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A review by justjoel
The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah
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.