Book review : The Thirty-Fifth Page

 The Thirty-Fifth Page
by 
Lya Badgley
Atmosphere Press, 2025
Genre : Historical fiction



“Religion was…there,” he said, waving a hand vaguely. “But it didn’t define you. Not like now.” - The Thirty Fifth Page 

Why does art matter, especially books ? Are war correspondents scavengers or documenting truth? If yes, whose truth and at what cost? Are they just showing suffering in neat consumable packages which people can watch without guilt? Does history not stay in past but leaks into the present and it is just a circle if we pretend the violence and injustice of the past never took place? Is home a place or a person? These questions and more are asked and answered by the author in her book, "The Thirty Fifth Page."

In 1992, American Miriam aka Miri Adler takes up a research project of the Sarajevo Haggadah and Jennifer Cooper is a war correspondent expecting war to break out in Yugoslavia. Enter Malcolm Pyre, a stringer from San Francisco who Miri is attracted to but distrusts. When Sarajevo is bombed, Miri is given the Sarajevo Haggadah and asked to protect it by her Bosnian friend, Jusuf, who is in charge of the Sarajevo museum when it is bombed.. While Malcolm offers Miri a chance to sell it, she turns it down. Then she meets a young girl Vila whose grandmother is shot dead in front of the journalists. While Miri decides to return to America, she also decides to drop the  Vila at her village. This is where the book actually begins as Miri has to escape Serbian Army who seem to be searching for the Sarajevo Haggadah. How did they know it is missing? Who is Vila and Malcolm? Who is Goran Markovic who helps Miri ?

Miri returns after 23 years in 2015 at the request of the Sarajevo museum as they wish to honor her. Once she lands, it starts all over again. The book disappears. What happened to Goran? What about Malcolm and her friend Jusuf? What about the Sarajevo Haggadah itself which now has a new page ? What does this mean?

While reading , the reader will find the story of Yugoslavia breaking up into Bosnia and Serbia very similar to that of Ukraine and Russia including the colors of the flags.

The writing is clear, insightful with a beauty so profound that the reader should be prepared to mark many passages. It is kind and humane that the author will make most readers rethink our stated positions in politics and international affairs.I understood why there is a sudden rise of the right wing worldwide . The genre though stated as historical fiction, encompasses thriller, mystery, magic, horror, fable and fantasy.

This is a book everyone should read as it ends with hope- Hope for humanity irrespective of religion, race, language or region. Good book to end this year with.

Buy it here . Amazon

Where David Threw Stones - book review

 

Where David Threw Stones
by
Elyse Hoffman
Genre : Mixture of Historical fiction, Fantasy and Mystery.

"Sweet kids raised on poison grow into twisted bastards" - Where David Threw Stones


When I picked up the book to read, I thought the novel would be something about a boy named David and the German Goliath - Hitler and Nazis and how they were brought down in WW2. The author Elyse Hoffman proved me wrong as the story begins in 1968 when a kid named David Saidel blames himself for his parents' death even though they are killed by neo-nazis in Munich. The child is sent to Brennenbach to live with his maternal grandfather. David becomes the child who refuses to smile and then you are introduced to fantasy and history as the town reverts back to Hitler's Germany of 1943 at the stroke of midnight and  stays that way before changing over to 1968 during the day.

David is warned not to step out during midnight but he does anyway one day when he loses his grandfather's dog Mozart. What he faces during the hours is part of the mystery and what a mystery it is. So does David learn about himself and does the curse on Brennenbach ever end? Read the book to find out.

The writing style is crisp, the pace is fast and the book is a page turner. This is a fascinating mix of historical fiction, fantasy and mystery, meshed together and told in a riveting, heart wrenching and unique style which I never thought was possible. The author manages to zip through genres with the ease of a magician while keeping the reader glued to the pages.

As I read it, two things struck me about this book. It is very relevant for the world today where hate as an ideology is being spread against some "other" and there is a generation growing up only knowing hate and frankly it scares me as it is becoming the new normal. The second is for the forgotten genocides in other parts of the world like the Tamil genocide in Sri Lanka in 2009 when over 300,000 people were killed in a week using cluster bombs and other banned weapons provided by 21 countries which either directly or indirectly participated with the Sri Lankan Army in the genocide irrespective of their ideologies - both sides of the Cold War bloc. Even today people in Lanka are yet to reconcile and the simmering hatred is still justified in the name of a falsified history and superiority provided by militant Buddhist monks and Sinhalese majority that is taught to children and the people stay silent because they fear speaking up or speaking out.

Everyone should read this book - doesn't matter if you are from the west or east, north, south, majority or minority in any part of the world. I hope this book changes the way you think about your own race, religion, language, identity and about "others" and helps you speak up and speak out. Never forget where and to whom you are born is just an accident of birth.

Buy the book on Amazon