the hare with amber eyes

The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010)

A memoir/(auto)biography of the Ephrussis, a wealthy European Jewish family, tracing their history from 1860 to the present time by following a collection of 264 pieces of netsuke, one of their many fabulous possessions.  The collection was originally acquired by Charles  Ephrussis in Paris in the 1880s, and given to his nephew Victor as a wedding present in 1900.  The scene then shifts to Vienna, where the collection remains until Victor’s son, Iggie, takes them to Japan in 1945.  When Iggie dies the netsuke are bequeathed to his nephew, the author, who lives in England.

There are some fascinating passages in this book, and the family’s struggles during the Holocaust are dramatic and disturbing, but the hybrid nature of the book and its narrow focus prevent it from being as affecting and engaging as it might have been.