Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan

Yes, it has taken me a long time to get to Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan. Sometimes too much hype about a book can keep me away. Edugyan emerged out of nowhere in 2011 and became the It girl of Canadian fiction in 2012. There is scarcely a prize for which she wasn’t nominated. This was topped of in 2014 with Canada Reads.

So, if you have not heard already, Half Blood Blues is about a band of beleaguered Jazz men chased out of Nazi Berlin to Paris in the years leading up to the Second World War. The two protagonists, Chip and Sid, grew up together in Baltimore and went to Europe chasing a dream. The dream comes close to reality when Louis Armstrong wants to record with them in Paris. But as is so often the case, war gets in the way.

I think I am in the minority of people who did not like this book. In fact, it was almost a DNF for me. For me the book existed too much in the minds of the characters. I am not much for books of interior exploration. I am fascinated by the social history surrounding both world wars, and would have likes to have seen more of that. That is, after all, what attracted me to the book.

Who would like this book? If you like to read books that are award winners and are the talk of the town, you will want to read Half Blood Blues. That is, ultimately, why I read it. It is also a natural fit for a music lover. Music is at the heart and soul of Half Blood Blues. It may be because I read this back to back with Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932 by Francine Prose, that I think the two books go nicely together. Both deal with the club scene in the early years of WWII, but of the two I preferred Prose’s book.

I received a copy of this book courtesy of TripFiction, in exchange for a review. Please wander on over to see what I had to say there.