Synopsis
A memoir of a childhood spent in the shadow of World War II and the Holocaust.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1997-01-01 |
| Size | | Length: | 384 pages | | Height: | 8.5 in | | Width: | 6.0 in | | Thickness: | 1.2 in | | Weight: | 21.6 oz |
Publisher's Note
There are few female figures in literature as riveting as the precocious nine-year-old Magda Denes who narrates this story. Her stubborn self-command and irrepressible awareness of the absurd make her, in her mother's eyes, "impossibly sarcastic, bigmouthed, insolent, and far too smart" for her own good. When her family goes into hiding from the fascist Arrow-Cross, she is torn from the "castle" of intimacies shared with her adored and adoring older brother and plunged into a world of incomprehensible deprivation, separation, and loss. Her rage, and her ability to feel devastating sorrow and still insist on life, will reach every reader at the core.
Recounting an odyssey through the wreckage and homelessness of postwar Europe, "Castles Burning" embodies for us a powerful personality, a stunning gift for prose and storytelling, a remarkable sense of humor, and true emotional wisdom.
There are few figures in literature as riveting as the precocious nine-year-old Magda Denes who narrates this story. Her stubborn self-command and irrepressible awareness of the absurd make her in her mother's eyes "impossibly sarcastic, bigmouthed, insolent, and far too smart" for her own good. When her family goes into hiding from the fascist Arrow-Cross, she is torn from the "castle" of intimacies shared with her adored and adoring older brother and plunged into a world of incomprehensible deprivation, separation, and loss. Her rage, and her ability to feel devastating sorrow and still to insist on life, will reach every reader at the core. Recounting an odyssey through the wreckage and homelessness of postwar Europe, Castles Burning embodies a powerful personality, a stunning gift for prose and storytelling, a remarkable sense of humor, and true emotional wisdom and makes a magnificent contribution to the literature of childhood and war.
Industry Reviews
"A psychoanalyst who died suddenly just before publication of her memoir, Magda Denes has written a vivid chronicle of a terrible time, and a gripping, if horrific, adventure story. She also succeeds in creating a child protagonist...whose will to see the world whole in impossibly crushing circumstances is at least as breathtaking as the obstacles she encounters....With the child Magda as its central achievement, 'Castles Burning' is the best sort of memoir..."
New York Times Book Review - Patricia Hampl (01/26/1997)
"...Magda Denes' memoir...grab[s] us and make[s] us hear, smell, see the horrors anew--from the point of view of a child caught up in the madness....[B]y personalizing this story so intensely, and by telling it so touchingly from the point of view of a small child, 'Castles Burning' achieves a universality and emotional immediacy that is stunning in its power."
San Francisco Chronicle Book Review - Bernard Weiner (03/09/1997)
"A formidable 12-year-old, forsooth. Precocious she certainly is, uncompromising, caustic. But indomitable too, and passionate, humane and independent. I raise my glass to the spirit of Magda Denes."
Spectator - Michael Hulse (04/19/1997)
"The wise, heartbreaking, and very human account of a childhood interrupted....Wry and tragic, her story brings the horrifying realities of wartime to vivid life."
Kozol
"As important as 'Schindler's List', as emotionally complex as 'Au Revoir Les Enfants', 'Castles Burning' takes us into previously uncharted psychological territory....This is the book that I myself have hungered for."
Publisher's catalogue - Louise Desalvo Ph.D.
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