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Product Description
Telegraph, July 2006
'This is an accomplished and profoundly moving work'
Review
This is an accomplished and profoundly moving work (DAILY TELEGRAPH )
Written as an act of love and duty it is a testament to his modesty and familial affection. (SUNDAT TIMES )
A fascinating and honest read. (TRIBUNE )
Seth is a thorough biographer, but his considerable narrative skill is as evident here as it is in his fiction... One of the beauties of TWO LIVES is that it transcends its subject matter, becoming a celebration of endurance, a recognition of all lives pun (SUNDAY BUSINESS POST )
Written as an act of love and duty it is a testament to his modesty and familial affection. (SUNDAT TIMES )
A fascinating and honest read. (TRIBUNE )
Seth is a thorough biographer, but his considerable narrative skill is as evident here as it is in his fiction... One of the beauties of TWO LIVES is that it transcends its subject matter, becoming a celebration of endurance, a recognition of all lives pun (SUNDAY BUSINESS POST )
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
75 of 75 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is an extraordinary memoir of the lives of two quite ordinary people: Vikram Seth's great aunt Henny,a German Jewess, and great uncle Shanti, an Indian Hindi. I loved A Suitable Boy so it was wonderful to read the story of this great author's upbringing and inspiration. Henny is trying to find out what happened to her family during the war - Seth uses all her long-forgotten letters to document this unbearably poignant tale. Two Lives is a really fantastic book: somehow it manages to entwine strands of India, Third Reich and Second World War, Auschwitz and the Holocaust, Israel and Palestine, post-war Germany and 1970s Britain. Yet, despite such a complex and rich background, the two main characters come vividly to life, particuarly because their letters and direct quotations are used liberally throughout. This way, we become intimately involved in them and their lives. I can't criticise this book - I thought it was absolutely incredible and so well told. I'd recommend it every time.
28 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Vikram Seth turns the narrative skills so evident in "A Suitable Boy" on his own family, and the result is this compelling and engaging biography. His Indian great-uncle and German Jewish great-aunt lived through a turbulent period in the history of Europe and the world, and Seth manages to make the large-scale elements - such as the battle of Monte Cassino, the fate of the Jews in Berlin and the wider Reich - and the personal details of Shanti and Henny's own stories - his career as a dentist, her correspondence with her German friends, their marriage - equally vivid. The stories are not sentimentalised, either - while Seth's great affection for Shanti and Henny is obvious, he presents the reader with a remarkably clear-eyed view of their flaws and failings as well. The whole thing presents a fresh look at a much-chronicled era.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What a tour de force! I really enjoyed this mix of biography, family history and world history brought together in a beatifully told narrative. It seems particularly pertinent today as it describes the complex relationships between religions as well as family happiness and conflict. Jews, Hindus and Christians live and work together, experience love and betrayal, including the Nazi concentration and extermination camps. I have recently visited Auschwitz-Birkenau and the description of the final days of Lola's life was almost unbearable in its detail and feeling. I also enjoyed getting to know the characters and finding out more and more detail, good and bad, as the book went on. Very real because it is so complex, very respectful but also true. Politically astute and relevant, I highly recommend it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Hard going
I love vikram Seth and after hearing him on desert island discs talking about his life, I wanted to read this autobiography. Read more
Published 27 days ago by Ruby
A wonderful biography and love story
This is a really big book, and at least one review has said that it is too long and too detailed. I completely disagree, the writing is so good, the study of different cultures... Read more
Published 15 months ago by jem
Two Lives
I'm finding Two Lives a very enjoyable read. Its a bit like having a friend with whom I have a sweet, thought- provoking conversation each time I pick it up. Read more
Published 17 months ago by km
Completely Engaging
Someone recommended this to me ages ago and can't remember how it ended up on my piles of 'must reads". Read more
Published on 25 Jan 2010 by Sue Peters
too long too much detail
I am sorry to say I did not enjoy this nearly as much as the other reviewers.The story is about Seth's Indian uncle meeting a German Jewish woman in Germany before the war. Read more
Published on 23 Aug 2009 by Simone
Needs sharper editing
Two lives is partly biography and partly memoir. It's the story of two ordinary people from very different backgrounds (Indian, German/Jewish) caught up in extraordinary events -... Read more
Published on 9 Aug 2009 by E. Lander
Abridged, but Seth is a wonderful performer
Note that the book is abridged. I didn't know when I ordered it and I was quite disappointed, as I wanted to re-read and listen to it at the same time (always trying to improve my... Read more
Published on 15 April 2009 by Magdalena Costa Valles
Extra-ordinary
This book shows how extraordinary two 'ordinary' people can be. Even if it doesn't set out to, it highlights the vacuousness of being famous just for being famous. Read more
Published on 2 Jan 2008 by U Budgerigar
I enjoyed this more than A Suitable Boy!
And I very much enjoyed A Suitable Boy!
This was a very moving and engrossing account of the lives of Seth's great uncle and aunt in pre-war Berlin, during the war and... Read more
This was a very moving and engrossing account of the lives of Seth's great uncle and aunt in pre-war Berlin, during the war and... Read more
Published on 19 Aug 2007 by Lovetoread
Enduring Love
A very moving memoir about the author's great-uncle Shanti and great-aunt Henny. He became very close to them after they welcomed him into their home, when as a seventeen year old... Read more
Published on 22 July 2007 by LindyLouMac
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