Edmund de Waal, The Hare with Amber Eyes - stunning

[Bleats]

Hello all

I have to recommend The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal.

This is a book that starts off looking at things, specifically 264 nesuke which are tiny Japanese ornaments designed to hold, and explodes the history of a family.

The author is a potter by trade and so I gained an entirely new perspective on objects and their importance. He is immensely careful with his subject and his interest in these objects pushes him to learn about their history. Without giving too much away he talks about how this collection comes into his family and explores the cities, life, society and politics of the times.

This book combines lovely factual analysis (without heavy academic theorising) with the insight into the human psyche that you get from a novel. Quite wonderful and deserves the award it has already won.

Thanks, you've just spurred me on to pick it up. I bought it a month or so ago and started it. I wasn't too keen but I'll give it another go.

Great name rips - I would love to hear your thoughts on the book.

So boring. Endless navel gazing. Only the bit in the 20thc intrsesting

I so hoped it would get better but was so poncy.

Ooh, I will give it another go, but as I said, I wasn't immediately engaged by it.

Hated it. Dry and tedious. Such a shame as the title is lovely and promised so much.