rather fast paced.

As for why I think this made me jump back to my high school literature days was the usage of different perspectives between our two consistent characters, Anna and the Swallow Man. Each offers an important view for a certain type of reader. The non literature student/ya loving bookworm in me instantly felt connected to Anna’s naivety, innocence, and her outlook of the consequences of war and her adventure with the Swallow Man. On the other hand, the adult and more experienced reader (and old literature student) in me could see both Anna’s and the messages behind the Swallow Man’s clever wit and insight. These two characters provided two very different perspectives, making this a read fit for readers of all ages.

All the characters were rather simply built but they possessed a depth behind their words and thoughts as the story progressed. It was hard to not grow attached to them.

And deep behind the story there’s also some subtle, hidden messages about humanity’s true nature. How the consequences of war can change someone so. Or motivate them to be who they are. There were lots of thought provoking concepts explored in this.

And why I began this review with my plea for a SparkNotes annotation of this story is because by the end there were still riddles and questions unanswered. The conclusion was cloaked in mysteriousness, and there was much left for the reader’s interpretation.

Even so, there’s no doubt that Savit is a marvelous story teller. Anna and the Swallow Man reminded me a mix between critically acclaimed works such as The Glass Castle , The Boy in the Striped Pajamas , and Night . This was magical realism at its finest. I highly recommend this fabulous debut.

---

Special thanks to Knopf for allowing me to participate in this blog tour and sending me this review copy of Anna and the Swallow Man. In no way did this affect my reading experience or honest review.

---

More reviews at Xingsings

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...more

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Jul 21, 2017 emily rated it liked it · review of another edition

Men who try to understand the world without the help of children are like men who try to bake bread without the help of yeast.

That quote.

This is definitely an important book, worth a read, whether you like it or not.

After finishing this book, I really couldn't quite describe my thoughts on it, hence the three stars.

It was a mixture of confusion and sadness.

But, looking back upon it now, I think it's safe to say that my feelings towards it have stabilized enough to write an adequate review. ...more

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Apr 01, 2016 Elizabeth rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Elizabeth by: Linda Minor

Shelves: smells-like-teen-spirit, losing-my-religion, war-is-hell

This is good. Very good. The story is set during WWII and told through the perspective of a seven year old girl. It is many things but I think it works best as an allegorical tale. There are bits of magical realism spread throughout the story and the third person narrative gives the story a folk tale feeling. It pulls you in and wants you to listen.

This is an exemplary story about the horrors of war.
Recommended.

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Aug 08, 2016 Rikke rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: great-historical, great-peculiar

4.5 stars. I enjoyed the story of little Anna and her formidable swallow man a lot. It's one of those rare gems that you feel very lucky to come across. And it's definitely a gorgeous addition to the WW2 stories too. The beautiful cover comes off befitting to that of a children's book, and it's probably marketed at middle graders/YA. Yet, IMO it's one of those stories that will very likely appeal to readers of all ages; though maybe adults and more mature teens especially.

Did I expect this to 4.5 stars. I enjoyed the story of little Anna and her formidable swallow man a lot. It's one of those rare gems that you feel very lucky to come across. And it's definitely a gorgeous addition to the WW2 stories too. The beautiful cover comes off befitting to that of a children's book, and it's probably marketed at middle graders/YA. Yet, IMO it's one of those stories that will very likely appeal to readers of all ages; though maybe adults and more mature teens especially.

Did I expect this to be a favorite? No. I wasn't at all prepared for it. The story is simply stunning!! It reminds me of The Book Thief (obviously), but also in parts; The Ocean at the End of the Lane, as well as fairytales like those of Hans Christian Andersen. Anna and the Swallow Man isn't just amazing historical fiction, it's vividly imaginative, gorgeous prose. It's captivating storytelling, and best of all not everything is explained and wrapped up with a pretty bow. Obviously there's unpleasantness, but then there is beauty, resilience, and virtue as well.

The audiobook is awesome. Perfectly narrated by Allan Corduner, who quite fittingly, narrated The Book Thief as well.

Anyways, I've already ordered a print copy of Anna and the Swallow Man on Amazon, as I expect to be wanting to revisit the story from time to time. Really, I found it truly fascinating. Hopefully Gavriel Savit will want to write more books in this genre, or any genre for that matter! I'll certainly be interested.

If Anna's young life had been a house, the men and women with whom her father spent his free time in discourse would've been its pillars. They kept the sky up and the earth down, and they smiled and spoke to her as if she were one of their own children. It was never only Professor Lania coming to visit them; it was Professor Lania and Anna. Or as they might have it, Professor Lania and Anja, or Khannaleh, or Anke, or Anushka, or Anouk. She had as many names as there were languages, as there were people in the world. ...more

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Feb 07, 2018 Sierra rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 4-stars

I really liked this book, but I just think that it was missing something.

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Feb 04, 2016 RoseMary Achey rated it liked it · review of another edition

I would give this short novel three stars for the beautiful writing, but only two for the disjointed plot. Anna and the Swallow Man has been compared to The Book Thief however the only similarity I see is the time frame-WWII. Many reviewers have used the terms magical realism and a bit of a fairy tale, but I felt this author failed to provide a sufficient foundation to support these elements.

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Aug 01, 2016 Lucija The Reader rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: received-for-review

Well... I didn't really like this one and I was really excited because it sounded great. I loved the writing, it was beautiful, I liked Anna and The Swallow man as characters, but the story to me was boring and slow. I feel very bad because I am seeing such positive reviews saying how great this book is, but it wasn't really that good for me. I will maybe try to read it again in the future. But for now, this is a 2 star book.

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Feb 21, 2016 Eden rated it liked it · review of another edition

What the eff did I just read?

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Nov 08, 2015 Richie Partington rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Richie’s Picks: ANNA AND THE SWALLOW MAN by Gavriel Savit, Knopf, January 2016, 240p., ISBN: 978-0-553-51334-9

“I see my life come shining
From the west unto the east
Any day now, any day now
I shall be released”
--Bob Dylan (1967)

“Anna and the Swallow Man moved through the trees, silent, side by side, away from the place where they had met Reb Hirschl the Jew, walking just as they always had. Only for Anna it was nothing like it had been before.
There were many things Anna was unsure of. She didn’t ...more

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Mar 22, 2016 Joie de Livre rated it liked it · review of another edition

Even though at parts it was a beautiful book it was hard for me to understand some of the political occasions because Savit did not explain them.He was generally pretty vague and the book was quite metaphorical,lyrical and poetic it sometimes was too much because I couldn't understand what he actually meant.I liked the innocence of the girl though she grew up too quickly and was surprisingly not too scared of the dead bodies in front of her all the time.

I still have a lot of questions after Even though at parts it was a beautiful book it was hard for me to understand some of the political occasions because Savit did not explain them.He was generally pretty vague and the book was quite metaphorical,lyrical and poetic it sometimes was too much because I couldn't understand what he actually meant.I liked the innocence of the girl though she grew up too quickly and was surprisingly not too scared of the dead bodies in front of her all the time.

I still have a lot of questions after reading this book and especially on what age group it's targeted on?It's too mature to be children's but not very young adult either though I wouldn't call it adult but neither for all ages.

I liked some of the metaphors,I felt like the pacing was a bit frozen and hazy but not too slow,I liked the mysterious character of the Swallow Man but I sometimes felt like Savit was trying too hard to make him seem mysterious.The bond between Anna and him usually made me feel kind of uncomfortable for some reason because I didn't feel much the father-daughter love.But when I did it was beautiful!And even though I sound stupid saying this and I am but the whole "daddy" thing reminded me of the trend these days and made me very uncomfortable and cringy and this book was written recently but it's society that puts this stupid ideas into our heads because daughters call their dads "daddy" very usually.Aghh society's ruining our minds again!!Maybe it was because Anna wasn't his actual daughter but whatever.

It was kind of dull and didn't really have a spark or anything too interesting or big happening,it was all just slow traveling with a slow start and a slow finish.I don't exactly know what else to say.I really liked the watercolor illustrations at the start of every chapter though,they were simple,nice and pretty.The vocabulary was rich and the writing was nice,I liked the snowy feel I got from this book but altogether I have no idea what the point of the whole journey was.Sure character development,coming of age,finding yourself,whatever you want to call it but what was the GOAL??No idea. ...more

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Dec 30, 2015 Melissa I rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Everyone. Young and young at heart. Beautiful story have tissues

Recommended to Melissa by: Shelf Awareness contest TYVM

Shelves: past-years-releases, must-reads, forever-favorites, 0-thank-you-a-p-b-gr, favorites, 2016-read

I fell in LOVE with this book.....I highly recommend. A book I hope my daughter will pick up and read.

More to come, for now....

Purchase links: Set to release January 26, 2016 Grab a copy!! <3

Amazon Hardcover (pre-order link):
http://www.amazon.com/Anna-Swallow-Ma...

Hardcover Product info from Amazon:
Age Range: 12 and up
Grade Level: 7 and up
Lexile Measure: 1160 (What's this?)
Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (January 26, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0553513346
...more

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Jun 10, 2014 Sara Grochowski rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2016, random-house, reviewed, orphan, war, historical, january-2016

This novel begins in Poland, the year is 1939, and 7-year old Anna’s father has just been taken by the Germans. She’s alone until taken in by a wanderer she knows only as the Swallow Man. Like her father, the Swallow Man has a gift for languages – a familiar haven in a confusing and increasingly dangerous world. Together they traverse the war-torn landscape, changing their identities as needed, shifting from one language to another, and adapting to each new and uncertain day.

Like the characters ...more

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Jul 16, 2017 Jesten rated it really liked it · review of another edition

It was a well-worded and tactful book. Though I rarely seem to be able to get into this portion of history, the author focused more on the journey than the time, which pulled me in further.

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Jan 14, 2020 Nadia added it · review of another edition

Heartbreaking and captivating. I'll certainly read whatever this talented author delivers next.

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Jan 20, 2016 Cristal rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Originally posted on Three Little Birds Book Blog

I don't know how to review this book. I still don't know if any of it is real. Anna and the Swallow Man is a magical, striking tale about a man and a girl who live on the outskirts of war. Their pilgrimage takes them across thousands of miles, as they meet interesting characters and dodge dangerous ones. The writing is superb; it’s lyrical, enchanting, and oftentimes mesmerizing. This story is a spell of magic, every page filled with great meaning Originally posted on Three Little Birds Book Blog

I don't know how to review this book. I still don't know if any of it is real. Anna and the Swallow Man is a magical, striking tale about a man and a girl who live on the outskirts of war. Their pilgrimage takes them across thousands of miles, as they meet interesting characters and dodge dangerous ones. The writing is superb; it’s lyrical, enchanting, and oftentimes mesmerizing. This story is a spell of magic, every page filled with great meaning and thoughtful insights into humanity. I highlighted almost all of it. Upon closing this book my mind was filled with words, thoughts, and feelings that don't make much sense, but they're unforgettable.

Anna and the Swallow Man is told in a third person narrative and feels almost like a fairytale. The WWll setting is real and harrowing, but the scenes with Anna and her Swallow Man have an almost mystical feel to it. This saga, their odyssey, is mythical and alluring. The writing is wonderful, truly wonderful, but I can’t reconcile the style with the category. This is a children’s book, young adult, but the writing is very sophisticated. I don’t want to insult the precocious young readers of the world, but if I’d read this when I was in the… What grade does this say it’s for? Oh, yeah. Gr 8 up. If I’d read this in the 8th grade, I would have had a hard time understanding its message. But that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be read.

This is a coming-of-age story; it’s about the loss of innocence, which is lost because of age, and because of circumstances. Anna is a bright light in a setting that is ominous and devastating. When she meets the Swallow Man she’s lost the one person who tethers her to the world, and she latches onto him like a duckling imprinting. She learns a lot from him about survival, about life, truths, and reality. I couldn’t look away as they trekked across Europe on a mission to avoid danger. The characters are immensely memorable, particularly the Swallow Man, since he’s pretty ambiguous, his character and past questionable. This isn’t a particularly dark read, considering the backdrop, but there’s an undeniable tension throughout, as the stakes get higher.

I truly enjoyed reading this profoundly beautiful novel. Though, I’m still grappling with the ending. It’s not a clean ending, and I still haven’t decided how to interpret it. I’ve read and reread it, and I think on it even though it’s been weeks since I finished it. Like I said, it’s unforgettable. This novel should get a lot of attention; it’s brilliant and Gavriel Savit is beyond talented. I recommend you read it.

5star

...more

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May 29, 2015 Valerie rated it liked it

Shelves: wwii, 2016-releases, arc-read

I guess after ALL the WWII books I've read, All the Light We Cannot See, The Book Thief, etc., it's going to be hard to live up to them all, and my expectations. And here we are with Anna and the Swallow Man, a short read featuring a young girl, her demon-like companion, traveling through Poland during WWII. Even though I enjoyed reading it, it wasn't the WWII book I wanted.

With her Linguistics professor father (!!!) taken away from her, Anna is kicked out of the store where she usually waits I guess after ALL the WWII books I've read, All the Light We Cannot See, The Book Thief, etc., it's going to be hard to live up to them all, and my expectations. And here we are with Anna and the Swallow Man, a short read featuring a young girl, her demon-like companion, traveling through Poland during WWII. Even though I enjoyed reading it, it wasn't the WWII book I wanted.

With her Linguistics professor father (!!!) taken away from her, Anna is kicked out of the store where she usually waits for her father. From there on, it's pretty hopeless, especially since she's young, and has no way of getting back into her home. Until she ends up sneaking up and following a man who can speak to swallows.

The book is unique in the way that it shows how many languages you can speak in. You can speak a regular natural language, like German, French, or Polish. Or you can speak to birds and animals, but not directly. Or you can speak the way of the road, which is what is emphasized here. Anna learns a lot from the Swallow Man, especially how to survive in a country filled with war.

Unfortunately, I had a couple of problems, mostly due to my preferences when it comes to WWII books, and other books in general. First off, there were tons of paragraphs of just description, rather than dialogue, which is what I wanted more so than the former. But then on the other hand, some scenes would be so abrupt and curt. When someone died, it went something like "And the next day, he was found dead." How am I supposed to react to such a sudden thing?

Due to this, I felt a lack of connection with the story and the characters. I started to crave plot rather than what was happening development wise with the characters. And then, there's the ending. It was definitely one of the most open ended books I have ever read. And as mystical the ending was made to seem, I don't accept it. At all.

In the end, Anna and the Swallow Man wasn't anything emotional, or memorable really. It wasn't the WWII book I was looking for or expecting, and with all the amazing WWII books out there, this one kind of just felt like a copy. (Which makes me sad to say!) NOTE: I don't think this is middle grade! There are some scenes in here that....yeah no it's not.

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Quotes taken from ARC may or may not be in the published edition. ...more

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Jul 19, 2015 Julia Wilson rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I'm not sure who will really read this new YA book. Set during the WWII in and around Poland, it's told from an odd point of view, usually in the third person but on a few occasions talking directly to the reader. The protagonist, Anna, is 7, at the beginning of the story and I think most YA readers find young characters hard to get enthused about.
The point of view seems a little unsteady throughout and, while you could say it is supposed to be 'magic realism', I just found it less that ...more

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About Gavriel Savit

Gavriel Savit

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After graduating from the University of Michigan with a degree in Musical Theatre, Gavriel Savit moved to New York to launch his performing career with shows at places like the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Goodspeed Musicals in Connecticut, City Center’s Encores! series, and the Westside Theatre, Off-Broadway (here’s a full theatrical resume that gives a more complete listing).

Like many actors, ...more

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