Anna and the Swallow Man in MCLS Reading Challenge

Feb 02, 2016 Claire Talbot rated it did not like it

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. T 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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