The Island of the World

Fülszöveg

JMLJSi
This powerful novel tells the story of a child born in 1933 into the turbulent world of the Balkans and traces his life into the third millennium. The central character, Josip Lasta, is the son of an impoverished school teacher in a remote village high in the mountains of the Croatian interior. World War II is underway and the entire region of Yugoslavia is torn by conflicting factions: German and Italian occupying armies, and the rebel forces that resist them—the fascist Ustashe, Serb nationaUst Chetniks and Communist Partisans. As events gather momentum, hell breaks loose, and the young and the innocent are caught in the path of great evils. Their only remaining strength is their religious faith and their families.
This gripping story cuts to the core question: how does a person retain his identity, indeed his humanity, in absolutely dehumanizing situations? Ultimately it is about the crucifixion of a soul — and about resurrection.
"This is storytelling at its most... Tovább

Fülszöveg

JMLJSi
This powerful novel tells the story of a child born in 1933 into the turbulent world of the Balkans and traces his life into the third millennium. The central character, Josip Lasta, is the son of an impoverished school teacher in a remote village high in the mountains of the Croatian interior. World War II is underway and the entire region of Yugoslavia is torn by conflicting factions: German and Italian occupying armies, and the rebel forces that resist them—the fascist Ustashe, Serb nationaUst Chetniks and Communist Partisans. As events gather momentum, hell breaks loose, and the young and the innocent are caught in the path of great evils. Their only remaining strength is their religious faith and their families.
This gripping story cuts to the core question: how does a person retain his identity, indeed his humanity, in absolutely dehumanizing situations? Ultimately it is about the crucifixion of a soul — and about resurrection.
"This is storytelling at its most sublime."
— Joseph Pearce
"You will not want to put this book down until you finish it, and you will continue to live in it even after you close its covers. This story will change you, and make you a wiser, better person. Is there any greater success for a book than that?"
— Peter Kreeft
"This book offers a rich but unsettling fabric, the lovely and the terrible together, evoking not only the social tragedy and horribly tested piety of twentieth-century Croatia, but the fragile beauty of holiness in a time of adversity anywhere."
— David Lyle Jeffrey
"Michael O'Brien has done it again. Penetrating, incisive, lyrical and startlingly clear and crisp, this is a novel that obUges readers to think, think and think again."
— Michael Coren Vissza