When I Lived in Modern Times

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g.donahue, July 6, 2010 (view all comments by g.donahue)
Linda Grant’s When I Lived in Modern Times is an informative, well-written, and engrossing narrative framed in 1946 Palestine. The narrator is a young woman, Evelyn Sert, who begins a journey that takes her to one of the most conflicted regions and time periods in modern history. Her story begins in London as the only Jewish child of a single mother. Evelyn witnesses the bombings of the London Blitz and the subsequent death of her mother. These events lead her to begin life anew in a new region of the world; in a new, burgeoning country. Thus, 20-year old Evelyn commences her exciting, suspenseful, and historically illuminating journey to Palestine in April of 1946. The analogy of her coming-of-age, modern, burgeoning life with that of Israel, is clear; but life for Evelyn who has “the soul of Zion, but the customs of the British”, can be daunting and disillusioning. Conflicts exist everywhere for Evelyn: the conflict of her Britishness with her loyalty to her Jewishness when she discovers the British are the oppressors in Palestine; Evelyn’s conflict with her own identity when she enters Palestine as a Christian tourist and poses as one to work as a hairdresser for British women; Evelyn’s conficts with the socialist ideals of the kibbutz experiment she is introduced to; and, finally, Evelyn’s conflict when she takes on a lover from the infamous Irgun terrorist organization fighting for the State of Israel. The narrative is told with verisimilitude and passion; the themes of modernity and youth underscore it all. This book won the Orange Prize for fiction and deserves it. I am surprised I haven’t heard more about this book written in 2002. An inspiring read for those historical fiction lovers, and a most recommended read for those who love a good story.

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Product Details

ISBN:

9781862074040

Author:

GRANT, LINDA

Publisher:

Libri

Location:

N

Copyright:

2000

Edition Description:

NEW ED

Publication Date:

20001102

Binding:

TRADE PAPER

Pages:

272

Dimensions:

198 x 126 in.