Ten Green Bottles by Vivian Jeanette Kaplan

Ten Green Bottles by Vivian Jeanette Kaplan

I picked up this book several years ago at a Toronto book store while I was visiting Canada on business.  It seems to me I brought home a suitcase full of books written by Canadian authors, and Ten Green Bottles is one of my favorite books of all time. 

I read it before I started writing book reviews online, but it remained on my shelf because I loved it so much.  Recently I had some email correspondence with the author's agent and I decided it was time to read the book again and post a review. 

Ten Green Bottles is the true story of an Austrian Jewish family who escaped from Nazi persecution in Vienna in 1939.  The only country that would take them in was China.  After a long ocean voyage, they land in Shanghai with nothing.  Now they must learn to survive in a strange country also in the midst of a horrific war. The title Ten Green Bottles comes from a song sung by sailors in the bar Nini and Poldi run in order to support themselves.  One by one the bottles fall from the wall until none are left.  The song comes to represent Nini's personal struggles to adapt.  She wonders when her last bottle will fall sending her into the final abyss.

I love the history of China and until I read Ten Green Bottles I knew nothing of this chapter of it.  I was fascinated.  The Jews escaped one horror in Europe only to find another waiting for them.  The human will to survive is compelling.

Reading Ten Green Bottles again reinforced why it will stay on my list of favorites.  I love it from a historic perspective and Kaplan does a beautiful job of making the story come to life on the page.  With words she draws the reader into the carefree life of a child in Vienna, slowly changing the mood of the city as the Nazis take over.  The shock of first impressions in Shanghai as Nini and her family disembark the ship that has brought them to what they believe is safety, crackles with electricity.  I know Nini and Poldi.  I laugh and cry with them.  I walk alongside them through every joy and every hardship. 

Ten Green Bottles is one family's story of a piece of history we should never forget.  And this story is told in a way that will make sure we never do. 

Spring Tides by Jacques Poulin

Sometimes I have to actually read a book to understand why it is even on my shelf to begin with.  I bought Spring Tides in 2007 at the Miami Book Fair.  My friend Angie and I rode the Tri Rail train from Delray Beach to Miami just to go to the book fair.  We spent the afternoon touching all different kinds of books from small presses to best sellers to children's titles to antique wonders.

Spring Tides has the most beautiful cover which to me gives absolutely no insight to the story within.  It is the story of a comic strip translator whose boss sends him to a small, secluded island to work and be happy.  The boss comes every Saturday in his helicopter to pick up the translator's work and drop off provisions and groceries.

First the boss literally drops Marie on the island to make the translator happy.  Then the boss's wife who is called Featherhead because she appears hungover wearing a feather boa arrives on the island with her chihuahua in tow.  Later the Author and the Professor take up residence.  The boss brings another cat, The Ordinary Man and the Organizer all in the name of being happy.  Each new character arrives with the next spring tide.  All the translator really needs to be happy however, is The Prince.  The Prince is the tennis ball machine who challenges him to a match on a regular basis.

Jacques Poulin is a Canadian novelist.  I tell people I'm half Canadian.  My grandmother was born in Canada.  I have several Canadian friends and I love reading Canadian novelists.  I'm sure I didn't know who Mr. Poulin was at the time I purchased this book.  Spring Tides called to me, eh?  It's a funny tale that made me laugh.  I don't want to ruin it, but when I got to the end, I just didn't get it.  Just because I'm half Canadian doesn't mean I understand Canadian humor.  It's kind of like the 'eh'.  My friends use the 'eh' often and it sounds so charming coming from a Canadian.  Coming from my stiff American tongue, 'eh' loses all its appeal.

I'm going to give Spring Tides to my friend Inez.  She's Canadian, loves cats and making up nicknames for people.  The entire time I was reading this book I was thinking about her.  So it's meant for Nezzie.  I rate this book 4 out of 5.  Spring Tides is fun, quirky light reading that helped me to learn something new  about my roots.