Cover of Garden, Ashes

Garden, Ashes

by Danilo Kis · 1965

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In Yugoslavia during the Second World War, young Andi Scham and his beleaguered family are constantly moving, searching for refuge. Yet the physical hardships of the world do not intrude on Andi's adolescent world of vivid observation and imaginative withdrawals. From his memories emerges the wondrous story of his father, Eduard Scham—the Wandering Jew, Don Quixote, red-eyed, crazed, drunk, bellicose, a man who recedes from life and then disappears in the Holocaust.

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Andi's search for his father is a poetic, lyrical remembrance of things past. The celebrated Serbian writer Danilo Kis has blended bits of realism, snatches of dreams, and echoes of his own consciousness as a child to shape this magical and memorable novel.

Genre
war and militarywar and militaryMore like thisLess of thisliterary fictionliterary fictionMore like thisLess of thishistorical fictionhistorical fictionMore like thisLess of thisHolocaustHolocaustMore like thisLess of thisWorld War IIWorld War IIMore like thisLess of this
Themes
JewishJewishMore like thisLess of this
Setting
World War IIWorld War IIMore like thisLess of thisHolocaustHolocaustMore like thisLess of thisEastern EuropeEastern EuropeMore like thisLess of thisEuropeEuropeMore like thisLess of thisEuropeanEuropeanMore like thisLess of this
Audience
adult
Length
short · 170 pages

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