The Gustav Sonata, (Hardcover)

from EBT1002

Gustav and Anton meet on the first day of kindergarten. It's 1948 in a small town in Switzerland and Gustav responds to Anton's fearful crying by playing with him and distracting him. Gustav's mother, a depressed widow who works in a cheese factory, is not thrilled about her young son's friendshi...

from SoschaF

Set in the fictional Swiss town of Matzlingen, The Gustav Sonata is a quiet story that traces the relationship between Gustav and his Jewish friend Anton from their childhood in post-WWII Switzerland to modern day. It's a "small" novel in the very best way, reminiscent of Bruce Chatwin's "On the ...

from bodachliath

Tremain chose to set her latest novel in Switzerland, exploring the complicity that enabled the country to remain neutral during World War Two. There is plenty of music in this book, which is a novel in sonata form. Against this backdrop she has constructed a touching story of friendship and love...

from asxz

I liked this very much. If every novelist, at some point in their career, needs to confront the Holocaust, then this was an original and sideways way to go about it. Broken people living broken lives and managing the best ways they can. Searching for love and occasionally finding it. No one here ...

from ahef1963

The Gustav Sonata was an unusual book, but one that I really enjoyed reading, in fact, I stayed up half the night to finish it. The book is set in Switzerland, before, during, and after the Second World War. Although the book branches out to include other characters and other relationships, the f...