A fascinating book with a great cover
"Laure is the curator of the Museum of Broken Promises. A wonderful space in Paris cramped with 'fragments of lives that have not gone according to plan'. One of the objects is a piece of her own life which leads the reader to Prague and Laure's experience with communism in her early twenties.
We move back and forth between cities, getting to know the young woman she was and how she became the strong woman she is. Also included are parts of her time in Berlin, facing the result of a collapsed regime in a country trying to pick up the pieces."
The idea of a museum where people donate items symbolising a broken promise frames the central story of life in the later years of Czechoslovakia. It has a lot to say about European politics of the time, and it gives a wonderfully vivid portrayal of the great cities of Paris and Prague.
I really liked getting to know Laure and seeing how she changed over time, and how she became a different person as curator of the museum than she was when she arrived in Prague as an innocent young girl. However, the jumpy timelines were hard to follow in my opinion and this made it quite hardgoing and confusing at times. I struggled at times to keep going with the book but was glad I persevered to the end.
On a positive note, the cover is absolutely wonderful and gives the reader an insight into the Museum of Broken Promises and all the secrets it holds inside.
We move back and forth between cities, getting to know the young woman she was and how she became the strong woman she is. Also included are parts of her time in Berlin, facing the result of a collapsed regime in a country trying to pick up the pieces."
The idea of a museum where people donate items symbolising a broken promise frames the central story of life in the later years of Czechoslovakia. It has a lot to say about European politics of the time, and it gives a wonderfully vivid portrayal of the great cities of Paris and Prague.
I really liked getting to know Laure and seeing how she changed over time, and how she became a different person as curator of the museum than she was when she arrived in Prague as an innocent young girl. However, the jumpy timelines were hard to follow in my opinion and this made it quite hardgoing and confusing at times. I struggled at times to keep going with the book but was glad I persevered to the end.
On a positive note, the cover is absolutely wonderful and gives the reader an insight into the Museum of Broken Promises and all the secrets it holds inside.