Product Description
After more than 30 years Anne Greves feels compelled to break her silence about her first lover, and a treacherous pursuit across Cambodia's killing fields.Once she was a motherless girl from taciturn immigrant stock. Defying fierce opposition, she falls in love with Serey, a gentle rebel and exiled musician. She's still only 16 when he leaves her in their Montreal flat to return to Cambodia And, after a decade without word, she abandons everything to search for him in the bars of Phnom Penh, a city traumatized by the Khmer Rouge slaughter. Against all odds the lovers are reunited, and in a political country where tranquil rice paddies harbour the bones of the massacred, Anne pieces together a new life with Serey. But there are wounds that love cannot heal, and some mysteries too dangerous to know. And when Serey disappears again, Anne discovers a story she cannot bear. Haunting, vivid, elegiac, The Disappeared is a tour de force; at once a battle cry and a piercing lamentation, for truth, for love. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Gorgeous writing
This book is not even so much about the story, which in itself is stunning, beautiful, harrowing; it's about language.It's about poetry.In this it reminds me much of Jeanette Winterson.Some moments:


I needed memory and hope and since I could find them nowhere else, I looked for them in the declension of verbs.Words swallowed me like a deep river.

I hear a voice cry out anguish.If this is a man?Human music turned into a note of music, the rhythm of a sentence.Men have invented a word for this.They call it sublime.

The Khmer Rouge used words to kill the people.

I think I began to read this way, studying the words in an open book, waiting for absence to be filled.


I was spellbound by "The Disappeared."Read it like a crazy person. Have ordered Echlin's other work.Breathtaking.

the disappeared
While i thought the author's writing style was beautiful and incisive in spots, I think this may be the most depressing book I have ever read.It personifies man's inhumanity to man, and maybe we need to be reminded sometimes that such cruelty exists while we are living in our safe little cacoon worlds. It took me two days to recover from a really depressed feeling that the Cambodian scenes, which is most of the book, and I'm sure were accurately written, I really could have lived happilyever after without having been exposed to this extreme cruelty. To those who have mentioned that this is really a love story I find that ridiculous.It is more of an obsession story.The romance was short lived, but the obsession and cruelty far overshadowed it.I really don't recommend this book at all.

A Haunting Novel!!
This was a beautiful story of the power of love, the grief and indecency of loss, and the strength and potency of the human spirit to keep going amid dangerous and perilous conditions.

Anne Greves is a sixteen-year-old living in Montreal, Canada when she meets Serey, a Cambodian who is 5 years older than she is and a musician.Immediately they begin a passionate, sexual relationship.One day Serey decides to return to Cambodia to find his family whom he hasn't heard from in over a year.A daring decision on Serey's part as Cambodia was suffering in the aftermath of Pol Pot's savage revolution.

Ten years pass by and Anne has never heard from Serey and decides to go to Cambodia herself to find him.Unbelievably, Anne finds him and their reunion is as passionate as it was ten years ago.

Anne stays in Cambodia with Serey, becomes pregnant with his child and is excited and anxious waiting for the birth of their child.One day Anne is overcome with fever and rashes and is admitted to a local hospital.The doctor examines her and finds out she has dengue fever.What about their baby?

Suddenly Serey disappears and Anne hires a taxi driver she has come to know, Mau, to drive her to another city named Ang Tasom where she suspects Serey to be.What does Anne discover?

A haunting novel that will stay with you long after the last page has been turned.

Still on the Fence
The Disappeared" is a different kind of book than what I would normally select for myself. Now that I am finished reading the story, I'm uncertain if I'm pleased or disappointed for stepping out of my comfort zone. Set during the Cambodian genocide in the 1970's, "The Disappeared" follows the lives of two lovers-- Anne, a Canadian, and Serey, a Cambodian student.

There are a few things that I found off-putting about the novel. First of all, the author writes in a series of first person recollections. I found the flow of thoughts to read in a disjointed manner. I think this writing mechanism was supposed to represent the fragmentation of memories (and it did), but it also seemed melodramatic. Second of all, some phrases and conversations occured partially in untranslated French, and because of this I felt like I might be missing details in the story. But really, what bothered me the most was the portrayal of Anne and Serey's "love." I found myself wondering if what they had together could truly be defined as love. There was never a sense of the characters drawing strength or courage from each other. Anne makes sacrifices for Serey, but does he ever truly reciprocate? It seemed like their "love" made them secretive, anguished, reckless and even a bit self destructive. That is certainly not the kind of love that I aspire to.

Regardless, "The Disappeared" is a lovely story of survival, loss, sorrow and friendship. It paints a stark and honest picture of Cambodia and the struggles of its people. The secondary characters are intriguing and in many cases, more interesting than the primary characters. I thought "The Disappeared" was a good book, and a worthwhile read. But I don't recommend you place it at the top of your book list.

Love in the time of war
Read it and weep. Literally. The Disappeared is a quick, meaningful punch to the gut. In 228 short pages, author Kim Echlin wastes not a word or phrase in this despairing depiction of love and loss in war-torn Cambodia. Spanning decades and continents, from the dingy blues clubs of Montreal to the killing fields outside Phnom Penh, Anne Greves weaves a mournful path of despondency and courage as she follows her lover into the darkest recesses of human depravity.

Almost immediately upon opening this book, I knew I was going to enjoy it. Of course, "enjoy" is perhaps an inappropriate term given the subject. But a book's value is not measured in tidy narratives so much as in an ability to immerse its readers wholly into the world of its characters' lives. This holds true even when dialogue between characters is written intentionally dreamily, as if the protagonist's memory has decayed and dissolved over time, leaving only mystical moments where reality once breathed.

Strangely, I couldn't escape a familiar feeling for the first several chapters: the author's literary style reminded me of something else I'd read previously. Then it suddenly occurred to me: The English Patient. "The light in Mau's eyes was a pinprick through black paper," Echlin writes of Anne's first meeting with a new friend. "...I chose him because when he stepped forward, the others fell back...The light of his eyes twisted into mine." One entire chapter reads: "I can still see a particle of dust hanging in a sunbeam near your cheek as you slept." In very short order, it becomes all too clear that The Disappeared resembles Michael Ondaatje's masterpiece in little other than descriptive syntax, however. This is not dream-sequence-turned-real; it's a living nightmare, stretched and tortured into over thirty years of searching and loving and waiting and finding and searching all over again.

It is impossible not to empathize with Anne. Her naivete, her persistent belief in a justice, or karma, that will transform wrong into right, is as admirable as it is devastating. When she asks of her captor, "How can people move on without knowing what happens to their families? How can they move on without truth?" we want to laugh at her simplicity even as we cry for her faith in humanity. It is her ever-burning fire that ignites this story and affords us all the unique opportunity, if only for a moment, of believing again with her.

[...] ... Read more

Product Description
Long before the Bible, the Koran, and Greek and Roman mythology, the people of Sumer recorded stories of their gods and kings on cuneiform tablets. The world’s oldest epic poem, the 4,000-year-old Epic of Gilgamesh, tells of a hero who was part god, part man. But a recent discovery uncovered another, equally intriguing hero — Gilgamesh’s powerful sister, the goddess Inanna. Inanna embodies the quest for growth. Her stories describe her growth from childish inexperience and youthful exuberance into maturity as she gains the power to create, to destroy, and to name. She is a goddess of spirit and wisdom who outwits and defies the powerful, falls in love with the shepherd Dumuzi, and, like Gilgamesh, dares to seek immortality. The people of Sumer associated her with the planet Venus — radiant, strong, mysterious. Using Sumerian scholarship as a guide, Kim Echlin offers a sensitive and knowledgeable translation of the Inanna stories. Accompanied by the exquisite illustrations of Linda Wolfsgruber, these tales will interest both students of history and myth and anyone who appreciates art and poetry. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Beautiful and accessible
Echlin's translation, Inanna: From the Myths of Ancient Sumer, is a gorgeous little book. I bought it because I was looking for a rendition of the Inanna myth suitable for middle-school-aged girls. Despite what other Amazon reviewers' wrote, I thought Echlin's translation would embrace healthy female sexuality and serve as an unusually positive influence for girls coming of age. Though I now believe most parents will find Echlin's account too sexually explicit for a pre-teen audience, older girls and women will likely appreciate the accessible language and lovely illustrations, which present a fierce female character who enjoys the pleasures of sex within the context of marriage.

For those unaware, according to most accounts in Greek mythology, a parallel heroine, Persephone, an innocent girl, was sucked into the underground by being raped. While down below, Persephone grew and matured by enduring hardships and trials, and returned to be in the world for half the year as a more enlightened person. More recently, some storytellers say that Persephone stumbled into hell while picking flowers, which serves as a "cleaned up" version suitable for children.

In contrast, the Sumerian Goddess Inanna chose to explore the darkness below in order expand her consciousness. Inanna was a young married deity who discovered guidance and uncovered wisdom during and after her intentional descent to the underworld. As an ancient goddess, Inanna embodied traits we admire today. She was emboldened to make choices about her destiny, explored and appreciated her sexuality, wisely used her intelligence for good, and willingly undertook adventures and self-discovery. She suffered, as all do, but was not a victim (in Persephone's case, a victim of an uncaring, or some would say cruel, father). Therefore, most contemporary women in the West can more readily identify with Inanna and/or see her as a symbol of positive female strength and empowerment.

I highly recommend Echlin's and Wolfsgruber's work for readers familiar with Sumer's Inanna, and for those who enjoy myths but don't yet know of Inanna's grace. Echlin effectively streamlines language from another time for today's reader without losing the myth's integrity. Wolfsgruber's illustrations corroborate Inanna's journey in fresh, vibrant picture-form, which gives us a glimpse of Ancient Sumer. Really splendid!

Mixed feelings
I come from the land where these stories originated! but I have mixed feelings about the book. The illustrations are great! really took me back to the time when I wandered among old runes with ancient walls and drawings similar to these illustrations, though the coloring is different.
The story is about a goddess in old Sumer. Though I believe in one true God that made life and everything seen and unseen and don't believe in these ancient gods, i enjoyed the drawings. I found the story not very different from other love stories in ancient myths.

My reason to give it 4 stars is:
In some passages the book is written in an explicit language on the subject of sexuality, according to the ancient style of writing on this subject in Sumer and other old civilizations in Mesopotamia. So not suited for children to read from in my opinion! most of Mesopotamia ancient stories like Gilgamesh, have sexually explicit language. ... Read more

Product Description
Summoned home from Zimbabwe, Sophie Walker has returned to southern Ontario to nurse her dying mother. Her mother's farm borders on a tacky tourist spot called "Safari," and across from the kitchen window Sophie sees a herd of the immense Asian elephants playing in the snow. When the elephant keeper invites her to join in caring for the herd, she discovers a new human-animal relationship by recording and playing back the infrasound rumblings, bellows, and trumpets of the elephants. As she and her mother try to decode an Elephant-English dictionary, Sophie slowly uncovers an elephant culture, one which simultaneously honors the herd and the individual with Zen-like acceptance.Amazon.com Review
Elephant Winter is full of hushed wonders and harsher realities.When 30-year-old Sophie Walker returns to Canada to be with her dyingmother, she thinks her stay will be temporary. While the two "settle intothe daily business of waiting," she is drawn to her unlikely neighbors, thekeeper of the Ontario Safari and his five elephants. Soon enough, in fact,Sophie falls for both Jo and his charges, and decides to record and exploreelephant language and mores. Even in captivity, Sophie finds, thesecreatures strive for the greatest happiness and good for all, a far cryfrom the individualism of humans.

One visitor in particular is an almost allegorical representation ofself-interest at any cost, and Jo seems incapable of banishing him. Thatwould be Alecto Ryle. This unwelcome guest turns out to have made hisreputation on sadistic experiments and autopsy reports, not to mention themassacres that enabled them--and now he's hanging around the Safari,waiting for one or more of the animals to die.

In her first novel, Kim Echlin can occasionally be expository, particularlyin Sophie's five-part Elephant-English Dictionary. This is a very differentbeast from the glossary Barbara Gowdy created for TheWhite Bone, but it also has its beauties. Describing one salute,Sophie admits that most keepers "hold in disdain people who romanticizeelephants, but I have seen my elephants singing this evening song into thegrey Ontario winter twilight. Their bodies appear to soften and shift likeclouds on the rocky fields." Though Elephant Winter's human factoris itself gripping, Echlin's evocation of the intimate rapport between herheroine and the creatures she inherits can be sublime. After the matriarch,Kezia, loses her baby, she unshackles herself and escapes.

Through the darkness I finally saw her body, swaying down the road wherehorse farms and vegetable farms were strung like beads through the fields.She walked slowly and alone on that dark country road as if she werememorizing something. Drops of milk hung frozen from her breast.

Customer Reviews (5)

Moving and well-written
I read this book a few years back and loved it. Have recommended it to many friends. A beautifully told and moving story.

A gifted writer, spectacular in her love
'Elephant Winter' is about a young woman who returns home to Canada to look after her ailing mother.Her mother is dying of cancer but is determined to continue to do things she would normally do.The daughter, tired of being inside the house with artwork and bugies, soon becomes friends with Jo, the keeper of the elephants.He's a quiet, shallow man who worms his way into Sophie's effections.
A novel about love, lust, family and elephants, it is amazing to see the sameness that mammels and humans have. I loved Saba, Keiaz and Lear, the elephants.The elephants were not protrayed as animals but as humans with feelings and understandings.
It would be so lovely to be an owner of an elephant and feel the fingers of the trunk on your skin.To become to understand this great beast of nature.
The majestic creatures were interpreted by Echlin through sounds and songs.I particularly enjoyed the dictionary that she provided so that we could learn along with her.Although we will never be able to understand an elephant, it was interesting to learn nonetheless.
The relationship between Jo and Sophie was incredible, rich with agony and love.Nearly pure love.
Read this tale for yourself and you too will fall in love with Echlin and elephants.

Fine story, wonderfully told, by truly gifted writer.
A fine story, wonderfully told, by a truly accomplished writer. Deeply moving tale seems more real than fiction. About a young woman who returns home to help her mother go through the last dying stages of cancer andherself becomes involved with a small herd of captive elephants livingnearby at a private tourist attraction. I won't give away the details buturge you to read this book if you enjoy elephants and experiencingemotions.

A LYRICAL EVOCATION OF ELEPHANTS AND LOVE
How could any reader fail to be impressed by the originality and beauty of Ms. Eichlin's novel? A friend who has devoted his life to elephants gave me the book in Botswana's Okavango. I was immediately captivated by theauthor's almost mystical feeling for elephants. Her dictionary of elephantsounds is a triumph which several people who have spent their lives aroundelephants attest to. Altogether, this is a breathtaking opening act for atalent who will be around for a long long time.

Original idea.
I anticipated loving this book.I love Canada and I love winter, and I love good fiction.But I didn't love this book.I think the idea behind it is precious, but I was not satisfied by the content.The elephantdictionary was painful.The autopsy was shocking and dark, but not darkenough.The prose was not haunting or lyrical.So much more could havebeen described with the budgies and the artwork.The mute character wasnot developed to be dark until the end of the book.I was not suspiciousof him in the least.The love interest Jo, what a shallow character.Iwould have omitted the dictionary and developed all the characters andvisuals more.Rather than tell me what happened, I would have loved tohave been able to feel the cold and taste the smells. ... Read more

Product Description
Elizabeth Smart, author of By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, has long been seen as a woman determined by "Romantic" love. In this suggestive new look at her life, Kim Echlin shows that another-and powerful-source of her creativity was rooted in her fearless exploration of the female body and psyche-as daughter, lover of men and women, and mother of four children.Elizabeth Smart bucked tradition from the beginning. She left her bourgeois diplomatic circles in Ottawa to join bohemian artists in England, France and Mexico. When she fell in love with a British poet and became pregnant by him, she had her first baby in secret on the west coast of Canada and wrote the book that describes not only a love affair but a searing cycle of betrayal that leads to a woman’s new self-assertion. Through art and having a baby, Elizabeth Smart discovered both her voice and her autonomy-outside of convention.

The daring and pain and elusive moments of joy in this extraordinary life are told through Elizabeth Smart’s diaries, poetry and prose. Echlin brings new material to bear on this reflection including a hundred interviews with family, friends and work colleagues, as well as never before seen letters in which Smart reflects on birth and female creativity. She highlights Elizabeth Smart’s unwavering commitment to writing in a voice and aesthetic form that reflects authentic female experience. ... Read more

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Word count: 1068. ... Read more

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The Creative Non-Fiction and Cultural Journalism program at The Banff Centre allows writers a freedom they don't have in their everyday lives. Freedom to choose their own destinations. Freedom to arrive at some surprising places. The results of these literary travels are sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, but always thought-provoking. This is the third installment in the Banff Centre Press's cultural journalism series. ... Read more

Product Description
Mystical, seductive, and brimming with music and magic, Dagmar's Daughter follows three generations of passionate women. Norea emerges from the destitute Irish village of her childhood and stows herself on a ship bound for a remote island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Her daughter, Dagmar, is born with an uncanny ability to control the weather, and Dagmar's daughter Nyssa is as musically brilliant as her father and as struck with wanderlust. ... Read more

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An introduction to Chinese mythology. Colourful, sometimes grotesque and imaginative, Chinese mythology is just as moving and compelling as anything to be found in the better-known Egyptian, Greek and Teutonic traditions. In this book, Yuan Ke has culled from ancient sources, rearranged in chronological order and retold the variant versions of the creation of the world, the origins of men, women and animals and the era of the five endlessly warring emperor-gods. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Inroads: A Journal of Opinion, published by Inroads, Inc. on January 1, 2010. The length of the article is 5050 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Canada on the world stage: can we move beyond the foreign policy of good intentions?(The Disappeared)(Book review)
Author: Dominic Cardy
Publication: Inroads: A Journal of Opinion (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2010
Publisher: Inroads, Inc.
Issue: 26Page: 112(12)

Article Type: Book review

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more