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The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance |  | Author: Edmund de Waal
Publisher: Chatto & Windus
Category: Book
List Price: £14.99 (15.55EUR)
Buy New: £8.49 (8.81EUR)
as of 8/9/2010 15:43 IST details
You Save: £6.50 (6.74EUR) (43%)
New (20) Used (5) Collectible (1) from £7.98 (8.28EUR)
Seller: Amazon.co.uk
Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 448
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.5 x 1.2
ISBN: 0701184175
EAN: 9780701184179
ASIN: 0701184175
Publication Date: June 3, 2010
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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Product Description
A memoir that traces the network of a remarkable family against the backdrop of a tumultuous century. It tells the story of a unique collection which passed from hand to hand - and which, in a twist of fate, found its way home to Japan.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
Fascinating document /story September 4, 2010
Ms. S. Field Reid
I found this a really gripping read and learnt a lot about the atmosphere and traumas of being part of this wealthy successful Jewish family's history,through two World Wars. This is all understood through the author's search for the background of his extraordinary inheritance.
I read one review on Amazon though, before I bought the book, with which I really agreed, it was an AGONY - NOT - to have a proper illustration of the Netsuke.
A work of art September 3, 2010
booksetc (London, UK)
The most absorbing, completely fascinating story that I have read in a long time. I didn't know whether to read it quickly, because I was so engrossed, or slowly, to make it last.
Edmund de Waal is a ceramicist and writes like he is spinning history on his potter's wheel. In 1994 he was left a large collection of Japanese netsuke by his great-uncle Iggie Ephrussi who lived in Tokyo. They had been bought in Paris in the 1870s by Iggie's cousin Charles Ephrussi. That's a name that I recognised, if only vaguely. The Ephrussi family was fabulously wealthy, nearly as rich as the Rothschilds and Charles was a patron of the Impressionists. He's one of the cast of Renoir's Boating Party and an inspiration for Proust's Charles Swann.
'You take an object from your pocket and put it down in front of you and you start. You begin to tell a story.' And what a story, as de Waal follows the netsuke from Paris to Vienna and back to Tokyo, against a turbulent background of history when even the Ephrussis' staggering wealth couldn't insulate them from the swell of anti-Semitism. I can't think of any other writer who has brought the forces of European history so vividly alive. You feel you are there, in Charles's opulent Parisian salon - that you can hear the tramp of boots and breaking glass on Vienna's dusty Ringstrasse - that overnight your colossal fortune has vanished into thin air.
There's only one thing wrong with this book ... 264 netsuke and not a single picture of any one of them. I'm sure I'm not the only reader who wanted to see the hare with amber eyes.
The Hare with Amber Eyes August 15, 2010
Margaret Davies (UK)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Lives up to its intriguing title. A wonderfully evocative read of a rollercaster ride of a family's fortunes. Sad to have finished it!
Memorable and marvellous August 10, 2010
Booklover (Cheltenham)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a beautifully written book about culture, art, creativity, belonging, deracination, family, memory, loss, all the things that give meaning to life. Edmund de Waal is uniquely well-placed to write this family memoir by virtue of his education, erudition and talents, but what makes it extraordinary is the perception and empathy that he brings to the task. One of the most memorable and marvellous books I have ever read.
A beautiful read July 21, 2010
Hannah
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
A beautiful read. A loving and descriptive book travelling over continents and cultures. Written in a flowing and tender style following the lives of the elegant relatives and forebears that made up the authors ancestors. I found it held my interest down to the last pages filling in the russian connection in Odessa. The first book to make me cry in many years.
This book not only follows the development of the Ephrussi family over many years but includes the history of europe both politically and culturally (including art and music) from the years in Paris that saw the great flowering of impressionist painting. The title of the book describes the little figures of Japanese netsuki that symbolise the survival of this family. They survive being moved from Japan to paris then vienna and finally back to Japan. Their story is the story of the family too. This book is a work of immense research into the history of the authors family but also a work of great beauty and love.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
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