In Our Strange Gardens

Rating:
Summary: A little gem
Review: As a child the main character of this novel is very embarrassed when in his free time his father, who is a respectable teacher, dresses up as a clown and tries to make people laugh. Then after a movie his uncle tells him what happened in the past; this makes it possible for him to understand and respect his father.

In only very few pages Michel Quint beautifully handles big themes like the shame children feel for their parents' behaviour, love and understanding when they learn what is the cause of their actions, but also friendship, treason and selflessness. From the beginning the reader feels that something awful must have happened in the past and in the course of the book the tension mounts. A beautiful little gem of a book.

Rating:
Summary: Could Be A Tough Sell
Review: How do you decide if you have received enough enjoyment, gained knowledge, or accumulated whatever is important to you from a given book? "In Our Strange Gardens", may bring the issue to mind whether it has arisen before or not. Michel Quint offers a very poignant tale in a very small book with even fewer pages. Unless you read French you must cut the book in half, for the book shares the story twice with the reader, once if you do not read French. What appears on a page, with generous white space, can be covered with a 3x5 card.

The story works not because it is unique and not due to the unusual number of trap doors that open with regularity as the story closes. It works because the author really does give the reader some very real dilemmas to ponder, and a final twist that will decide whether there was one surprise too many.

The author places his characters in a situation that any definition of what would be described, as normal behavior is absent. War can be the setting for countless examples not only of horror and atrocity, but also of humanity, courage, and selfless sacrifice. Left alone, the inclusion of every revelation asks a great deal of the reader. If one decision is taken away the entire story still is a description of remarkable behavior. It also would be less of a task to quantify. The actions by 2 people at the close could then be viewed as pragmatic if painful on several levels, or heroic, or patriotic. But this requires that one event not take place. When viewed in its entirety the one decision was too much for me to suspend disbelief. I will admit that such a story could be true, but when put on paper it becomes a bit of a leap.

I very much liked the book. I came to my opinion only after thinking about the story, and that is what a good piece of writing should do. That I did not like every bit does not diminish the worthwhile read it was. For me if there were one less twist, the story would have been one of the better very short stories I have read. Even with the element I did not care for, the book is worth the time, and just worth its price.

Rating:
Summary: A Delightful Surprise
Review: I wasn't sure what to expect when reading "In Our Strange Gardens". It has the depth of a large work of fiction, but is intricately told in a short amount of pages. Michel Quint crafts his story through flashback, demonstrating the powerful role memory plays in shaping our lives.

"In Our Strange Gardens" is the recollection of the author - the memory of his family and the secrets that shape the lives of his father and his uncle. During World War II, his father and uncle were held prisoners and forced to make terrifying decisions that would affect their lives as well as the lives of others. Quint's characters are vividly drawn, brief and poignant character studies that examine the true nature of all human beings.

The story surprisingly comes full circle, as the author learns the truth behind his father's life, and that of his uncle's. Once I was finished reading, I was tempted to start over again to see where this circle had all begun. It is a tender and sweet memorial to the ties that bind us to family and the decisions that shape our lives.

Rating:
Summary: A TOUCHING FABLE-LIKE STORY
Review: Michel Quint's novella is a jewel -- a fable produced by our age about events that transpired during WWII, which has lessons for us that are timeless. Told by a family friend to a young boy, the story touches the soul of the boy -- and the reader -- is such a way as to allow him to finally come to love and respect his father, a man he has viewed as ridiculous. His father works as a teacher -- but it is not this that troubles the young man. What bothers and embarasses him the most is his father's seeming obsession with, from time to time, portraying a clown. He does this at no charge for parties or gatherings -- children or adults. The boy sees it as a useless activity -- and one for which he sees little talent in his father, which makes matters even worse for him.

The story told to him by his father's friend relates events that happened many years before, during WWII, when the Germans occupied France. His father, his friend, and others, were active in the French Resistance -- not necessarily out of heroism so much as just to have something to do. At least, at first.

His father and his friend conspire to blow up a generator at a railroad facility. When the Germans look afterwards for someone to blame, to punish, for the deed, they find the boy's father and his friend hiding in a cellar -- they arrest them and throw them into a freshly-dug pit along with two other villagers. The men are told by the Germans that if one of them does not confess to the sabotage, one of them will be picked by their captors and executed.

What makes this story unique from other tales of WWII -- and, indeed, of many wars -- is their encounter with one of their captors, a German soldier assigned to guard them. As his actions -- at first puzzling to them -- reveal more and more of his mind and his personality to them, they see a way out of their predicament. What transpires then I won't reveal -- the book is very short (around 80 pages, a quick read), and the reader deserves to experience it firsthand. Suffice to say that the lesson learned by the men in the pit -- and, ultimately, by the boy, upon hearing the story years later -- can teach all of us something about those we see as our 'enemies'. A particularly valuable lesson these days -- or at any time.

The book is charmingly and intelligently composed and written -- a wonderful addition to my library. I'm happy to have discovered it.

Rating:
Summary: Phenomenal!
Review: Some stories are so well written that they are one of those books that make you lie awake at night pondering. These are the books you tell your friends that they have to read. "In Our Strange Gardens" is one of those books. Having family members who survived the Nazi atrocities of World War II, this book really hit home for me.

Although only 80 pages long (unless you read the French translation too), the story is very thorough. A story does not have to be long to be good! The main character, Michel tells the story as told to him by his father's cousin, Gaston. Michel's father, Gaston, and two other men are blamed in an act of sabotage against the Nazis. From a historical perspective, people do not usually survive once they are accused by the Nazis. The story of survival gives Michael's father and Gaston a new perspective on life. It also changed the foolish light Michel saw his father in.

Few books attain the status of international bestseller. There is a reason this one did. It is that good.

Rating:
Summary: Odd Man Out
Review: The captivating cover and cryptic title of this little book called to me from the shelf. The story sounded promising, bolstered by its reviews and the claim to international bestsellerdom. Only upon closer perusal did I discover the book was a bilingual edition (the publishers make little effort to communicate this to potential buyers...shame on them). In addition, the 80 pages that comprise the story are the equivalent to 40-50 pages in an average novel. Bottom line: Over 12 bucks for a short story? This better be good, right?

It is good. In the 45 minutes it took to read, I discovered charming and thoughtful life lessons about forgiveness and acceptance. "In Our Strange Gardens" makes every attempt to fill its short space with character and setting and pace. Without retelling the plot--which would be akin to telling the story, minus one or two surprises--let me say simply that Quint examines war and the peoples' lives who survive it through the eyes of a child.

What the boook fails to do is justify its price and attention. I know I'm the odd man out here, based on other reviewers' raves, but I didn't find this tale to be rapturous. In fact, if you enjoy a good short story, try Frederick Forsyth's "No Comebacks" and "The Veteran," Dick Francis' "Field of Thirteen," or Jeffrey Archer's "To Cut a Long Story Short" and "Twelve Red Herrings." Those three veteran writers (popular fictionalists, yes--but great storytellers!) produce some gems, surprising, quirky, and heartwarming. For more literary short stories, read Ursula Hegi's "Hotel of the Saints," or even Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Collected Short Stories." The ability to communicate huge ideas in short spaces is nothing new, and Quint's tale, though admirably composed, failed to live up to my expectations.

Rating:
Summary: The best thing about the story is the length.
Review: The description on the flap of the book is much more interesting than the actual story. This novella about two men who, during the second World War, were imprisoned for their participation in an attack on a German controlled power installation in France. The son of one of the captured men tells the story. The father is a schoolteacher who moonlights as a clown. His son is embarrassed by the clown persona. As the story unfolds, the son learns of the importance of the clown in his father's life and eventually wear's the mask himself albeit for different reasons. There is nothing special or highly creative about this text. The book contains the French version and the English translation of the story. As with any story translated from its original language, its difficult to tell if some of the meaning was lost in the translation. Perhaps that is the case with "In Our Strange Gardens". The best thing about this story is the length. Can't recommend this one.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent short story
Review: The question that most people ask about this spare 80 page book is "Was it worth it?" Maybe I'm at a different point in my life than some people, but the enjoyable hour and a half that I spent reading this book was worth the price. Heck, I'd pay much more for a sporting event or a movie, why should I balk at the price here ... I don't. Besides, I'll pass it on to others to read.

To the story: The narrator hears the story of his embarassing father and uncle during the war. He learns that his father is much more than he ever imagined, and it influences his life decisions and his perceptions of people he criticized.

I think that most people will perhaps learn a little about criticizing others from reading this. It is hard to understand what other people have been through as we are so focused on our own lives, but it pays to remember that others may have reasons for their actions that we can't imagine. If it helps me to remember this pointed lesson, how can anyone say that this book was not well worth the price.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent short story
Review: The question that most people ask about this spare 80 page book is "Was it worth it?" Maybe I'm at a different point in my life than some people, but the enjoyable hour and a half that I spent reading this book was worth the price. Heck, I'd pay much more for a sporting event or a movie, why should I balk at the price here ... I don't. Besides, I'll pass it on to others to read.

To the story: The narrator hears the story of his embarassing father and uncle during the war. He learns that his father is much more than he ever imagined, and it influences his life decisions and his perceptions of people he criticized.

I think that most people will perhaps learn a little about criticizing others from reading this. It is hard to understand what other people have been through as we are so focused on our own lives, but it pays to remember that others may have reasons for their actions that we can't imagine. If it helps me to remember this pointed lesson, how can anyone say that this book was not well worth the price.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Surprise!!!
Review: Though short, "In Our Strange Gardens" is a gripping story. The power of this book is found in the memory of a father, uncle, and aunt, and in the history from which it was penned.
The story starts at the end with the close of the trial of Maurice Papon then carries the reader through childhood embarrassment, to the Vichy Government in France during World War II, and to the efforts of two young French resistance fighters who are captured by the Nazis and held with two innocent French citizens.
The author recalls the source of his childhood embarrassment of his father who is a respected school teacher by day and a talentless clown by night. The clown persona is the cause of the author's embarrassment.
It's in the evening after the family attends a film that the author, still a young person, learns of the heroic actions of his father, uncle, and aunt. The clown, the shame of his youth, then becomes a source of pride.
The depth of the book is found with the knowledge of the events within. If the reader is unfamiliar with the history of the period then look it up as you go--it is worthwhile and adds tremendously to the story.
The story is only half of the book as there are an English and a French translation within.
It was a fantastic surprise!!!