Eight of us gathered to discuss the story of Augustin, a deaf boy, searching for his friend Safta, surviving the war and how he uses his paintings to communicate. The main theme of the book is communication, how we relate to each other and how our attitudes towards each other can dictate whether communication can even be possible.
The story is revealed gradually through the various characters threads. With some aspects being alluded to in one person’s tale and then revealed in another’s.
The author uses art as a means of both description and communication and this was well described – we could picture Augustin’s drawings in our heads. While he had never been able to hear, or learn to speak we were somehow able to understand his feelings.
Some members felt that there was too much detail of some areas and not enough of other aspects. There was a lot of detail about Augustin’s drawing but we were given no idea of how Safta felt about losing everything due to the war.
The story illustrates how quickly people learn to deal with dangerous situations, for example how Adriana works out how to talk to the secret Police. While the war is the main driver for what happens to the characters the author doesn’t provide much information about the Russian invasion and assumes that the reader has some knowledge.
We gave it an average marking of 7 out of 10.