Full Circle: A Homecoming to Free Poland

A Polish man returns to Poland to rebuild an old house and recounts his struggle to restore the house while his nation seeks to rebuild itself through democracy and justice. 17,500 first printing.

Peter Mayle meets Foreign Affairs in this double-edged tale of reconstruction in post-Communist Poland. Like many other Poles, young Sikorski (Dust of the Saints: A Journey Through War-Torn Afghanistan, 1990) found himself abroad (in England) when martial law was declared in Poland in 1981. But his life in exile, unlike most, was unusually charmed. By the time he returned to Poland in his late 20s, he was an Oxford-educated author and journalist with experience in Africa and Afghanistan. Active in the Solidarity-led government, he also took on the considerable task of reclaiming and restoring his family's old manor house, known as a dworek. ``A dworek is not just a nice house to live in, but a calling,'' writes Sikorski with characteristic intensity and passion. Not only was there the challenge and pleasure of restoring the ruined shell of a once-beautiful building, but there was the history of the environs (and, by extension, of Poland itself) to explore through the process. Sikorski quite clearly means for the restoration to serve as a metaphor for post-Communist Poland's active and often confusing search for a new identity and purpose. He interweaves his descriptions of the reconstruction of the house with his family's history and the turbulent history of modern Poland. Sikorski brings an appealingly dry wit to his observations about post-Communist politics but skimps on the more tangible aspects of reconstructing the dworek (i.e., finances). The house is located in Pomerania, a region that has shifted between German and Polish control, and relations between Poles and Germans loom large in these stories. But Sikorski's presentation of the German-Polish problem manages to diminish or neglect the Jewish aspect of Poland's past. His otherwise moving account of Polish suffering under the Nazis would have been better balanced if placed within the larger picture of the Holocaust. Nonetheless, Full Circle is an engagingly written and enlightening look at contemporary Poland and its zeitgeist. (10 b&w photos, maps, not seen) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Sikorski, a journalist who was deputy defense minister in the first Solidarity government, weaves the dramatic events of Poland's recent history into his own return from exile. At his book's center is a project to restore his family's manor house?"my contribution to rebuilding Poland, and a last battle against the Communists." Sikorski relives his childhood and daily life in Communist Poland and also writes passionately about his parents' lives during World War II. The most intriguing portions of his book deal with the early days of Solidarity and the risks involved for anyone who participated (the author had to flee to England for several years). He also delves into the history of the town of Bydgoszcz, where his house is located. Sikorski connects the dramatic political and cultural changes of postcommunism to the daily lives of average people and proclaims that a "civilizational revolution" has occurred. Valuable for its depiction of communism's profound impact, this is recommended for academic and large public libraries.?Thomas A. Karel, Franklin & Marshall Coll. Lib., Lancaster, Pa.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Involved in Poland's Solidarity movement as a young man, Sikorski went on to become a journalist of international repute; and after years in exile, he returned to Poland, where he served briefly as a government minister. Essentially a celebration of his efforts to rebuild a rural manor house, Sikorski's book pays homage to these rural Polish buildings, which in the mind of the author are symbols of his homeland's cultural heritage. In chronicling an adventure in renovation and reconstruction, Sikorski seizes the opportunity to explore Polish history, preserving fragments of his own family's story and reminiscing about the experience of growing up under Communist rule. Sikorski writes with considerable ease, imbuing his candid saga of childhood memories and historical events with a satisfying relevance. Alice Joyce