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Engaging story. Zoli is a young Romani woman who grows up in the shadow of WWII and comes of age in post-war eastern Europe. She's a singer and poet; her voice is eventually co-opted by the Czechoslovakian authorities, who use her writings to justify their systematic destruction of the Romani way of life. McCann references a non-fiction work called Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey, which I'm interested in reading.
The book--or rather, the book and its author--did prompt me to write ...more
The book--or rather, the book and its author--did prompt me to write ...more
Nobody lives where they grew up anymore.--Swann to Zoli p. 323
Swann, she thinks, did not learn for himself how to be lost. p. 325
How glorious, thinks Zoli, how joyful, that it is all, still, even on this night, so unfinished. p. 327
random notes:
Wheels and towers. Three-tiered skirts; overcoats. Zoli, Swann, even Enrico all leave their elements and (try to) settle somewhere else. Who you are: Roma, Slovak, Italian, Irish, traveler, communist, poet, poor, rich, surrounded, solitary.
(Zoli glad Con ...more
Swann, she thinks, did not learn for himself how to be lost. p. 325
How glorious, thinks Zoli, how joyful, that it is all, still, even on this night, so unfinished. p. 327
random notes:
Wheels and towers. Three-tiered skirts; overcoats. Zoli, Swann, even Enrico all leave their elements and (try to) settle somewhere else. Who you are: Roma, Slovak, Italian, Irish, traveler, communist, poet, poor, rich, surrounded, solitary.
(Zoli glad Con ...more
Jul 23, 2012
Shannon Wallner
marked it as to-read
Sep 30, 2013
Oana
marked it as to-read
Aug 26, 2017
Alyson Zikmund
marked it as to-read
Jun 14, 2021
Kirsten Barber
marked it as to-read-soon
