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Zoli Colum McCann

Zoli By Colum McCann

Zoli by Colum McCann


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Summary

A major new novel about a gypsy woman exiled for betraying her people, from the prize-winning author of DANCER

Zoli Summary

Zoli by Colum McCann

The novel begins in Czechoslovakia in the early 1930s when Zoli, a young Roma girl, is six years old. The fascist Hlinka guards had driven most of her people out onto the frozen lake and forced them to stay there until the spring, when the ice cracked and everyone drowned - Zoli's parents, brothers and sisters. Now she and her grandfather head off in search of a 'company'. Zoli teaches herself to read and write and becomes a singer, a privileged position in a gypsy company as they are viewed as the guardians of gypsy tradition. But Zoli is different because she secretly writes down some of her songs. With the rise of the Nazis, the suppression of the gypsies intensifies. The war ends when Zoli is 16 and with the spread of socialism, the Roma are suddenly regarded as 'comrades' again. Zoli meets Stephen Swann, a man she will have a passionate affair with, but who will also betray her. He persuades Zoli to publish some of her work. But when the government try to use Zoli to help them in their plan to 'settle' gypsies, her community turns against her. They condemn her to 'Pollution for Life', which means she is exiled forever. She begins a journey that will eventually lead her to Italy and a new life. Zoli is based very loosely on the true story of the Gypsy poet, Papsuza, who was sentenced to a Life of Pollution by her fellow Roma when a Polish intellectual published her poems. But Colum has turned this into so much more - it's a brilliantly written work that brings the culture and the time to life, an incredibly rich story about betrayal and redemption, and storytelling in all its guises.

Zoli Reviews

A great book and a marvellously crafted story. I loved the different angles, the images and the depiction of the Roma. This is life without being sentimental or defensive. Roddy Doyle 'If a writer's highest calling is to imagine what it is to be 'other', then Colum McCann is a giant amongst us - fearless, huge-hearted, a poet with every living breath' Peter Carey 'I review a great many Roma-themed manuscripts for publishers, but none has ever moved me as profoundly as the haunting story of Zoli. With its stark imagery it takes one deep into the heart of World War II Europe' -- Ian Hancock Director of Romani Archives, Universtiy of Texas 'Zoli is an assiduously crafted and beautifully haunting story of Europe from one of Ireland's very best novelists. Every book from Colum Mc Cann extends his range and excavates new territories. He is an audacious and wonderfully skilled writer' -- Joseph O'Connor 'McCann's strongest suit is his brilliant ability to recreate a remote world and era...a worthy addition to the growing literature of Roma life.' -- Michael Arditti DAILY MAIL (8.9.06) 'It is here that McCann's novel transcends its surface manifestation as an historical novel and reveals itself for what it is - an unblinking meditation on the significance, value and challenge of cultural diversity. It is a novel about now and here, about how we cope - or fail to cope - with the others or Others in our midst...McCann's novel is a rare feat ' -- Gerry Dukes IRISH INDEPENDENT (9.9.06) 'This is a haunting and lyrical story, well written and researched.' TIMES (9.9.06) 'This beautifully written, heartfelt book is both compelling and moving from start to finish; a true page-turner that is unafraid to face the darker sides of life while evoking the joys and kindnesses that surprise and sustain us all.' WATERSTONE'S BOOKS QUARTERLY 'McCann intelligently poses complicated questions about immigration and identity that are deeply relevant today. His prose is sharp and scintillatingly sensual, and the final moment in which Zolo finally rediscovers herself is incontrovertibly moving...[a] beautiful, thoughtful novel.' -- Ed Wood INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY (17.9.06) 'McCann is as fine, and persuasive, a storyteller as any other working in English today...Much more could be said about the beauty and subtle judgement of this, McCann's finest novel, but what emerges most powerfully is a sense of compassion, even identification, with a people, who, because of the stories told about them, only need appear on a country road to inspire hatred and fear from their fellow man.' -- John Burnside THE SCOTSMAN (16.9.06) '[a] parable of love, betrayal and loss on a European scale...In an epigram to his previous bestselling novel Dancer, McCann quotes William Maxwell, who that in talking about the past we lie with every breath we draw. But the force of McCann's language is so convincing that these lies are melded into a compelling parable that in the end brings hope as Zoli begins to sing again.' -- Lucinda Byatt SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY (18.9.06) 'Last March, Dublin-born McCann was inducted into the Hennessy Irish literary hall of fame - with his haunting, poetic work he has surely earned his place among the country's greats.' METRO (Ireland, 30.8.06) 'McCann has created possibly his most memorable character in Zoli, and brilliantly captured the physical and intellectual turmoil of those years in this superbly written and deeply affecting book. Moving backwards and forwards in time, it is perpetually challenging and conjures extraordinarily vivid images on almost every page. Zoli is a novel to get lost in.' -- Dermot Bolger SUNDAY INDEPENDENT (24.9.06) 'There is great warmth in the novel, sparked by the author's genuine sense of commitment to this woman in both her actual and fictional forms. The story of Zoli deserves to be told, and with his gift for unpicking the seams of history, McCann brings to the fore its sad keynotes of manipulation and betrayal.' -- Eva Patten THE IRISH TIMES (23.9.06) 'McCann has immersed himself in gypsy history and poetry, so that we get an extraordinary insight into the gypsy mind and philosophy of ZOLI...The book is graphic about the persecution of the Roma, but makes no attempt to sentimentalise them. McCann has produced a deeply moving book that will possibly change your view of the world.' -- Alex Moffatt IRISH MAIL ***** 'McCann tells his story from several different perspectives - a contemporary journalist, Swann, Stransky, and Zoli herself. With each voice McCann performs an astonishing feat of ventriloquism and mimicry, even creating one of Zoli's poems...His novel is a hymn to specificity, a clamour against homogenisation and...McCann doesn't fall for ersatz philosophising or elevate his gypsy characters into noble savages.' -- Richard Eyre GUARDIAN (30.9.06) 'a delicately crafted story...This extraordinary tale of gritty and poignant survival, told in multiple voices, is carried in McCann's crystalline, action-packed style.' -- Michelene Wandor SUNDAY TIMES (8.10.06) 'his prose is...beautiful...and characters are pinned with deft precision.' -- Susan Elderkin SUNDAY TELEGRAPH (8.10.06) 'a fascinating novel...McCann has created a brilliant heroine able to straddle opposing worlds: Slovakia under Stalin, and the freedom of Roma life...This is a densely impressionistic narrative and the writing is compulsive. Zoli rightly dominates, and her multi-layered character is gripping...ZOLI is an intriguing look at an unknown history and adds great wealth to the emerging literature of Romany culture in the 20th century.' -- Julia Pascal INDEPENDENT (9.10.06) 'Colum McCann is an artist, not just a story teller - a poet...A must read.' IRISH WORLD (14.10.06) '[In ZOLI] McCann powerfully fictionalises the dramatic life of Slovakian Gypsy poet Papsuza.' SAGA (November 2006)

About Colum McCann

Colum McCann was born in Dublin in 1965. He has won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and been nominated for both the Irish Times Fiction Prize and the Impac Prize. He was recently presented with the Princess Grace Memorial Award. He has travelled widely and is currently based in New York with his wife and children.

Additional information

GOR010530050
9780297847595
0297847597
Zoli by Colum McCann
Used - Like New
Hardback
Orion Publishing Co
20060831
288
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
The book has been read, but looks new. The book cover has no visible wear, and the dust jacket is included if applicable. No missing or damaged pages, no tears, possible very minimal creasing, no underlining or highlighting of text, and no writing in the margins

Customer Reviews - Zoli