Painter of Silence

by Georgina Harding

When she leaves the ward she feels the whiteness of the room still inside her, as if she is bleached out inside. It is the shock, she tells herself. She feels the whiteness like a dam holding back all the coloured flood of memory.

Iasi, Romania, the early 1950s. A man is found on the steps of a hospital, frail as a fallen bird. He carries no identification and utters no words, and it is days before anyone discovers that he is deaf and mute. And then a young nurse called Safta brings paper and pencils with which he can draw. Slowly, painstakingly, memories appear on the page: a hillside, a stable, a car, a country house, dogs and mirrored rooms and samovars in what is now a lost world.

The memories are Safta's also. For the man is Augustin, son of the cook at the manor at Poiana that was her family home. Born six months apart, they grew up with a connection that bypassed words. But while Augustin's world remained the same size Safta's expanded to embrace languages, society - and love, as Augustin watched one long hot summer, in the form of a fleeting young man in a green Lagonda.

Safta left before the war. Augustin stayed. But even in the wide hills and valleys around Poiana he did not escape its horrors. He watched uncomprehending as armies passed through the place. Then the Communists came, and he found himself their unlikely victim. There are things that he must tell Safta that may be more than simple drawings can convey.

Beautiful, spare and intense, Painter of Silence captures the loss and the hope of a tragic time through the extraordinary vision of a mute outsider.

• ISBN10: 1408824469
• ISBN13: 9781408824467
• Publish Date: 1 March 2012
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 31 July 2014
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Format: Paperback (UK Trade)
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

Post World War II Romania is under the brutal Stalinist regime; an unnamed man wakes up in hospital deaf, mute and unable to communicate. A young nurse, Safta, recognises him and brings him a pencil and paper so he can draw. Slowly and painstakingly, memories appear on the page, not just his memories but Safta’s too as they grew up together. But his world has remained the same size and Safta’s has expanded to embrace languages and society.

Communist Romania wouldn’t be the easiest place to live and author Georgina Harding builds this wonderfully artistic scene with real beauty but also despair and hopelessness. This took a little time to become accustomed with; the overuse of similes really made for a rough start in reading this book. It really felt like the word ‘like’ appeared on every second line, but when I started to get further into the novel I did find myself being swept away in this artistic world.

The unnamed name protagonist (who we eventually find out is Augustin) slowly pieces together his world through his art and we as readers are on this journey with him. Finding out. as he has, that he is the son of the Safta’s family cook and the special bond the two formed growing up together. I do not think Augustin is a mute, he just doesn’t speak, but this does not mean that he cannot communicate; each detailed drawing he produces proves this.

There was something unnatural about the plot that really didn’t sit well with me; the whole book Augustin communicates via drawings yet there is this feeling like you find out more about this character than you possibly can via a drawing. Is this pure speculation from the author? Or is there something I am missing? While it wasn’t a big concern, that really did end up bothering me about this book. I just felt like that whole part of the book was a little contrived, yet it really did not effect my enjoyment of the book as this was an afterthought.

This book was really well written, I do not like to use the word Readable but I think that does cover my thoughts on the style. I really liked the way this book ended up feeling like a piece of art with all the little details and yet it still managed to capture the mental and physical burdens of the characters living in this post-war town. I found myself drifting into the story as it floats along and I had to pull myself out so I could pay more attention; it’s a rare feeling and if I wasn’t trying to read critically I would have happily floated through this novel.

While the fact that this book wasn’t linear it never really got confusing, you get little memories and slowly it starts to reveal the bigger picture. While this could get frustrating I never felt as though this was the case with Painter of Silence. Sure, I could talk about how some parts of this novel felt forced and artificial, but I will be honest, none of that ended up bothering me.

You can try to pick apart this novel as much as you like but you will still be left with this beautiful piece of art. I really did enjoy the experience of reading Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding; it is one of those novels that will stick with you and you cannot help but remember its fond memories. It’s a lyrical journey worth taking, even if it is a little unrealistic; just enjoy the ride.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2013/04/02/book-review-painter-of-silence/