Anna and the Swallow Man is a beautifully written historical fable set during the second world war. Much like The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, it deals with the loss of childhood innocence and attempts to capture a world at war through the eyes of a child. Despite the number of fable-like stories about this period in history that have been published during recent years, Savit’s story has a distinctive style and quite an original premise.
Anna is the seven-year-old daughter of a linguistics professor in wartime Poland. When her father disappears and his friends abandon her, she embarks on a long journey with the mysterious Swallow Man, who can talk to birds. They leave their identities behind and travel from place to place without an obvious destination, sometimes through empty forests, sometimes through cities and towns. They meet a clarinet playing Jewish man, whose beliefs conflict with the Swallow Man’s. Anna doesn’t know the Swallow Man’s name or where he is from but she loves the remarkable stories he tells her, which are really metaphors for the war raging around them. The Russian soldiers are wolves, the Nazis are bears and they are searching for an endangered bird, the last of its kind.
While I enjoyed the relationship between Anna and the Swallow Man and the way he shelters her innocence through his fantastical stories, some aspects of the story are left unexplored over the course of their long, rambling journey. The endangered bird is almost forgotten, even though, in Anna’s eyes, it is the purpose of their journey. From a more realistic perspective, their journey doesn’t seem to have any particular purpose, except to avoid soldiers and to remain anonymous and unnoticed. Since this novel is set during wartime, it is obvious why it is necessary for them to move around, but it is rather perplexing why they cross over the Russian and German borders and back for no apparent reason, especially when all the checkpoints are guarded and their passports are stolen from corpses. In spite of this, they rarely experience real, imminent danger, which I feel is a flaw in a book set during the second world war.
The way that this book uses complex language is refreshing; especially at a time when I find that many young adult books are overly simple in their writing. I learnt a few interesting words along the way, which is always fun! Complex metaphors and the coldly beautiful imagery capture the setting brilliantly. This isn’t the most historically accurate novel you’re going to read but the way it shows the war through the eyes of a child, although often in sophisticated, unchildlike language, is very original and compelling. The illustrations that decorate the beginning of each chapter are also worth mentioning – they are a perfect complement to the story.
The conclusion of this book leaves many loose ends, which many readers may find unsatisfying. While the Swallow Man is a major character, readers never feel like they know anything about him or who he is. Many hints are dropped about his identity but none of them form a clear picture. A very perplexing plot point is the way the Swallow Man appears to become insane after his potassium iodide tablets run out. Someone with more knowledge about medicine than I may be able to explain, but I thought it was odd to use the name of a specific drug in a book where so much is left unsaid.
While this is undoubtedly a compelling and thought provoking read, for me, its impact was marred by the extremely open-ended conclusion. Readers watch Anna grow up over the course of the novel but her story is left somehow unresolved. For some, the well-drawn characters, original metaphors and complex writing will make up for this, but I didn’t feel the same satisfaction I usually feel after a good story. Nevertheless, it is still enjoyable and I look forward to Savit’s future novels.
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