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jasonfurman's review
4.0
A Kindle Single about Varian Fry who went into occupied France on behalf of the State Department to rescue Jewish artists and intellectuals under threat from the Nazis, including Marc Chagall and Hannah Arendt. The book explores his actions, how they were forgotten, and why the people he rescued were particularly keen to forget them. Overall well written, interesting, and an unconventional, unexpected story.
lauren_endnotes's review
4.0
A longform essay on Varian Fry, an American who rescued (along with his organization) many artists from Nazi Germany. Horn crafts a thoughtful piece on altruism, and motivations behind such acts, and traces Fry's own unfortunate biography.
martha_w's review
4.0
Really interesting short non-fiction piece on Varian Fry, an American who worked with the Emergency Rescue Committee in Vichy France. He is a complex person and is largely forgotten today. Definitely worth reading.
vio's review
4.0
I like Dara Horn. While reading this short book, I often had the feeling that she was telling *me* a story, the story of Varian Fry, the almost unknown man who made possible that an important number of European intellectuals were saved from the Nazi danger. These people, mostly Jewish, are very well known, while their rescuer is not.
The Rescuer is not a novel, it is a sort of documentary - Dara Horn researches facts and puts them together and also finds some lovely anecdotes, my very favorite beeing about Alma Mahler.
While I was reading this short book I somehow got to the Städel Museum in Frankfurt/Main and, how interesting, there were a lot of works by a lot of artists saved by Varian Fry. It was that kind of feeling of ”it's a small world after all”. ;)
The Rescuer is not a novel, it is a sort of documentary - Dara Horn researches facts and puts them together and also finds some lovely anecdotes, my very favorite beeing about Alma Mahler.
While I was reading this short book I somehow got to the Städel Museum in Frankfurt/Main and, how interesting, there were a lot of works by a lot of artists saved by Varian Fry. It was that kind of feeling of ”it's a small world after all”. ;)
kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review
5.0
Five stars simply for this line - "I have met people with an inability to think. They spend time thinking about thier hair".
Which is really true.
Horn examines Varian Fry (who I actually knew about, apparently this is a rarity). She offers far more detail than most works that gloss over this episode. Furthermore, Horn examines why he wasn't fully remembered as he should've been. Very readable.
Which is really true.
Horn examines Varian Fry (who I actually knew about, apparently this is a rarity). She offers far more detail than most works that gloss over this episode. Furthermore, Horn examines why he wasn't fully remembered as he should've been. Very readable.
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