Having spent thirty years making beautiful pots which are then sold, collected, and handed on he has a particular sense of the secret lives of objects. Edmund was apprenticed as a potter, studied in japan, and read english literature at cambridge university. Subscribe to the oprahs book club newsletter sign up for the oprahs book club newsletter get more stories like this delivered to your inbox get updates on your favorite. After our lunch hed open the sliding doors of the long vitrine that took up most of one wall of the sitting room and would get out the netsuke one by one. He would pass me one and wed look at it together, and then id put it. A familys century of art and loss is the story of the ephrussis, a great jewish family that lived in austria but was displaced with the advent of the nazis. Ive had this book on my toread list for over a year, and finally read it for gibsons book club. When eating a good meal, no matter how delicious, innovative and satisfying the dish, there comes a point of fullness where we have to stop consumption or spoil. When he inherited a collection of 264 tiny japanese wood. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. This is a masterful work of art, a spontaneous wordsmith putting history down in lyrical form. The hare with amber eyes, and it has been with me ever since. With languages, you can move from one social situation to another. There are few, though, whose raw material has been crafted into quite such an engrossing and exquisitely written book as the hare with amber eyes.
This is a finely written and detailed chronology, superbly evocative of time and place, with beautifully and lovingly drawn portraits of family members both black and white sheep that. Michael dirda, the washington post book world this is a book sebald would have loved. Aug 31, 2010 there are few, though, whose raw material has been crafted into quite such an engrossing and exquisitely written book as the hare with amber eyes. Of course, the hare with amber eyes was only one of the netsuke. Ive been a fan of the hare with amber eyes for years. Sweeping yet intimate, it is a highly original meditation on art, history, and family, as elegant and precise as the netsuke themselves. When eating a good meal, no matter how delicious, innovative and satisfying the dish, there comes a point of fullness where we have to stop consumption or spoil the pleasure. The hare with amber eyes a closer look at the netsuke youtube. Le west end one sunny april day i set out to find charles. The hare with amber eyes in vienna american girls art club. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. A rich tale of the pleasure and pains of what it is to be human bettany hughes. This book is my journey to the places in which this collection lived. Aug 31, 2010 the hare with amber eyes belongs on the same shelf with vladimir nabokovs speak, memory.
The hare with amber eyes a familys century of art and loss. The hare with the amber eyes, is a personal story but one that is teemed with history. The hare with amber eyes a closer look at the netsuke. A site dedicated to book lovers providing a forum to discover and share commentary about the books and authors they enjoy. A tiger, all shoulder and feet, turning round to snarl. Writer of the hare with amber eyes tells why a new austrian law is behind the first gathering at his ancestral jewish home since 1938. Jan 25, 2011 its the most beautiful book ive read this year tracy chevalier, the daily telegraph published january 2011 by vintage books uk category. Would you have entitled the book the hare with amber eyes, or something completely different. The hare with amber eyes npr coverage of the hare with amber eyes. Their survival is wondrous, but i dont think their presence turns the hare with amber eyes from memoir into book of ideas, as. The hare in the title is a netsuke, a small japanese carving that attached to the end of a cord on a small pouch that men hung on their kimono sashes to serve as a sort of external pocket. Writer of the hare with amber eyes tells why a new austrian law is behind the first gathering at his ancestral jewish home since 1938 published.
The hare with amber eyes was fabulous but could not be read in a sitting. I wrote about this book and its paris connections back in 2011 art, books, paris. Click and collect from your local waterstones or get free uk delivery on orders over. Jul 03, 2015 ive been a fan of the hare with amber eyes for years. The hare with amber eyes in vienna american girls art. The hare with amber eyes the books the book club abc tv. A rich tale of the pleasure and pains of what it is to be human bettany hughes, daily telegraph, books of the year a complex and beautiful book diana athill. Who was your favourite character in the book and why. Its the most beautiful book ive read this year tracy chevalier, the daily telegraph published january 2011 by vintage books uk category. The hare with amber eyes belongs on the same shelf with vladimir nabokovs speak, memory. The hare with amber eyes is biography and is a wonderful story of 264 japanese wood and ivory carvings and the unlocking of a story that spans from paris to vienna and to japan as the journey of the netsuke unfolds and that of the prominent and wealthy jewish ephrussi family. Content includes books from bestselling, midlist and debut authors.
Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the hare with amber eyes. The life of an opposition caricaturist and romantic book illustrator in paris under the july monarchy by clive f. Jun 29, 2010 264 wood and ivory carvings, none of them larger than a matchbox. Much of the hare with amber eyes is about trying to discover who people are by the objects they own and the objects they value. The familys fabulous wealth derived from the graintrading business, operating between paris and vienna. The hare with amber eyes, a journey through the history of a family in objects, is his most personal book. If you had to make a bet, a good one would be that a book about netsuke. Charles, who assembled the collection, was a dandyish art collector who settled in paris at the age of 21, wrote art criticism and a book on durer and patronized the early impressionists.
On recent travels to austria, i remembered there was a vienna connection to this book and i was determined to track it down. Jan 30, 2011 the hare with amber eyes a familys century of art and loss. This study guide consists of approximately 34 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your. Sep 17, 20 the hare with amber eyes was fabulous but could not be read in a sitting. A wellknown british potter, waal inherited a collection of 264 japanese netsukessmall elaborate carvings made of ivory or wood and used as toggles on the cords holding containers inros to the sash of a mans traditional japanese kimono. Edmund shares his story about discovering the history of his family while in search of the history of a japanese netsuke. Running parallel with the fate of these tiny sculptures the hare with amber eyes is one of them is the fate of the family who possessed them, and still does. One of the great triumphs of the hare with amber eyes.
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