Life...The Vivere

THE ARTFUL READING CLUB

"The Hare With Amber Eyes"

By Edmund de Waal

July 25, 2014

THE HARE WITH AMBER EYES  is an in-depth study of the author's family, one of the wealthiest Jewish families in Europe...on a par with the famous Rothchilds. They started out in Odessa but lived in Paris and Vienna as well, making their mark wherever they went. They were bankers, art collectors...trend makers. De Waal explored his family history using a collection of 264 Japanese Netsuke as his vehicle...an inheritance from his great-great-great uncle, Charles Ephrussi, who started the collection in the 1800's. Netsuke are small figurines carved of wood and ivory that represented animals, people and mythical characters...most fitting comfortably in the palm of your hand (as was the hare with amber eyes.)

Traditionally used as belt ornaments on Japanese garments in the 18th and 19th centuries, de Waal was gifted with these amazingly detailed figurines after they journeyed from Belle Époque Paris, through the Second World War and the Holocaust,
via Vienna and Tokyo, ending in the 21st century. De Waal traces his family from their palatial homes, stands in the rooms where they stood and then follows them into the Holocaust and their meteoric downfall and the stripping away of everything they owned. 

If you love history and art...and the melding of the two...this is a book for you. I have collected netsuke for many years so this book immediately caught my fancy. At times tedious and very detailed, it was a lovely, sensitive, emotional yet factual accounting of the rise and fall of a historically well known, powerful European family through several generations.

Thanks for checking in...hope you enjoy what's left of July! See you after another short break!

Big Hugs,
abbyj