Guernica by Dave Boling

[Michelle]

Guernica is set around the bombing of a small Basque town in 1937.. a bombing that was described by Winston Churchill as an

[JudyB]

This sounds good - I've found it interesting this year to read books which cover the Spanish Civil War of which I knew very, very little prior to reading these books. If I remember rightly Guernica features in The Return by Victoria Hislop.

[Michelle]

You can read an interview with the author here.

[JudyB]

Thanks for that Michelle - I enjoyed reading such an interesting interview. It's definately whetted my appetite.

[chesilbeach]

The Basque town of Guernica holds a special significance for the Basque people because of an oak tree, known as the Gernikako Arbola, where the assemblies would meet and has become a symbol of the traditional rights of the Basque people. In 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, the Luftwaffe bombed the town in support of Franco.

 

After a short prologue referring to one of the characters after the bombing, Dave Boling's Guernica starts in 1893, and the first half is a family saga, building the life stories and the history of the Ansotegui family members. The politics of the Basque country and Spain are threaded through the story, but the main focus is on the family itself, building up to the bombing and the aftermath.

 

The first half of the story reads like a ordinary family saga, but I don't think the writing was particularly special, but it did have heart and I felt an emotional connection to the family, even if the characters all seemed a bit too good to be true at times. From the prologue you know how the family will be affected by the bombing, and when the attack on the town comes, it was just a waiting game before finding out how the inevitable happens. And because of my connection with the characters, I found it very sad to read of the bombing itself, and the mark it left on those left behind.

 

I'm very glad I read it, as it expanded on my knowledge of that period in Spanish history, following my recent reading of George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia, but it had nowhere near the impact of that book, and I don't think it really explained the significance of the town of Guernica to the Basque people. So overall, a good and enjoyable read as a family saga, but not completely satisfying as a fictional representation of the bombing of Guernica.