Displacement, both political and personal, is Messud's timely subject here. After being forced from their home, the fictional Cassar family moves from Algeria to Europe to South and North America, never feeling quite settled in these different locales or in themselves.
As she does throughout the novel, Messud tucks in delayed "reveals" about the characters; so it is that deep into the story, we learn that Lucienne is 13 years older than Gaston. In the novel's final pages, this unusual age disparity becomes devastatingly meaningful.
#claire-messud #this-strange-eventful-history #displacement #multigenerational-story #family-journey
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