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lucyhbmort's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
sad
5.0
a beautiful story based on true events in Mauritius. Read most of it while holidaying on the island, so it was very vivid & moving.
karinlib's review against another edition
4.0
Appanah writes beautifully. Set in Mauritius, this book delves into a little known prison camp for immigrant Jews from Nazi occupied Austria and the Czech Republic whose ship had been turned away from Haifa which was then in Palestine. They were imprisoned for four years. The book, told from the point of few of a young boy is riveting.
donnaadouglas's review against another edition
3.0
In 1940, a ship full of Jewish-European refugees landed in Palestine seeking an escape from the Nazism which had engulfed Europe and caused them to flee their homes. The British foreign office, who controlled Palestine at that time, deported them as 'illegal immigrants' to Mauritius, detaining them in a political prison there. Of the 1,500 Jewish prisoners kept on the island, 127 died.
'The Last Brother' indirectly tells the story of one of these 127. Through the eyes of Raj, an Indian-Mauritian whose father is a jailer in the prison, we learn of David, an orphan boy who befriends Raj, who is aided in his escape by Raj, and his unfortunate death.
Whilst the story itself isn't the best of the genre, the locale and history certainly were interesting to me. I honestly never knew that the British contributed to the interment of Jews during WWII, and this information shocked me greatly.
The book can be likened a bit to 'The Boy with the Striped Pyjamas'. I wouldn't recommend you to go out of your way to buy it, but its a decent read if you were to come across it by chance, and short enough to read in a day.
'The Last Brother' indirectly tells the story of one of these 127. Through the eyes of Raj, an Indian-Mauritian whose father is a jailer in the prison, we learn of David, an orphan boy who befriends Raj, who is aided in his escape by Raj, and his unfortunate death.
Whilst the story itself isn't the best of the genre, the locale and history certainly were interesting to me. I honestly never knew that the British contributed to the interment of Jews during WWII, and this information shocked me greatly.
The book can be likened a bit to 'The Boy with the Striped Pyjamas'. I wouldn't recommend you to go out of your way to buy it, but its a decent read if you were to come across it by chance, and short enough to read in a day.
dc14's review against another edition
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
beth_diiorio's review against another edition
4.0
Two young boys discover a deep bond over their own experiences of great loss. It is 1944 Mauritius, an island nation east of Madagascar. Nine-year-old Raj participates in the daily struggle to survive against torrential rains, poor soil conditions, mudslides, illness, and lack of food while living in a small hut with his heinously abusive and ignorant father, his loving and hard-working mother, and two brothers whom he adores, one older and one younger. Nine-year-old David, a Jewish refugee from Prague, is experiencing his childhood in the same village of Mapou, being detained indefinitely in a prison camp. Their seperate lives come together after a brutal beating lands Raj in the hospital of the camp. Raj's determination to rescue David comes from a more profound motive than pure empathy. More info. can be found at my blog http://www.candlebeambooks.com
adam613's review against another edition
3.0
"Despite all we had lived through we were still innocent and naive enough - is that not the magic and drama of childhood? - to laugh at nothing at all."
susan_e's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
lflintsoms's review against another edition
4.0
Crystalline, poetic writing, and a beautiful translation.
justjoel's review
4.0
Good, short translated (from French) work that was a tad reminiscent of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, not so much in the details as in the friendship between two boys, one of whom is Jewish, on the island of Mauritius.
The protagonist has lost his two other brothers and is his parents' only surviving child. His father is an alcoholic prison guard, who takes out his frustrations on his family.
As with most WW2 novels, there are not a lot of happy, joyous scenes here. But there are some, and those are viewed mostly through the pre-adolescent eyes of the protagonist, who is too young to fully understand what is going on in the world.
I did like that this was based on the little-known history of how Jewish immigrants came to Mauritius, and I enjoyed learning about this, even as a fictionalized version, as it was something I'd never heard of before.
4 out of 5 stars.
The protagonist has lost his two other brothers and is his parents' only surviving child. His father is an alcoholic prison guard, who takes out his frustrations on his family.
As with most WW2 novels, there are not a lot of happy, joyous scenes here. But there are some, and those are viewed mostly through the pre-adolescent eyes of the protagonist, who is too young to fully understand what is going on in the world.
I did like that this was based on the little-known history of how Jewish immigrants came to Mauritius, and I enjoyed learning about this, even as a fictionalized version, as it was something I'd never heard of before.
4 out of 5 stars.