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Genre: Historical Fiction Main characters: Klara and Drago Bozic Time and place: 1883-1919, a town whose name was Pleasant Slopes, just outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but everyone called Thirsty First sentence: “In the beginning, Drago smelled of dirt and bloom, the odor that would rise if you peeled the earth back at its seams.” Summary: The book opens in 1883 in Croatia, where Klara is taking care of her father and her many brothers. A stranger, Drago, stops by at their door on the way to America, and Klara knows at once that she must leave her small town and go with him. They get married a few weeks later and Klara is happy to leave an abusive father behind and to start a new life. To her surprise, Drago turns out to be less of a dashing hero and more of a grumpy, brutal fellow himself. Klara’s lot in life has not improved a bit, she has just changed a tyrant with another. But she has no place to go so she endures in silence, takes care of the house and bears Drago children. Years pass and Sky, Klara’s first born daughter, takes a husband of her own. And so the story repeats itself, as like her mother and her mother before that, Sky has just changed one tyrant with another. |
The book is, above else, character driven. Everything revolves around the main character, Klara, her choices, good or bad, and the way these choices affect the people around her, her friends and children. Her life is not an easy one, and yet she tries to bear it all with her head up, and I esteemed her for that. Sure, she is not perfect, at times her burden wearies her, at times she is consumed with rage, and yet she tries to be as good a person as she can be and always puts her trust in God. Drago is in a way her very opposite. He is rough, he doesn’t care who he hurts, he spends almost all his time and all the little money they have down at the town pub. And yet at times I do think that he is nevertheless in love with Klara and cares for her in his own, brutal way.
One thing that made me love the book was that everyone in Thirsty (except Drago) is essentially good. While there are some of those whom we get to know a bit more closely who have some secrets of their own, or negative traits, every single person is Klara-like, wanting to be good, wanting to do well by others. I liked to read about that :) My favorite characters were the Zupanovics, Klara’s friends and next door neighbours, Katherine and Jake. And, of course, Old Man Rupert, the owner of the patch of land where Sky was born, forever after changed by the experience.
A(n almost random) quote about Drago as opposite to the rest:
“[...] Drago was laughing at everything, even Katherine’s stories. But his laughter wasn’t light. It didn’t float into the night sky with Klara’s and Katherine’s and Jake’s. It buried itself in the ground, dug into the earth like a rat.”
Although it deals with a hard theme, abusive relationships, and with life in a dreary little town, at the turn of the century, overall the book is far from depressing. While Drago was mostly violent or at least gruff, there are also a few moments of almost tenderness between him and his wife. Klara’s life also had all sorts of little blessings. There are lots of people in the town who really care for her and stand by her side in times of trouble. Now and then there are moments of beauty, made all the more enchanting by the stark contrast with the rest of the time. One day a flock of butterflies covers the sky of Thirsty, another day Klara is told a fantastic story by her friend, one day Klara receives as a present a talking, fascinating bird.
What I liked most: The writing. The writing is beautiful (as I am sure it shows even in the very first phrase). One of the places I enjoyed this most was in the days a cloud of butterflies came to live in Thirsty (unfortunately for a very short while), making everyone think it was a sign from God. A beautiful sign and filled with hope, making at least one character think that God must definitely be a female given the medium of choice. Lots of quotes I like regarding the imagery: the butterflies are a “dancing mosaic of color“, an “undulating stained glass window“, and were “twirling like the colors and patterns of a kaleidoscope“.
Also, the little stories Katherine told Klara at times (my favorite by far, making me laugh, being the one about how Amen came to be: show spoiler
)What I liked least: I was a bit thrown off-balance about the way Klara’s silence ended (the carnival scene), because it seemed a bit forced and a bit implausible to me. But then again, what do I know.
Recommend it to?Anyone who likes reading character-driven books. The writing is beautiful so it’s well worth a read (or at least it was for me :) ).
See also
The site of Kristin Bair O’Keeffe
The blog of Kristin Bair O’Keeffe
Kristin Bair O’Keeffe on Twitter
The site of Thirsty: the Novel
An interview with the author
Amazon Affiliate. If you click an Amazon link and buy something, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Nice review! I totaly agree that the novel was character driven and centers around Klara. You might be interested in what the author has to say about her literary influences in Q & A with Kristin Hope you will visit.