Good Reads / Community Library Notes
Akin
Emma Donoghue
Review by Priscilla Comen
Akin
Emma Donoghue
Review by Priscilla Comen
Akin, by Emma Donoghue is the story of eighty-year-old Noah Selvaggio who is on his way to Nice, France. He is asked by social worker Rosa Figueroa to visit his dead nephew’s wife in prison. They are to discuss the possibility of Noah’s caring for Amber’s eleven-year-old child, Michael, for an undetermined amount of time. There are no other blood relatives around. Joan, Noah’s beloved dead wife, is always present in his head with good advice for him. She warns him about this situation.
He makes reservations for Amber's child, Master Michael Young. In the days before they leave, Noah tries to get along with Michael, When Joan was alive, she won many awards and was successful, while Noah just plodded along. But they were happy together, even without children. Noah’s father, Mark, had an artificial hand, and Noah has kept it as a souvenir of the first world war. Noah’s nephew, Victor, died of an overdose, but his wife Amber said he wouldn’t have used that stuff. Author Donoghue writes in a delightful way, even about the seriousness of the background story.
Noah’s grandfather, Personne, was a famous photographer in France, and at the airport, Noah buys a book about his life. Margot, Noah’s mother, remained in France in Nice after the war. Her husband and Noah had gone to the U.S. Noah wonders why they left him on his own for two years. Noah’s sister, Fernande, had been born shortly after his mom and dad reunited in New York. Noah attempts to understand his mother’s photographs. He thinks one is of him at age three or four, but Michael says no, there is no resemblance. Michael suggests that Noah had a brother.
They find a plaque that says their hotel, Hotel Excelsior, had been a Nazi headquarters where Jews had been held before being sent to their deaths at Dachau concentration camp. Was Noah’s mother a Nazi informer? Noah wonders. Why had she saved a photo of the hotel among other questions. On his tablet he learns that Eichman’s top aide had watched from the balcony of the Excelsior as the Jews were rounded up into vans below.
Noah and Michael visit the war museum and see uniforms and guns. Mr. Benoit works there and tells Noah one of his photos is most likely of the French couple who rescued hundreds of French Jewish children. Benoit suggests that perhaps Noah’s mother knew them. The two founders of the rescue team, the Marcel Network, lived through the war and later married. Later, M. Benoit calls Noah with more information. The photo of a woman with "MZ" on the back, and it might be Margot Isabelle, a forger of passports for Jews. Michael is happy to hear this. They go to a circus, see lions elephants, clowns. Author Donoghue gives the reader the setting and the atmosphere of Carnival in Nice.
Michael thinks Noah’s mother photographed herself. She perhaps photographed the other people from the back so they wouldn’t be recognized. Noah is suddenly proud of her. Is that why she sent Noah away? He wonders why Victor was free when his wife Amber was in jail for five years. Had he been framed by police because he had too much information? Noah and Michael visit Noah’s grandparents’ graves, Isabelle and Pere Sonne. They take a self portrait there.
They visit an old man in a nursing home to discover the truth. Will they find out what really happened to Noah’s mother? Was she a good person or not?
This is an interesting bridge between Amber, Michael’s mother and Noah’s mother who saved the photos, and Noah’s wife Joan, who he hears in his mind. It’s mostly a story of an old man and his young relative who runs him around, and a history of valor in WWII France. Will Noah be Michael’s guardian for the future? Find out in your Mendocino Community Library.
He makes reservations for Amber's child, Master Michael Young. In the days before they leave, Noah tries to get along with Michael, When Joan was alive, she won many awards and was successful, while Noah just plodded along. But they were happy together, even without children. Noah’s father, Mark, had an artificial hand, and Noah has kept it as a souvenir of the first world war. Noah’s nephew, Victor, died of an overdose, but his wife Amber said he wouldn’t have used that stuff. Author Donoghue writes in a delightful way, even about the seriousness of the background story.
Noah’s grandfather, Personne, was a famous photographer in France, and at the airport, Noah buys a book about his life. Margot, Noah’s mother, remained in France in Nice after the war. Her husband and Noah had gone to the U.S. Noah wonders why they left him on his own for two years. Noah’s sister, Fernande, had been born shortly after his mom and dad reunited in New York. Noah attempts to understand his mother’s photographs. He thinks one is of him at age three or four, but Michael says no, there is no resemblance. Michael suggests that Noah had a brother.
They find a plaque that says their hotel, Hotel Excelsior, had been a Nazi headquarters where Jews had been held before being sent to their deaths at Dachau concentration camp. Was Noah’s mother a Nazi informer? Noah wonders. Why had she saved a photo of the hotel among other questions. On his tablet he learns that Eichman’s top aide had watched from the balcony of the Excelsior as the Jews were rounded up into vans below.
Noah and Michael visit the war museum and see uniforms and guns. Mr. Benoit works there and tells Noah one of his photos is most likely of the French couple who rescued hundreds of French Jewish children. Benoit suggests that perhaps Noah’s mother knew them. The two founders of the rescue team, the Marcel Network, lived through the war and later married. Later, M. Benoit calls Noah with more information. The photo of a woman with "MZ" on the back, and it might be Margot Isabelle, a forger of passports for Jews. Michael is happy to hear this. They go to a circus, see lions elephants, clowns. Author Donoghue gives the reader the setting and the atmosphere of Carnival in Nice.
Michael thinks Noah’s mother photographed herself. She perhaps photographed the other people from the back so they wouldn’t be recognized. Noah is suddenly proud of her. Is that why she sent Noah away? He wonders why Victor was free when his wife Amber was in jail for five years. Had he been framed by police because he had too much information? Noah and Michael visit Noah’s grandparents’ graves, Isabelle and Pere Sonne. They take a self portrait there.
They visit an old man in a nursing home to discover the truth. Will they find out what really happened to Noah’s mother? Was she a good person or not?
This is an interesting bridge between Amber, Michael’s mother and Noah’s mother who saved the photos, and Noah’s wife Joan, who he hears in his mind. It’s mostly a story of an old man and his young relative who runs him around, and a history of valor in WWII France. Will Noah be Michael’s guardian for the future? Find out in your Mendocino Community Library.