Saturday, September 11, 2004
Bryce Courtenay - The Family Frying Pan
These are a collection of tales supposedly told to Bryce by his wife’s mother (grandmother? its been a while since I read it) about her escape from the turmoil surrounding the Russian Revolution. Her entire village is murdered, seems a lot of people have had things against Jews, and she escapes with a huge frypan strapped to her back, which saves her from several sword strikes.
She travels with a group of people who every night gather around their meager meal cooked in the frypan and take it in turns to tell their life story, and how they ended up penniless refugees.
The tales are incredible, managing to strain believability but not break it, although they are almost certainly fictitious. The story of the hardships endured does ring true, and you can imagine a group of road weary, hungry, people gathering around a meager meal and entertaining each other with tales. Legends passed on around a fire. There is something primal about that.
The stories are almost like fairy tales, and can be enjoyed as such I think. Not a life changing book, but definitely worth the read.
She travels with a group of people who every night gather around their meager meal cooked in the frypan and take it in turns to tell their life story, and how they ended up penniless refugees.
The tales are incredible, managing to strain believability but not break it, although they are almost certainly fictitious. The story of the hardships endured does ring true, and you can imagine a group of road weary, hungry, people gathering around a meager meal and entertaining each other with tales. Legends passed on around a fire. There is something primal about that.
The stories are almost like fairy tales, and can be enjoyed as such I think. Not a life changing book, but definitely worth the read.
