Chip told us not to go out. Said, don't you boys tempt the devil. But it been one brawl of a night, I tell you.
The aftermath of the fall of Paris, 1940. Hieronymous Falk, a rising star on the cabaret scene, was arrested in a cafe and never heard from again. He was twenty years old. He was a German citizen. And he was black.
Fifty years later, Sid, Hiero's bandmate and the only witness that day, is going back to Berlin. Persuaded by his old friend Chip, Sid discovers there's more to the journey than he thought when Chip shares a mysterious letter, bringing to the surface secrets buried since Hiero's fate was settled.
In Half Blood Blues, Esi Edugyan weaves the horror of betrayal, the burden of loyalty and the possibility that, if you don't tell your story, someone else might tell it for you. And they just might tell it wrong ...
While this book wasn’t exciting or fantastic in any way, shape or form; I’m still glad I read it. It was an enjoyable read, real story around focused mainly on the friends and their love for playing Jazz. Half Blood Blues was short listed for the Man Booker and tells the story mainly of Jazz Musicians Sid, Chip and Hiero during World War 2. As they were African Americans they were labelled Rhineland Bastards and end up been abducted by the Nazis. This is a book not only about racism (thankfully not set in American) but a book of friendship during hardships and the music that kept them together. While there is so much else going on in this book that will give you an idea of what to expect in it. Half Blood Blues made me want to break out some Django Reinhardt and use him as my soundtrack for this book. I know he is more ragtime than the Jazz mentioned in the book but I didn’t feel like playing Louis Armstrong while reading about him would work. For me ragtime suited my mood with this book. I can see why this made the short list but I can also why it didn’t win; Half Blood Blues is enjoyable to read but it doesn’t really stand out as a book.
Reading updates
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Started reading
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24 May, 2012:
Finished reading
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24 May, 2012:
Reviewed