Welcome! I'm Cookie's Mom. You can learn all about Cookie and why I blog here: About Cookie's Chronicles. If you're new here, you may want to SUBSCRIBE TO MY RSS FEED. Thanks for stopping by! Pull up a beach chair and be my guest, won't you?

Saturday, March 05, 2011

Kafka's House: Book Review and Interview with Gabriela Popa

Today, I’d like to tell you about a book called Kafka's House, by Gabriela Popa. It is a story about everyday life in late 1960s Romania, leading up to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, told from the perspective of a young girl named Sylvia. I very much enjoy Gabriela Popa's writing style, and I was immediately immersed in this story.

I walked with Sylvia down the streets of Bacau in Northeastern Romania, and joined her in greeting and analyzing a cast of fascinating and troubled characters. At the end of her father's workday, I sat at Sylvia's table eating the stew that her mother had started cooking before going to work. I went to school with Sylvia and struggled through math class with her. I rejoiced with her when she was allowed to go on a special school trip, one of the few things she might look forward to in a bleak life, and I suffered with her when that dream was threatened.

Kafka’s House is a lovely story, full of hope, despite depicting the struggles of the Romanian people at a bleak point in the country’s history. If I have one complaint it is that the story ended too soon, but I enjoyed the way in which we left Sylvia in her home surrounded by the things that matter most.

Please enjoy my interview with Gabriela Popa, and consider picking up Kafka's House. It’s just $0.99 at the Amazon Kindle store!
 
Click here to access the Interview with Gabriela Popa.

4 comments:

  1. This was a lovely review of the book. It definitely sounds interesting and like you were really immersed in Sylvia's life and hardships.

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  2. Thanks Alexis! Gabriela has such a lovely voice. Let me know what you think if you get a chance to read any of her writing. I'm looking forward to reading your book too!

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  3. Thanks Cookie's Mom! It is such a pleasure to be a guest on your blog!
    Gabriela

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  4. Gabriela, it was my pleasure to have you as a guest! Thanks for writing such a beautiful story.

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