The Hare With Amber Eyes
51 pages • 1-hour read
Edmund de WaalThe Hare With Amber Eyes
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Book Brief
354
Biography • Nonfiction
Europe • 19th-21st Centuries
•
Family•
Perseverance2010
Adult
18+ years
Super Short Summary
The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal traces the journey of a collection of Japanese wood and ivory carvings called netsuke through multiple generations of the author's family, the Ephrussis, an affluent Jewish banking family in nineteenth-century Paris and Vienna. The memoir explores how the netsuke managed to survive various historical upheavals, including the fall of the Ephrussi banking empire and the horrors of World War II. Topics related to World War II, antisemitism, and the Holocaust appear in the book.
Melancholic
Nostalgic
Contemplative
Bittersweet
Mysterious
Reviews & Readership
62,203 ratings
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Mixed feelings
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Review Roundup
The Hare With Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal is widely praised for its compelling blend of art, history, and memoir. Readers commend its lyrical prose and detailed narrative about a family's rich cultural heritage. Some critics, however, find the pacing uneven and the level of detail occasionally overwhelming. Overall, it is seen as an insightful and poignant work.
Who Should Read The Hare With Amber Eyes?
An ideal reader for The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal is someone who enjoys memoirs that intertwine personal history with broader historical events. Similar readers might appreciate The Hare with Amber Eyes as well as books like The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls or The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal or Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan.
62,203 ratings
Loved it
Mixed feelings
Not a fan
A key ancestor who purchased the netsuke collection, he was a prominent art patron in late 19th-century Paris, engaged with the Impressionist movement and the cultural vibrancy of la belle époque.
De Waal's great-grandfather, who unexpectedly inherited the family's fortune and lived in Vienna, is depicted as preferring scholarly pursuits in a world that both admired and resented his success.
De Waal's great-uncle, who became a fashion designer and embraced a life of change and renewal, eventually settling in Japan with the netsuke and continuing his family's legacy through his unique path.
De Waal's grandmother, known for her intellectual rigor and posthumously published writings, she plays a key role in preserving family history through her journals and retrieval of the netsuke.
354
Biography • Nonfiction
Europe • 19th-21st Centuries
•
Family•
Perseverance2010
Adult
18+ years
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