- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Serpent's Tail; 1st Edition edition (2 Jun 2011)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1846687756
- ISBN-13: 978-1846687754
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 13.5 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
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- #60 in Books > Fiction > Psychological
Half Blood Blues
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Product Description
Review
'Assured, vivid and persuasive... Impressively evocative of period and place, and an effortlessly involving and dramatically unusual second novel.' --Time Out
'Mesmerising... Edugyan has a perfect ear for conversations and the confusions of human love and jealousy... moving... A remarkable novel.' --Morning Star
A lucid and handsomely illustrated narrative, from the Saxon dawn of England to the Cameron Government --The Times
Full of stand-out facts ... Absolutely fascinating ... I've learnt an awful lot --Richard Bacon,BBC Radio 2
Immediately accessible --Prospect
This is traditional, kings-and-things, great-men history with all its dates and famous quotations in place ... it's jolly good ... Jenkins has a newspaper columnist's aphoristic verve ... judgements are crisp
--Spectator
'This is a wonderful, vibrant, tense novel' --Susan Hill (Man Booker Prize judge)
'Extraordinary in its evocation of time and place, its shimmering jazz vernacular, its pitch-perfect male banter and its period slang' --Arifa Akbar, Independent
'A superbly atmospheric prologue kick-starts a thrilling story about truth and betrayal... [a] brilliant, fast-moving novel' --Kate Saunders, Times
'Edugyan's ventriloquism is a compelling, personal and authentic, her story deeply researched' --Robert McCrum, Observer
'A densely researched tale musing on timeless themes of jealousy and betrayal' --Daily Mail
'Powerful and effortlessly written' --Pride
'A story so rich in texture, so deeply felt and imagined, that from the first, savoury sentences, you're hooked' --The Lady
'A moving, lyrical exploration of the plight of mixed-race immigrants rendered stateless by the Second World War' --Country Life
'A great and original novel... tense, richly humorous and enjoyable' --Independent on Sunday
'A captivating novel of music, memory and storytelling' --TLS
'Mesmerising... Edugyan has a perfect ear for conversations and the confusions of human love and jealousy... moving... A remarkable novel.' --Morning Star
A lucid and handsomely illustrated narrative, from the Saxon dawn of England to the Cameron Government --The Times
Full of stand-out facts ... Absolutely fascinating ... I've learnt an awful lot --Richard Bacon,BBC Radio 2
Immediately accessible --Prospect
This is traditional, kings-and-things, great-men history with all its dates and famous quotations in place ... it's jolly good ... Jenkins has a newspaper columnist's aphoristic verve ... judgements are crisp
--Spectator
'This is a wonderful, vibrant, tense novel' --Susan Hill (Man Booker Prize judge)
'Extraordinary in its evocation of time and place, its shimmering jazz vernacular, its pitch-perfect male banter and its period slang' --Arifa Akbar, Independent
'A superbly atmospheric prologue kick-starts a thrilling story about truth and betrayal... [a] brilliant, fast-moving novel' --Kate Saunders, Times
'Edugyan's ventriloquism is a compelling, personal and authentic, her story deeply researched' --Robert McCrum, Observer
'A densely researched tale musing on timeless themes of jealousy and betrayal' --Daily Mail
'Powerful and effortlessly written' --Pride
'A story so rich in texture, so deeply felt and imagined, that from the first, savoury sentences, you're hooked' --The Lady
'A moving, lyrical exploration of the plight of mixed-race immigrants rendered stateless by the Second World War' --Country Life
'A great and original novel... tense, richly humorous and enjoyable' --Independent on Sunday
'A captivating novel of music, memory and storytelling' --TLS
Book Description
A story of friendship, betrayal and redemption, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2011
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
68 of 71 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Charles C. Jones (call him 'Chip' and don't ask what the 'C' stands for) and Sidney Griffiths have been friends since they were kids in Baltimore. They are musicians and they find themselves in Berlin at the start of WWII, along with a band including the exotically named Hieronymous Falk, who is young, amazingly gifted, half German and black. A brawl with some 'boots' as German soldiers are referred to in the book, leads to the band taking up an offer to go to Paris, just before it fell to the Germans. This is easier said than done and the author shows the tension involved at that time, when the authorities had such control over the population. When Paris falls, Hiero is in danger for being German as well as for his colour. Chip and Sid are also black (although Sid, being much lighter, finds it easier to move around without being noticed) and, as US citizens, they have a better chance of leaving the city. When Hiero is suddenly arrested in a cafe, he disappears without a trace.
This book has many intersting themes - friendship, betrayal and, at its core, jealousy. Not only sexual jealousy, but that of someone who lacks musical genius for someone naturally gifted. A large part of the book is set during the fall of Paris, but the story also includes Chip and Sid returning to Berlin in 1992 for a Music Festival, and a mysterious letter that Chip received about Hiero's fate. This trip forces Sid to return to that time and re-evaluate what happened. Although the main action of the book is set during the very early months of the war, the author makes it clear that the musicians had no doubt about what arrest meant - the knowledge that people can easily disappear or be killed is starkly understood. This was a time when the Germans were unbeaten, seemingly able to take cities such as Paris without a fight, and the fear of them is realistically portrayed.
Sid and Chip are extremely funny and likeable characters. You feel that their friendship is strong and, even though they needle each other endlessly, they have a bond that is deep and with a long and shared history. It is always hard to know how you would act in certain situations - jealousy, ambition and resentment are strong emotions and Esi Edugyan evokes them and the time period well. The scenes set when the two men are old are often humorous and bring lightness to a story which could have become bleak in less talented hands, and the dialogue thoughout the novel is well written. This is a remarkable novel and I enjoyed it immensely. I felt that it was extremely realistic and strangely heart warming and recommend it highly, as an original take on a time period which has been much written about.
This book has many intersting themes - friendship, betrayal and, at its core, jealousy. Not only sexual jealousy, but that of someone who lacks musical genius for someone naturally gifted. A large part of the book is set during the fall of Paris, but the story also includes Chip and Sid returning to Berlin in 1992 for a Music Festival, and a mysterious letter that Chip received about Hiero's fate. This trip forces Sid to return to that time and re-evaluate what happened. Although the main action of the book is set during the very early months of the war, the author makes it clear that the musicians had no doubt about what arrest meant - the knowledge that people can easily disappear or be killed is starkly understood. This was a time when the Germans were unbeaten, seemingly able to take cities such as Paris without a fight, and the fear of them is realistically portrayed.
Sid and Chip are extremely funny and likeable characters. You feel that their friendship is strong and, even though they needle each other endlessly, they have a bond that is deep and with a long and shared history. It is always hard to know how you would act in certain situations - jealousy, ambition and resentment are strong emotions and Esi Edugyan evokes them and the time period well. The scenes set when the two men are old are often humorous and bring lightness to a story which could have become bleak in less talented hands, and the dialogue thoughout the novel is well written. This is a remarkable novel and I enjoyed it immensely. I felt that it was extremely realistic and strangely heart warming and recommend it highly, as an original take on a time period which has been much written about.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Half Blood Blues tells the story of a group of young jazz artists trapped in the maelstrom of WWII, in Berlin and later in Paris where their future looks set to be in danger as the German machine rolls along in its plan for the thousand year Reich. The group is helped by their multiple origins - protected by Ernst and Paul who are white, though nothing can help them when Hieronymous Falk, the group's leader, is arrested in a café - his fate seems sealed. Years later, Sid, the novel's narrator, and Chip Coleman, the band's drummer, set out to try to trace Hiero when they learn that he has have survived the war and is now in Poland.
The writing is authentic and cleverly slanted to suggest it voices rich with New York Harlem vernacular. Even more artfully the novel entirely masks that this is a book written by a young woman New Yorker. The tone never slides or falters and I found myself full of admiration for the authenticity of Edugyan's achievement. To take such an unlikely subject as mixed-race Germans and black jazz players and craft a story of jealousy and betrayal in wartime deserves plaudits. The characters are well-developed, especially Sid and Chip, and one feels the helplessness of their situation trapped in a city at war.
The writing is authentic and cleverly slanted to suggest it voices rich with New York Harlem vernacular. Even more artfully the novel entirely masks that this is a book written by a young woman New Yorker. The tone never slides or falters and I found myself full of admiration for the authenticity of Edugyan's achievement. To take such an unlikely subject as mixed-race Germans and black jazz players and craft a story of jealousy and betrayal in wartime deserves plaudits. The characters are well-developed, especially Sid and Chip, and one feels the helplessness of their situation trapped in a city at war.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this an unconvincing novel. The characters never came to life, and their motives remained unclear. Why did Sid fall in love with Delilah? What was the basis of the friendship between Sid and Chip? And am I supposed to believe that Sid really destroyed Hiero's visum papers because he wanted to finish the record? Because this fact seems to be the thing the whole novel turns on, I would really have liked to understand what drove Sid. The suspense this point was supposed to create actually bored me. Furthermore, there are many historical details that are hard to believe. Apparently already in June 1940 there existed an organised resistance, clad in tweed, that could deliver perfect visum-papers and documents to foreigners that wanted to leave France. And why did Sid and Chip need forgeries anyway? They could have gone to the US embassy or consulate which may have been a bit difficult to reach during the war in may 1940, but resumed its normal operations soon after in Vichy. France did not sever diplomatic relations with the US until november 1942! All in all, not a very good read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
hooked from first paragraph
I was hooked on Half Blood Blues from the first paragraph. The book has all the ingredients I like in a novel - a strong story, well penned characters, a good sense of place and... Read more
Published 22 days ago by Rob Kitchin
Don't understand all the award nomination fuss
The second to last of the Booker shortlist I had yet to read; Esi Edugyan's Half Blood Blues is a story of of a group of jazz musicians and their associates in the 1990's and... Read more
Published 28 days ago by R. A. Davison
A moving book by a talented writer
The focus of this book is a brilliant 20 year old black German jazz trumpeter called Hieronymus Falk who is arrested by the Germans after the fall of Paris in 1940. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Robin Webster
Average
Can't say that Half Blood Blues was really what I expected. I expected it to primarily be about the second world war and what it was like to be a black person living in a Nazi... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Lucybird
How beautiful this is
It works on every level;the fear and suffering of a group of black jazz musicians;the passions and jealousy of unrequited love and inadequacies and the backdrop of the... Read more
Published 2 months ago by benjake
An Emotional Story
Esi Edugyan's "Half-Blood Blues" is a period story of the jazz culture with colourful scenes of jamming sessions, drinking and bickering among a mixed-race ensemble called the... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Toni Osborne
Full Blooded
HALF BLOOD BLUES is the story of Sid, Chip and the Kid (Heiro). There are two more or less discrete narratives. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Kartowidjojo
Musical, thoughtful and brilliant.
This is Sid's story. However much we want to know what happened to Hiero and enjoy the other characters created (Chip Jones in particular), this is ultimately Sid's story and how... Read more
Published 3 months ago by bethanchloe
if you're not into the blues, avoid or you'll end up with them!
I was reeled in by the rave reviews only to find myself bored with the characters and there was no suspense or intrigue for me. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mr. N. D. White
Average I guess...
Did I think this book was OK? Yes. Would I read it again? No. There was a lot of talk in this book, a lot of build up and a lot of waffle. Read more
Published 3 months ago by J. Thomas
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