by Joseph Kertes

Recommended by Terry Fallis

The Amnesty International Book Club is thrilled to welcome guest reader Terry Fallis and his selection for our May 2016 featured novel: The Afterlife of Stars by Joseph Kertes.

In the waning months of 1956, while Russian tanks roll into the public squares of Budapest to crush the Hungarian Revolution, brothers Robert and Attila Beck flee with their family to Paris. As they travel through minefields both real and imagined, Robert and Attila grapple with sibling rivalry, family secrets and incalculable loss to arrive at a place they thought they’d lost forever: home.

Reading this novel, you cannot help but gain a deep sense of both struggle and wonder through Kertes’ storytelling. As a young boy, Joseph Kertes himself was amongst those who escaped Hungary in 1956, and this can be felt in the writing.

Click below to download the discussion guide.

About Terry Fallis

Terry Fallis is the award-winning author of five national bestsellers, including his most recent, Poles Apart, all published by McClelland & Stewart (M&S). His debut novel, The Best Laid Plans, won the 2008 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour and was crowned the 2011 winner of CBC Canada Reads as the “essential Canadian novel of the decade.” In January 2014, CBC aired a six-part television miniseries based on The Best Laid Plans, earning very positive reviews.

The High Road was published in September 2010 and was a finalist for the 2011 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. Terry’s third novel, Up and Down, was released in September 2012. It debuted on the Globe and Mail bestsellers list, was a finalist for the 2013 Leacock Medal, and won the 2013 Ontario Library Association Evergreen Award. In June 2013, the Canadian Booksellers Association presented Terry with the Libris Award for Author of the Year. Terry’s fourth novel, No Relation, hit bookstores in May 2014, opened on the Globe and Mail bestsellers list, and won the 2015 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour.

He blogs actively at terryfallis.com. His Twitter (X) handle is @TerryFallis.

Terry Fallis on The Afterlife of Stars

I loved The Afterlife of Stars the first time I read it. I was lost in the story, lost in the tension, and lost in that special space between humour and pathos. I loved the novel even more the second time I read it, but this time gained even more respect and admiration for Joseph Kertes as a writer. I already knew Joe as a wonderful writer and a winner of the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour. But I appreciated his storytelling prowess even more on second reading of this great novel. That’s a compliment. I was consumed with the story the first time around and just let myself be swept along. That’s what writers’ want when readers pick up their books. But on re-reading it, I marveled at the wonderful voices the author created and how they drive the story.

The narrator is a young boy, Robert, 9.8 years old, in his words—he likes decimals. It’s hard to write in the voice of a 10 year old. The author is not 9.8 years old. And it’s even harder to sustain it for an entire novel. But Joe Kertes captures Robert’s voice beautifully along with the innocence and curiosity that come with it. Robert’s brother, Attila, 13.7 years old, is the other compelling figure in the drama, guiding Robert and sometimes tormenting him, as older brothers do. Set in Budapest against the backdrop of the Hungarian uprising and the subsequent Russian military occupation, Robert’s family flees first to Austria and eventually to Paris. A family backstory involving a mysterious cousin who worked with Raoul Wallenberg is slowly revealed and young Attila becomes obsessed with it, ultimately to his peril.

Robert and Attila are the heart and soul of this story. When they are on screen, I found myself completely absorbed by their perfectly rendered rapport. Beyond his mastery of the boys’ distinct voices, Joe Kertes perfectly balances the serious and dangerous straits in which the family finds itself with the hijinks and humour that inevitably accompany any story driven by two young brothers. Their pitch-perfect dialogue, their adventures—including a memorable erotic encounter with a young Parisian housemaid—and their tragic foray into the sewers of Paris keep readers quite happily travelling on a knife-edge right to the end of this powerful story. Not many writers can successfully carry off the humour-pathos gambit—John Irving comes to mind—but count Joe Kertes among them.

Without giving too much away, there are cracks in the family’s foundation exposed by the trauma of the occupation and the escape from Hungary one step ahead of the Russian tanks. Tense and turbulent times can either blow a troubled family apart or bring them together. In the end, in the face of tragedy, Robert and his family gain strength from one another, and survive.

Joseph Kertes strikes so many authentic chords in this beautiful and compelling novel. Perhaps that’s at least partly because he escaped Hungary with his family back in 1956 when he was but five years old. The scenes in Budapest during the uprising and shortly before the Russian invasion have the feel of first-hand experience, though the author was just a child at the time. They ring true with a mélange of foreboding, malevolence, and love that stays with you long after you turn the final page.

I’m excited that through Amnesty International, this important book about the innocence of youth and the strength of family will reach an even wider audience. It deserves to be savoured and passed on.

-Terry Fallis

About the Author

Joseph Kertes

Joseph Kertes was born in Hungary but escaped with his family to Canada after the revolution of 1956. He studied English at York University and the University of Toronto, where he was encouraged in his writing by Irving Layton and Marshall McLuhan.

Kertes founded Humber College’s distinguished creative writing and comedy programs. He is currently Humber’s Dean of Creative and Performing Arts and is a recipient of numerous awards for teaching and innovation. His first novel, Winter Tulips, won the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour. Boardwalk, his second novel, and two children’s books, The Gift and The Red Corduroy Shirt, were met with critical acclaim.

His novel, Gratitude, won a Canadian National Jewish Book Award and the U.S. National Jewish Book Award for Fiction. Kertes has also been a finalist for a National Magazine Award and the CBC Literary Award.
kertes
His latest novel, The Afterlife of Stars, has been described by Anne Michaels as “unforgettable and deeply moving,” and by Richard Bausch as “brilliant, radiant.”
His website is josephkertes.com.