Blooms Of Darkness Aharon Appelfeld by Aharon Appelfeld 9780805212341, 0805212345 instant download after payment.

The ghetto in which the Jews have been confined is being liquidated by the Nazis, and eleven-year-old Hugo is brought by his mother to the local brothel, where one of the prostitutes has agreed to hide him. Mariana is a bitterly unhappy woman who hates what she has done with her life, and night after night Hugo sits in her closet and listens uncomprehendingly as she rages at the Nazi soldiers who come and go. But when she’s not mired in self-loathing, Mariana is fiercely protective of the bewildered, painfully polite young boy. And Hugo, in turn, becomes protective of Mariana, trying to make her laugh when she is depressed, and soothing her physical and mental agony with cold compresses. As memories of his family and friends grow dim, Hugo falls in love with Mariana. And as her life spirals downward, Mariana reaches out for consolation to the adoring boy. The arrival of the Russian army sends the prostitutes fleeing, but Mariana is tracked down and arrested as a Nazi collaborator for having slept with the Germans. As the novel moves toward its heartrending conclusion, Aharon Appelfeld once again crafts out of the depths of unfathomable tragedy a renewal of life and a deeper understanding of what it means to be human.

In this powerful novel from award-winning Israeli writer Appelfeld, two discarded souls form an unlikely bond in the chaos of occupied Ukraine during WWII. When the Jews are being rounded up, 11-year-old Hugo's mother hides him with her childhood friend, Mariana, a prostitute in a brothel. Locked in a closet every night, Hugo hears Mariana at work and disappears into dreams and visions about his family and friends. Mariana takes loving if sporadic care of Hugo and slowly she becomes Hugo's whole world. Hugo returns Mariana's kindness by lifting her spirits as her moods swing from frivolity and disregard for the destruction around her to deep depression about the indignities she endures. Mariana is an exhilarating tragicomic heroine, a woman who is both alcoholic, manic-depressive, and believer in a God she long ago abandoned. The lean, spare prose does not shy away from harsh realities. A simple story that encapsulates the joy and sadness of a coming-of-age novel with the trauma of a world in the midst of destruction. (Mar.)
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The latest from acclaimed Israeli novelist Appelfeld is a haunting tale of love, loss, and the resilience of the human spirit. When the Nazis begin to infiltrate the ghetto where 11-year-old Hugo lives, his mother has no choice but to leave him with her childhood friend Mariana, a prostitute in the local brothel. During the day Hugo is confined to Mariana’s room, and at night he must stay silent, locked in her closet. As he listens to Mariana and the Nazi soldiers who visit, he clings to the fading memories of his family. Though Mariana is an alcoholic, prone to mood swings and abrupt disappearances, she is fiercely protective of Hugo and attentive to his needs. And as Hugo begins to come of age, he becomes more and more attached to Mariana, with an increasing desire to act as her caregiver and protector. When the prostitutes suddenly depart the brothel after the arrival of the Russian army, the two have no choice but to flee themselves, leading to a conclusion both grim and elegantly hopeful. --Leah Strauss