The Hare With Amber Eyes

Local Description

I loved this book right from the beginning and found myself wondering why I hadn't picked it up earlier. Edmund de Waal writes about the history of a collection of Japanese netsuke that has been in his family for generations. Reading about the personal stories associated with the netsuke and how the objects fitted into these people's lives was why I enjoyed this book so much. "I want to know whose hands it has been in, and what they felt about it and thought about it... I want to know what it has witnessed." - Jessie

Undoubtedly the most fascinating biography I've ever read, this book traces the path of De Waal's ancestors, the exorbitantly wealthy Jewish Ephrussi family, as well as his recently inherited collection of Japanese netsuke. He starts with Charles who starts the collection in Paris in the late 1800s, moves to Vienna during the horrors of two world wars where the netsuke are nearly lost to the Nazis, and finishes in Tokyo with beloved Uncle Iggie during the American occupation. This book covers a huge range of emotions, and political eras, and is written with real passion and poetry. A total must read. - Lucy

Edmund de Waal's The Hare With Amber Eyes is an exquisite book. De Waal inherits his family's netsuke collection, and in tracing their lineage, his reveals the relationships between objects and people, and the Ephrussi family's intriguing, and at times heartbreaking, story. Satisfying beautiful writing. - Stella

I have also read The Hare With Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal, which I just loved. It is a beautifully written family history spanning the years from 1870s to the present, beginning with the author's wealthy Jewish grain-trading family leaving Odessa and establishing themselves and their bank in Paris and Vienna, their time under the Nazis and leaving Europe and following the family's altered fortune after the war. This is a deserving winner of the Costa Prize for Biography. - Susi

Description

"264 wood and ivory carvings, none of them larger than a matchbox- potter Edmund de Waal was entranced when he first encountered the collection in the Tokyo apartment of his great uncle Iggie. Later, when Edmund inherited the netsuke, they unlocked a story far larger than he could ever have imagined The Ephrussis came from Odessa, and at one time were the largest grain exporters in the world; in the 1870s, Charles Ephrussi was part of a wealthy new generation settling in Paris. Charles s passion was collecting; the netsuke, bought when Japanese objects were all the rage in the salons, were sent as a wedding present to his banker cousin in Vienna. Later, three children including a young Ignace would play with the netsuke as history reverberated around them. The Anschluss and Second World War swept the Ephrussis to the brink of oblivion. Almost all that remained of their vast empire was the netsuke collection, dramatically saved by a loyal maid when their huge Viennese palace was occupied. In this stunningly original memoir, Edmund de Waal travels the world to stand in the great buildings his forebears once inhabited. He traces the network of a remarkable family against the

Promotion info

The history of a family through 264 objects - set against a turbulent century - from an acclaimed writer and potter

Awards

Winner of Galaxy National Book Awards: National Book Tokens New Writer of the Year 2010 and Costa Biography Book Award 2010 and Ondaatje Prize 2011

Author description

Edmund de Waal's porcelain is shown in many museum collections round the world and he has recently made installations for the V&A and Tate Britain. He was apprenticed as a potter, studied in Japan and read English at Cambridge. He is Professor of Ceramics at the University of Westminster and lives in London with his family.