Blooms of Darkness by Aharon Appelfeld

Translated from the Hebrew by Jeffrey M. Green, this is a quiet, gentle book that leaves you to reflect on the horror of the holocaust through a beautifully written story about an eleven year old boy.  Entrusted by his mother to the care of her childhood friend and prostitute Mariana in the brothel where she lives and works, Hugo chronicles his experiences of the war.  He’s kept in a cupboard for most of the time and that this book captivates your attention and that your reading a prose that is as delicate as it is insightful and dreamlike is no small wonder.

Much of what Hugo hears and sees from his time in the ghetto and his time in the cupboard at the brothel is shrouded both in his innocence and the reader’s true understanding of what happens and this is at times, heartrending.  Totally dependent on her, he gradually learns to anticipate Mariana’s moods, vacillating as they do wildly from depression to drunkenness, self-disgust and then back to despondency.  Slowly, and not entirely appropriately, they become utterly dependent on each other in more ways than one and that is what is at the heart of this book.  It isn’t a comfortable read.  There’s beauty in it, but for all her vulnerability, I found Mariana destructive and emotionally manipulative.  She ‘forgets’ about Hugo and leaves him starving for hours on end then demands affection, all of which he’s willing to give or forgive as she becomes all things to him in his isolation.  Her actions border on the abusive and if the genders were reversed, this would be a very different book, but somehow here, this is only acknowledged towards the end by other characters.  For most of the book, there is only Hugo and Mariana for Hugo and Mariana.  In his cupboard, Hugo dreams of his parents and his friends and imagines where they are, what they’re doing, how they might visit him and how soon and gradually, as the book progresses, he does come to understand the true nature of both Mariana and her work.

Mariana is an incredible character.  Often talking about herself in the third person, she is hugely flawed and incredibly sad.  For all her self-absorption, her rebellion in the brothel, her refusal to acquiesce as readily as the other women and ultimately her protection of a young Jewish boy in the midst of daily house raids shows her astonishing bravery, strength and commitment to a promise she made her school friend.   Other characters, though they feature little are well-defined even in their short appearances.  The last few chapters and more specifically the last page is utterly moving and marks the true end of Hugo’s innocence.

Aharon Appelfeld is almost unknown as a writer in the UK; most of his work having been published only in the USA. There’s a hint of Primo Levi about this but ultimately it is a book about human innocence.  It’s also about bravery and it is so very sad.  It is a book I am glad I’ve read if only to appreciate the incredible prose and whilst the story is dark and tragic, you’re left with some small, quiet hope for Hugo at the end.

ISBN: 978-1-84688-148-0 · £12.99 · Paperback