Letters to Camondo
by Edmund de Waal
Edmund de Waal is truly one of a kind. His style is beautiful, moving and original. I remember how much I loved “The Hare with Amber Eyes”, his book from 2010. “Letters to Camondo” is a loose sequel, diving even deeper into the complicated history of not only the author’s ancestors but the whole vanished world of Jewish European elite. It is a strange, intimate book, full of digressions, descriptions of various pieces of art, not finished thoughts — but as a whole it is a masterpiece.
It was very disturbing to see the similarities between the anti-Semitic rhetoric from the beginning of the 20th century and anti-immigration one from our times. Why the history has to repeat itself?
Thanks to the publisher, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and NetGalley for the advance copy of this book.
