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Review
Praise for ‘Last Shot’:
‘An utterly compelling read.’ Time Out
‘A remarkable book whose presence remains long after the reading is finished…A fine novel from a very talented writer.’ Irish Times
‘Hamilton is a natural storyteller, with poise, daring and control…He is already quite unmistakable.’ Times Literary Supplement
Praise for ‘The Speckled People’:
‘This is the most gripping book I’ve read in ages. And it’s beautifully written: what could have been safe memories are made new-lived and real in this fascinating, disturbing and often very funny memoir.’ Roddy Doyle
‘“The Speckled People” is poetic in its language and construction, lyrical in so many of its descriptions. There is a story full of several different kinds of passion with a real tragedy at its heart. The pain is all there, but so is its antidote.’ Margaret Forster
‘Donner und Blitzen! What the Jaysus! A memoir of warmth and wisdom. And at last a good – if flawed – Irish father. A beautiful German mother. And not too much rain. It is tender and profound and, best of all, tells the truth. I loved it.’ Patrick McCabe
• 'A fine and timely book from an exquisitely gifted writer, this is beautiful, subtle, unflashy, perfectly realised and quite extraordinarily powerful.'
Joseph O'Connor
Review
Praise for 'Last Shot': 'An utterly compelling read.' Time Out 'A remarkable book whose presence remains long after the reading is finished!A fine novel from a very talented writer.' Irish Times 'Hamilton is a natural storyteller, with poise, daring and control!He is already quite unmistakable.' Times Literary Supplement Praise for 'The Speckled People': 'This is the most gripping book I've read in ages. And it's beautifully written: what could have been safe memories are made new-lived and real in this fascinating, disturbing and often very funny memoir.' Roddy Doyle '"The Speckled People" is poetic in its language and construction, lyrical in so many of its descriptions. There is a story full of several different kinds of passion with a real tragedy at its heart. The pain is all there, but so is its antidote.' Margaret Forster 'Donner und Blitzen! What the Jaysus! A memoir of warmth and wisdom. And at last a good -- if flawed -- Irish father. A beautiful German mother. And not too much rain. It is tender and profound and, best of all, tells the truth. I loved it.' Patrick McCabe * 'A fine and timely book from an exquisitely gifted writer, this is beautiful, subtle, unflashy, perfectly realised and quite extraordinarily powerful.' Joseph O'Connor
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Hugo Hamilton's `The Last Shot' tells the story of a young German woman, Bertha Sommer, and Franz Kern, a German soldier, who are both stationed in Laun, a small, Bohemian town between Prague and Dresden, in the final days of the Second World War. Europe is in ruins, Hitler is dead, the resistance movement in Czechoslovakia is planning the liberation of Prague, and the Russian army is advancing. However, the Reich is holding fast and orders have been given that any German soldier caught deserting or trying to flee, will be hanged on the spot. 'A war is only over when the last shot has been fired'.
Bertha and Franz, who have become friendly whilst working in the same garrison in Laun, long to return home and so Franz makes plans for them to escape; however the plan falls through and they have to make alternative arrangements, the whole time worrying about what will happen to them if their plans are discovered. If they are caught escaping by their own side, they could be executed; if they stay until the Russian army arrives in Laun, they know they will receive very harsh treatment. The couple decide to wait until the evacuation of the town is ordered and, once that happens, they flee together, facing difficult situations ahead as they encounter marauding Czech soldiers desperate to return to their homeland. It is then, as Bertha and Franz fall in love with each other, that they realize their longed for escape is not all they hoped and dreamed it would be.
Running alongside Bertha and Franz's story in a double narrative, some forty years later, a young American in Germany sets out on a mission to discover the time and place of the last shot fired in the war and, as his research leads him closer to the story of Bertha and Franz, he discovers more than he planned for - not just about the last few days of the war, but also about his own heritage and identity.
Hugo Hamilton seems a natural storyteller and this novel, quiet it tone, but darkly romantic, moves smoothly between the two periods of time. His prose is delightfully simple, but has an emotional richness which draws you into the story easily and effortlessly. I very much enjoyed reading this novel, but I must say that when I got to the end of the book I felt that something was missing - it was almost as if the author had originally planned a longer novel but had decided to condense his story into a brief 175 pages. It can be a good thing to leave your readers wanting more but because this novel has a double narrative, I thought the book should have been a little longer and I felt rather unsatisfied by what appeared to me to be a rather abrupt ending. That's not to say I was disappointed by this book, because I wasn't, and I would certainly read more by this author - in fact I have The Speckled People on one of my bookshelves waiting to be read - but it does mean I could not award more stars for what is a well written and interesting story.
3.5 Stars - which by my rating scale means `Rather Good'
Bertha and Franz, who have become friendly whilst working in the same garrison in Laun, long to return home and so Franz makes plans for them to escape; however the plan falls through and they have to make alternative arrangements, the whole time worrying about what will happen to them if their plans are discovered. If they are caught escaping by their own side, they could be executed; if they stay until the Russian army arrives in Laun, they know they will receive very harsh treatment. The couple decide to wait until the evacuation of the town is ordered and, once that happens, they flee together, facing difficult situations ahead as they encounter marauding Czech soldiers desperate to return to their homeland. It is then, as Bertha and Franz fall in love with each other, that they realize their longed for escape is not all they hoped and dreamed it would be.
Running alongside Bertha and Franz's story in a double narrative, some forty years later, a young American in Germany sets out on a mission to discover the time and place of the last shot fired in the war and, as his research leads him closer to the story of Bertha and Franz, he discovers more than he planned for - not just about the last few days of the war, but also about his own heritage and identity.
Hugo Hamilton seems a natural storyteller and this novel, quiet it tone, but darkly romantic, moves smoothly between the two periods of time. His prose is delightfully simple, but has an emotional richness which draws you into the story easily and effortlessly. I very much enjoyed reading this novel, but I must say that when I got to the end of the book I felt that something was missing - it was almost as if the author had originally planned a longer novel but had decided to condense his story into a brief 175 pages. It can be a good thing to leave your readers wanting more but because this novel has a double narrative, I thought the book should have been a little longer and I felt rather unsatisfied by what appeared to me to be a rather abrupt ending. That's not to say I was disappointed by this book, because I wasn't, and I would certainly read more by this author - in fact I have The Speckled People on one of my bookshelves waiting to be read - but it does mean I could not award more stars for what is a well written and interesting story.
3.5 Stars - which by my rating scale means `Rather Good'
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