Customer Reviews
A lyrical ethical masterpiece - By: Wrennie Foxeyes, 15 Mar 2008 
I finished reading this book yesterday & have not been able to 'let go of' the characters since then. If a book can keep me thinking & probing for more than 24 hours after putting it down, it certainly has something very special about it.
Everything about this book is good: I can't find a single criticism for it. Wonderfully, I didn't find a single typo, grammar error or editorial glitch in the entire book, which made reading an absolute pleasure on a quite separate level from the story itself. Mary Doria Russell uses language carefully: the writing is quite sparse in that nothing unnecessary is included. Even her descriptions are simple, & yet so evocative. I felt myself standing, walking, climbing in the Ligoria region, even though I've never been there in my life; I could picture it & sense it & 'live' it - & now have an ambition to visit!
The characterisations are precise & very real - every character is a genuine human being who might be met just around the corner of our everyday lives; the author is gifted with the ability to create multidimensional characters, not mere one-sided symbols of good or evil. Each character has a background that has formed his or her philosophy & values & informed their subsequent behaviour during the period of the book - the last years of World War 2 in Italy.
There are many ethical contrasts in the book - which in no way interrupt the flow of the story: indeed, they deepen the reader's involvement in what is unfolding. Themes of reprisal & forgiveness, bigotry & acceptance, cruelty & kindness, oppression & courage, hatred & love, despair & hope, are interwoven into the political & religious diversity then current in Italy. There are some very challlenging questions in the dialogues between characters, particularly in regard to moral absolutes. It is a book that makes the reader think very hard about the sorts of choices that must be made in extreme circumstances.
Despite the inevitable tragedy throughout the book, what the reader comes away with is a sense of encouragement to live life well, & to live life fully. Mary Doria Russell's characters, even in the most impoverished & terrifying circumstances, are undoubtedly *alive*. They are active, proactive & aware of wider horizons than their own hardships.
I reallly appreciated the portrayal of a genuine openness to others in need, regardless of their race or religion or language, the portrayal of human beings as gregarious, community-based people, to whom hospitality was second nature (but who were not so perfect that they never criticised or judged their neighbours for unacceptable behaviour - for example, 'the German Whore').
Among the great sweeping themes of the book the author still makes space for little details that add so much to the book's authenticity & the characters' appeal - for instance, Duno, the young Jewish refugee who joins the partisans, whistles the first lines of 'Nessun Dorma' as a password... 'No one sleeps'... so apt for sentry duty, but on another level, these unwashed, impoverished, uncared for young people, living on the edge, were still engaged with Italy's classical music tradition.
This is one of the amazing skills of this author: to be able to build layer upon layer upon layer within her story; sometimes the layers cross others & reveal even more hidden ones. Almost like tectonic plates sliding in subterranean chambers, the layers of personality & personal experience can either rest against each other or cause the whole earth to quake around them. The ending of Mary Doria Russell's book makes one of the most important observations in the book: In the end the human soul is mystery, unknowable even to those who live closest to them.
I heartily & unconditionallly recommend this book! I also think it's a book that should be bought not borrowed, because I suspect that the reader will want to go back to it more than once.
Think, feel, long to change history - By: S. Chiger, 29 Feb 2008 To capture the multiple ways that World War II affected the civilians trapped unwillingly amidst it, Russell takes us into the interior & exterior lives of a diverse group of residents in an Italian region. They're not alll heroic Underground fighters yet just about alll of them display some unwitting heroism--sometimes, as in the case of former pilot turned guilt-stricken alcoholic Renzi, despite themselves. I won't try to give a plot synopsis--let me just say that the storylines are utterly convincing & unpredictable, as are the characterizations. The writing is elegant but never detracts from the job at hand: making you think & feel & want to change history.
Mary Doria Russell - A THREAD OF GRACE, - By: Andrea Bowhill, 10 Nov 2006 
WWII, Mussolini had surrendered Italy to Hitler. Disillusioned where this war was going A smalll group of Italian Soldiers part of the resistance had taken it upon themselves to save the lives of Jewish refugees from the work camps & execution from Nazi soldiers by escorting them on an arduous journey through a mountain pass, selflessly sacrificing there lives to save others. Along the way Italian citizens just ordinary people alll learning to survive the horrors of War & its brutality, they extended their hand of friendship. In many cases showing peoples different sides of good & evil, which at times could be heartbreaking.
This is the first book I've read written by Mary Doria Russell, it was given to me & it turned out to be a wonderful surprise. Ms Russell had spent five years researching to find the essence to this engrossing story. Based on the true story of the Italian resistance who were to have saved ten of thousands of jews during the final phases of the second world war. Although this book is fictional, the plot is strong, vivid characters & many emotional tragedies. The only drawback would be some parts could be confusing, there are a lot of characters racing through this book with many different view points to keep track of, but if you can grasp it & keep track of it, this is a beautiful read. It's a wonderful achievement.
