Guernica

by Dave Boling

Book Overview

An extraordinary epic of love, family and war set in the Basque town of Guernica before, during, and after its destruction by the German Luftwaffe during the Spanish Civil War. Calling to mind such... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1596915633
• ISBN13: 9781596915633
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Length: 367 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A well written book

I love the way he words things. You learn exactly what happened without directly being told what happens. Many what happens, feels like a dagger to your heart. It's poetic and intense. You feel so connected with this family knowing about their three generations. You feel the emotions and the pain they feel. Each character is so alive and they feel so real! For me, it felt like they were actual people I knew. I also love the real-life explanations of what was going on in the history of world during that time. It puts you in so many places. The characters are all lovable and you just don't want to put the book down!!

Guernica: A Novel

Warning: I loved this book It might have been clever or catchy to sub title the novel Guernica: A Love Story but that's what it is to me. While familiar with Picasso's painting (which I was blessed to see a number of years ago), I knew very little of Basque history. Boling takes a family of brothers and follows it through the devastation of war. The book will make you feel happy and sad. It draws out laughter as well as tears. A great holiday gift that is unique enough to inform even the most discerning reader.

An excellent read

This is an excellent first novel by a very skillful author. The author knows how to tell a story and holds the readers interest. The novel started a little slowly, but once I got into the story I couldn't put the book down. The history is interesting, and the morality of the story unfolds without the author preaching about the horrors of war. He simply recounts the events without making value judgements; he doesn't have to. Our involvement with the characters guarantees that we will suffer along with them This is an excellent read for anyone. Highly recommended.

Engaging and beautiful! 4.5/5 stars

I have read a lot of Spanish Civil War literature because I have a Ph.D in contemporary Spanish literature. (20th century). From Ramón Sender, to Hemingway, I have studied how this event has been portrayed in literature through the perception of many different authors. I say this not to boast, but to hopefully add a bit of weight to my opinion about this novel. Dave Boling has written a nearly-perfect book with so many positives that I would recommend it to anyone interested in reading it. What he does so well is characterization. These Basque people come to life and from the pages of this book, the reader can see, smell and practically taste their culture and how it completely defines them. The dialogue between them is playful when it needs to be, poignant when it needs to be and yet seems so natural, as if you, the reader, were eavesdropping on actual conversations. I personally enjoyed the variety of characters (both historical and fictional) and how eventually people from all different nations came together to fight against evil. Reviewers have complained that Picasso wasn't "real" enough and that his character was flat. I wouldn't expect otherwise. Boling uses Picasso as a reference to his painting, and like his masterpiece "Guernica", he is an abstract observer of the fully-developed Basque characters, who are the true center of this novel. Some have called the novel's conclusion "contrived". Perhaps, but I cared so much about the characters by that point, that I felt the emotional impact of that conclusion. Great books make us feel and think, and this book made me do both. I don't really want to explain why this book isn't perfect other than by saying that the historical/political context of the novel, in my opinion, could have been handled slightly better. There are a few vignettes that are a bit too random. But, that doesn't matter. The story is beautiful, educational and delivers a memorable message about life. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Guernica: a town, a painting, now a novel

Guernica, a debut novel by Washington writer Dave Boling, is the tale of two men and their families: Justo Ansotegui, who raised his two brothers and a successful farm after losing both parents, and Miguel Navarro, a fisherman's son too prone to seasickness to be much use on a boat. On another level, it's about the town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War and beginning of World War Two, and the Basque people who proudly held on to their traditions at a time when their language and customs were outlawed by the Spanish government. Boling portrays the Basque community with depth and a character arc equal to that which one would expect of an individual character. Guernica is also the story behind the painting which shares its name. Picasso's mural was a memorial to the victims of the bombing of Guernica--the trial run of a Nazi tactic now used by militaries world-wide: demoralizing the populace by taking out civilians rather than military targets. Within weeks of the bombing, Picasso painted the horror of this senseless attack in shades of gray on an 11' x 25' canvas. Seventy years later, Boling brings both the painting and its subject to life through the written word.

A study of the despair and hope found in humanity's darkest hours..

On April 26th, 1937 the Nazis bombed the Basque town of Guernica on its market day. Modern scholars estimate about three hundred people were killed (the Basque government put the death toll at over 1600) and the slaughter has come to symbolize civilian suffering during war. The event inspired one of Pablo Picasso's most famous paintings (named for the town) a copy of which hangs on a wall in the United Nations building. Dave Boling takes a single family, the Ansoteguis, and follows their lineage through the closing years of the 19th century, the rise of Fascism in Spain, and the Spanish Civil War as their people, the Basque, are systematically repressed. Yet this is not a depressing novel. Humor and love manifest in the Ansotegui family, headed by Justo, a larger-than-life Superman known throughout the town for his great strength and tall tales. When asked to confirm that he once carried an ox on his shoulders from his family's farm to town and then celebrated the feat by throwing the animal across the Oka River, Justo admits that it was only a small ox, his path was downhill most of the way, and the wind was with him when he threw the beast. His wife and daughter are both dancers and cheerful, spirited women. Even as war strips the Basque people of food and supplies, the people remain vibrant and united. Pablo Picasso makes several cameo appearances as he works on his Guernica painting. Truthfully, I felt his appearances were an intrusion on the story of the Ansotegui family, and wish he wasn't included. While most of the characters are fully realized, living people, Picasso - the one "real" person in the bunch! - comes off as flat and two-dimensional. But overall it's a beautiful story that highlights both the despair and the hope that comes in humanity's darkest hours.