The Jade Cat - Softcover

Brogger, Suzanne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1860467237 ISBN 13: 9781860467233

Publisher: Harvill Press, 2004

Synopsis

With its sympathetic cast of grotesques, this gripping saga of Danish highlife and lowlife, through three generations of a tormented family, is as diverse and uncompromising as William Styron’s Sophie’s Choice and Isabel Allende’s House of Spirits.

About this title

About the Author:

Suzanne Brogger was born in Copenhagen in 1944 and published her first book, Deliver Us from Love, in 1973. Over a number of works that draw largely on her own experience of life she has established herself as one of Denmark's most controversial and best-loved writers.

From Publishers Weekly:

Brøgger's lively and insightful novel chronicles the fates of the Jewish Løvin family as they endure the tragicomic events of the 20th century and adhere to patriarch Max's injunction: Thou shalt be a personality. Forging an identity, however, becomes complicated when the family is torn apart by war and forced to abandon its religious identity and nationality. Although the novel expands its breadth by including anecdotes about even the most minor players, the narrative's emphasis is on three generations of women—strong-willed Katze; her daughter, Li, who comes of age during WWII; and Li's eldest daughter Zeste. Hypocrisy, particularly with regard to gender-appropriate sexual conduct, is a major issue for all three, though each fares badly in the battle of the sexes. Attitudes toward Jewish identity—animosity, denial, ambivalence—also provide a common link among the stories. Brøgger offers readers a powerful, personal account of rapidly changing times through the lens of a family whose comedies, tragedies and absurdities are magnified by historical context and whose contemporary descendants provide a glimpse of a more hopeful future. (Sept.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Harvill Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1860467237
• ISBN 13: 9781860467233
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416