John Boyne is an accomplished Irish author with books published in as many as 50 languages and at least one made into a 2008 movie (per Wikipedia). This 2022 novel, All the Broken Places has endless praise from authors and critics alike. It takes an interesting angle at the issue of the Holocaust and its aftermath, especially on individuals. The main character is a 91 year old woman who was 12 when her father was appointed to run one of the extermination camps. He was executed after the war but not before Gretel and her mother escaped to Paris where they adopted a faux identity to avoid association with the things her father did. That was unsuccessful in that the French uncovered their true identity and shaved their heads. It took me 2 readings to conclude the description of being discovered and ‘punished’ for their complicity was well written. Initially it felt somewhat shortchanged. But on second reading, it would have been too much to carry on the incident for additional pages, at least in my view.
They moved on to another town in France and after her mother’s death, we follow Gretel in 2 modes, first as the 91 year old living in a London flat and meeting a family whose influential husband is also an abuser of both his wife and his son. Second, we follow Gretel to Australia and through other places in her younger self. But enough about plot since one should read it for one’s self.
The chapters alternate between the elder and younger Gretel. Throughout the book the issue of guilt hangs over Gretel’s head despite her internal attempts to claim she knew nothing of what went on in the camp, but obviously she is only fooling herself.
To be honest, the first person narrative in the opening chapters I found to be somewhat staid and off-putting. Then I realized that as an elderly woman living decades in London, she would have a more proper British tone. Still, I wasn’t hooked until probably 75-80 pages in when the main part of the story began in earnest and the narration of the 91 year old’s chapters felt more organic.
Built off his best selling book about the Holocaust The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, interviews with Boyne indicate he was interested in the perspective of someone close to the Holocaust and with ties to those who executed on its ‘final solution’ strategy, but who didn’t have direct control or influence over it and how they would be viewed (spoiler alert: Gretel is mostly viewed by others as being just as guilty as her father) and, especially, how they would deal with it. At the end of the day, Gretel is seemingly a good person, but takes an unlikely action which I found to be only maybe believable.
The last 100 pages I read in one sitting. I found myself compelled to do so given the plot and Gretel’s final dealing with the conflict of her life and the witness she bore to the abusive relationship she witnessed in the neighbor’s flat. Perhaps the action she takes at the end is somewhat redeeming, perhaps not. Only the reader can decide.
I do recommend this book for its unique approach to the Holocaust’s lasting impact on individuals from both sides of this hideous part of human history. But I may not be as effusive as Amy Bloom’s comment on the cover that the “…book moves like a freight train…” However I do support her as she continues to point out the book is “layered” and, at least for the last half of the book, “compelling.” All this is in MHO only…
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