Valet Reader

Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell

If you happened to have read my review of The Sparrow you probably already know how much I enjoy reading the lovely Mary Doria Russell, given that I would place that book in my top five all time. I’ve been meaning to read A Thread of Grace for sometime but somehow it just kept falling further and further down my list until I just recently decided that I needed to read it. And with that I will regretfully tell you A Thread of Grace will not be joining my good friend The Sparrow in my all time top 5. I shouldn’t be all that surprised really, I mean it’s pretty hard to compete with.

A Thread of Grace does though exemplify that Ms. Russell is indeed a fantastic writer. While I may not have enjoyed the story and or found it slightly confusing her writing and prose made up for that.

Like in her other novels, Ms. Russell develops the characters so well that by the time you finish reading the book you feel as though you may actually understand each one of them. Naturally you’re probably wondering what the hell I mean when I say “understand.” And frankly, I’m not exactly sure. Regardless though, for most of the characters in this book she provides an in-depth look at their background and their development of character as it has developed up to the point where the book takes place. I’m a sucker for strong character development and it will most likely win me over every time. Somehow the way she manages to do it blows me away every time.

About the book, it’s a historical fiction piece that takes place in Italy towards the end of WWII. It’s a story of Jews , Catholics, Nazis, collaborators, rabbis, priests, ordinary civilians and partisans whose stories are interconnected and woven into a singular plot. A plot which is not exactly easy to discern but which involves protecting the Jews, both refugees and native, and expelling the Germans from Italy. In typical fiction style there is violence, in the forms of ambushes, bombings, gun fights, alien attacks (ok, clearly that’s not true, I was really just checking to see if you were reading), and explosions, as well as romance, in the forms of love, relationships (familial and romantic) and child birth. All of which are tied together in a somewhat confusing yet pleasant fashion.

At times the novel is gruesome, making you cringe with the images displayed. Such as Herr Schramm confessing to a priest that he has murdered 91,867 people (“632 children in the state hospital, 220 in the hunger research…” and 91,015 at Auschwitz) and providing grisly details. To the young Duno who, with rudimentary surgical skills, operates on wounded resistance fighters in a cave on a mountainside and provides the reader with perhaps a wee bit too much information on exactly what and where he is cutting, sawing and sewing. Thankfully though there are other times you laugh thanks to the jokes told by the more lighthearted characters. Like the one told by the young orphan, “What’s the difference between a dog and a Nazi? The Nazi lifts his arm!” Admittedly not the best of the jokes but hey at least I remembered one of them.

It’s not until the end of the novel that you learn that the title of the book comes from the hebrew saying “‘No matter how dark the tapestry God weaves for us, there’s always a thread of grace.’” Even though it may very well be the first time I’ve heard that I’m quite fond of that line. Kind of powerful, you know?

In what is a heart wrenching and at times uplifting story of endurance that exposes the will and heart of the more gentle and giving people of Italy during the terrible days of WWII, Russell writes a beautiful tale of survival. Although this book has very little in common with The Sparrow if you are in fact a fan of Ms. Russell I certainly would urge you to read this book.