From its unforgettable opening scene in the darkness of a forgotten cemetery in Buenos Aires, THE MINISTRY OF SPECIAL CASES casts a powerful spell. In the heart of Argentina's Dirty War, Kaddish Poznan struggles with a son who won't accept him; strives for a wife who forever saves him; and spends his nights protecting the good name of a community that denies his existence-and denies a checkered history that only Kaddish holds dear. Nathan Englander's first novel is a timeless story of fathers and sons. In a world turned ...
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From its unforgettable opening scene in the darkness of a forgotten cemetery in Buenos Aires, THE MINISTRY OF SPECIAL CASES casts a powerful spell. In the heart of Argentina's Dirty War, Kaddish Poznan struggles with a son who won't accept him; strives for a wife who forever saves him; and spends his nights protecting the good name of a community that denies his existence-and denies a checkered history that only Kaddish holds dear. Nathan Englander's first novel is a timeless story of fathers and sons. In a world turned upside down, where the past and the future, the nature of truth itself, all take shape according to a corrupt government's whims, one man-one spectacularly hopeless man-fights to overcome his history and his name, and, if for only once in his life, to put things right. THE MINISTRY OF SPECIAL CASES, like Englander's stories before it, is a celebration of our humanity, in all its weakness, and-despite that-hope.
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Good. 10 AUDIO CDs withdrawn from the library collection. Some library markings. We will polish each AUDIO CD for good listening. You will receive a reliable set. Enjoy this AUDIO CD performance.
This novel captures the complexity of political and social life in Argentina during the 1970s. The plot follows the parents of a young "disappeared" man in the days, weeks and months following his removal from the family home. Troubling questions about ethnicity, religion and assimilation help define this conflicted period in Argentina's past, as well as the differing generational response to the authoritarian political regime. The author delivers a palpable sense of fear, as well as the fierce sense of purpose among the parents of the disappeared.
Four stars only because I felt that the conclusion of the novel was a bit weak - on the other hand, it was, perhaps, the very best ending that could have been written. A book worth reading.