The title of the Novel I chose is "Fugitive Pieces", by Canadian author Anne Michaels. The date of publication is 1996, and there are 294 pages. It has won countless awards, and has even been made into a film.
I chose this book because of all of the choices there were, this was the most interesting. In Grade 11 English, we read an excerpt from "Fugitive Pieces" in our text book. It seemed intriguing at the time, and now that I have the opportunity to read it, I snatched the opportunity.
So far the book is somewhat confusing, but after I read a couple of passages over, I realized that all I need to do is pay attention to the shifts in time. Once I re-read the "confusing" parts, I understood what was going on in it more, and am now starting to like it much more.
In the first chapter, the narrator, and main character Jakob Beer, re-counts why he's running away. He is a Polish boy, who's family has just been murdered during by the Germans during World War II. He runs during the night, but sleeps during the day. He feels his family's souls inside him, and uses that as incentive to keep going and run from the Nazis to find freedom. As he runs, he meets up with a man named Athos, a Greek man who helps Jakob out of the country, and brings him back to his home in Greece.
The author is influenced by the real life poet Jakob Beer, who survived the Holocaust, and translated posthumous writing from the war (finishing the stories of those who died during the war). Before Beer was struck and killed by a car, he was finishing his memoirs. Anne Michaels took these memoirs, and wrote "Fugitive Pieces", with mostly fact fused with some fiction.
A theme that has been carried out throughout the novel so far is how Jakob relies on his memories of his family to get through the days. He constantly pictures his sister when he gets scared, so he can calm down and feel safe. A theme that also seems to be forming is strength. Jakob and Athos stay strong together to make it through every day, when danger is always lurking.
I have only found one secondary source so far is a short analysis of the book by Colin Stuart (http://elibrary.bigchalk.com/elibweb/curriculumca/do/document?set=search&dictionaryClick=&secondaryNav=&groupid=1&requestid=lib_canada&resultid=6&edition=&ts=73A7663F312472A1DA78B3D75D5E9793_1286038817375&start=1&publicationId=&urn=urn%3Abigchalk%3AUS%3BBCLib%3Bdocument%3B70911192). He gives a brief summary of the book, and another analysis of the themes and correlations he made throughout the novel. When he says "Throughout the novel, the correlation between humanity and earth is emphasized", it gives me more reason to read more in depth into the novel and re-read passages so I can fully understand the novel better.
"Athos said: "We must carry eachother. If we don't have this, what are we..."' (Fugitive Pieces, Page 14). This spoke to me because it adds to the theme I have found, which is strength. This line occurs when Athos and Jakob arrive in Greece, after Athos rescued Jakob from the impending doom of the Nazis. Athos speaks this to have Jakob feel safe, and know that Athos will look out for him. This starts the strong bond between the two, much like that of a father and son.
