Reviewed by elvinagb on
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 14 March, 2020: Finished reading
- 14 March, 2020: Reviewed
Caging Skies
by Christine Leunens
THE INSPIRATION FOR THE OSCAR-NOMINATED MOTION PICTURE 'JOJO RABBIT'
* ACADEMY AWARD WINNER FOR BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY * BAFTA WINNER: BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY * NOMINATED FOR 6 OSCARS INCLUDING BEST PICTURE AND BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY*
'Leunens said the film showed moviegoers that "we have a choice, are we going to go back to this kind of thinking ... superior, inferior ... or are we going to move on and bring more love and compassion to our relationships?"' Guardian
'A bold novel of great fierceness, insight, and emotional savagery' Historical Novel Society
'The good-natured humour and quirkiness of the film and the drama of the novel are quite fun to contrast, and both are impactful in their own right.' Cherwell
This extraordinary novel is seen through the eyes of Johannes, an avid member of the Hitler Youth in the 1940s. After he is severely injured in a raid, he discovers his parents are hiding a Jewish girl called Elsa behind a false wall in their large house in Vienna.
His initial horror turns to interest, then love and obsession. After the disappearance of his parents, Johannes finds he is the only one aware of Elsa's existence in the house, the only one responsible for her survival. Both manipulating and manipulated, Johannes dreads the end of the war: with it will come the prospect of losing Elsa and their relationship, which ranges through passion and obsession, dependence and indifference, love and hate.
This gripping, masterful work examines truth and lies at both political and personal levels, laying bare the darkest corners of the human soul.