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The Toymaker

The Toymaker 2

by Liam Pieper
Paperback
Publication Date: 27/06/2016
2/5 Rating 2 Reviews

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$29.99

A person is defined by the secrets they keep . . .

Adam Kulakov likes his life. He's on the right side of middle age; the toy company he owns brightens the lives of children around the world; and he has more money than he can ever spend, a wife and child he adores, and as many mistresses as he can reasonably hide from them.

And he is not the only one with secrets. In 1944, Adam's grandfather, Arkady, was imprisoned in Auschwitz and given an impossible choice. Now, as he's coming to the end of his life, he has to keep the truth from his family, and hold back the crushing memories of his time with one of history's greatest monsters.

As a mistake threatens to bring Adam's world tumbling down around him, the past reaches for Arkady. Everything he's spent a lifetime building will be threatened, as will everything Adam and his family think they know of the world.

Bold, dark and compelling, The Toymaker is a novel about privilege, fear and the great harm we can do when we are afraid of losing what we hold dear.

'Hugely memorable, The Toymaker is an unflinching examination of the dark instinct for survival that lies in all of us.' - Hannah Kent, author of Burial Rites

'The Toymaker is a bold and compelling tale, from a writer properly assured of his skills.' - Weekend Australian

'Pieper writes superbly. The Toymaker gives immediate and absorbing pleasure, and has similarities to J M Coetzee's Disgrace in terms of the main character's wretched search for redemption, both for himself and for humanity.' - Books+Publishing

ISBN:
9780670079384
9780670079384
Category:
Contemporary fiction
Format:
Paperback
Publication Date:
27-06-2016
Publisher:
Penguin Australia Pty Ltd
Country of origin:
Australia
Pages:
272
Dimensions (mm):
229x154x20mm
Weight:
0.36kg
Liam Pieper

Liam Pieper is a Melbourne-based author and journalist. His first book was a memoir, The Feel-Good Hit of the Year, shortlisted for the National Biography Award and the Ned Kelly Best True Crime award. His second was the Penguin Special Mistakes Were Made, a volume of humorous essays. He was co-recipient of the 2014 M Literary Award, winner of the 2015 Geoff Dean Short Story Prize and the inaugural creative resident of the UNESCO City of Literature of Prague. The Toymaker is his first novel.

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2.5

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2 Reviews

Didn't think it was much of a page turner

Contains Spoilers No
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From page one of this book you are not going to like Adam Kulakov, the protagonist of Liam Pieper’s challenging new work, The Toymaker. He’s weak, he’s a liar - he’s pretty much a scumbag. BUT he’s human - he’s alive on the page. Because the author captures humanity in his scumbag, you’ll read this book biting your lip and you won’t be able to stop until it’s over.

What’s more, Pieper isn’t kind you with his writing; it’s vulgar, it’s violent and it roughly shifts from one character’s perspective to next the full way through. This is a book about the invisible ramifications of war – a book that tries to depict those who lived in the dark heart of its worst atrocities and escaped to reinvent themselves and have families. A book like this should never be a walk in the park.

The Toymaker is a damning tale of the lives of the privileged and the ways in which they hide from one another. Read it and you’ll squirm in your seat.

Contains Spoilers No
Report Abuse