Author | Patricia Schonstein |
---|---|
Language | English |
Genre | Novel |
Published | 2003 (Parktown: Random House) |
Publication place | South Africa |
Media type | Print (Hardback) |
Pages | 223 |
ISBN | 9780593051764 |
OCLC | 749961446 |
A Time of Angels is a 2003 book by Patricia Schonstein and follows the lives of a number of Italian Jews in post-Apartheid South Africa.
The Guardian, in a review of A Time of Angels, wrote "Schonstein's magical realism is dense with sensual imagery - taste, touch, smell, shimmering visions. At first it is confusing to be recalled so insistently to the good things of life at the same time as being continuously reminded of horror and war; it seems almost shocking that Schonstein can list the ingredients of bostrengo - a delicious cake - and then, almost in the same breath, recount a massacre of children and old men.
However, this uneasy mixture is the whole point of Schonstein's narrative."[1]
Other reviews have found it comparable to Like Water for Chocolate including Library Journal, Booklist, and Voice of Youth Advocates.[2]
A Time of Angels has also been reviewed by Publishers Weekly,[3] Kirkus Reviews,[4] People magazine,[5] and North & South magazine.[6]
While many sweet details of community life and a meticulous, respectful attention to the skills of all trades brighten the novel, the themes and language are familiar; the conclusion brings together many elements of the characters' fates but fails to imbue them with meaning.
An agreeable confection. Enjoy it for its glittering artifice, but don't look for depth.