Reading the World discussion

From the New York Times review:

Inspired by the largely unknown story of 1,500 Jews who fled Europe only to be imprisoned in Mauritius from 1940 to 1945 after their ship was refused entry into Palestine (then under British rule), the novel recounts the heartfelt friendship between two boys: David, a Czech orphan, and Raj, an Indian-Mauritian grieving for two brothers.

“The Last Brother” is Appanah’s fourth novel, the second to be published in English.

I finished this very sad book that recounts the grief an older man still carries in his heart for his lost brothers and a young boy he befriended in a prison camp during WWII. The whole book is a slow keening even though, with the birth of his own son, the man could be said to have had a good life. The book tells of "what one becomes forever when one loses a brother, a son...."
The story of how a boat full of immigrant Jews fleeing from Nazi Germany was not only turned away from Palestine, but the British considered them illegal aliens and imprisoned them on one of their then colonies; Mauritian. Many of them died there.
The author, using simple straight forward but emotionally charged language, really describes a love story. Raj, our narrator, was so in need of a friend that when a young Jewish boy turns up behind the fence of the prison camp there is an instant bond that quickly formed even though the two came from radically different backgrounds and cultures.
One doesn't get much of a wider view of Mauritian but in this narrow view I still learned a history lesson that I had no prior knowledge of.

TYVM Dear Gail, for the description and the review. xxoo

Take care Celia and take care of your husband too!

I am about 70% through this book that I so obstinately wanted to read. The story is beautiful but it is heartbreaking. Told from the point of view of a young boy whose desperate family had moved to the island for work, it is less a study of the treatment of the Jews who inhabit the prison as it is the life of young Raj and his friendship with the boy David from the camp.

I can tell you that it is a story that has broken into my thoughts (both sleeping and awake!) many times over the last few days.

What w good review!

I have finished this beautiful, heartbreaking book. The last 30% delves much more into the historical aspect of the imprisonment of the fleeing Jews from all over Europe for almost 5 years. The author touches on the fact that many people didn't even know about the prison until the 1970's, in the words read by a now aging Raj: "Unfortunately, not all the details of this dramatic episode in our history will be known since the archives of the British Foreign Office remain classified."

I went from being sad to ticked off.

I did some research and found these articles:
1. https://www.timesofisrael.com/from-pa...

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...

and incredibly a facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/MAURITIUSJEW...

Thank you for all the background research Gail