Rating: 
Summary: Fugitive Pieces
Review: A wonderful book, beautifully written, on the difficulty of dealing with the guilt of being alive after the Holocaust. Give it a try !
Rating:
Summary: Fugitive Pieces a Masterpiece
Review: It is rare that I read a book that I find totally satisfying and nurishing and rare that I read a book that strikes me as a work of genius. Michael Ondaatje's book The English Patient was one such book in the past few years and Fugitive Pieces is easily it's equal. The quality of the writing - the richness, the texture, the poetry of the language all make it stand out as the creation of a classic artist. I was captured by the first page and swept along with sheer pleasure until the very end. This is a writer who will rank as one of the greatest writers of the 21st century. This is art, this is literature at it's finest.
Rating:
Summary: 5 stars for the poetic writing alone!
Review: Forget the story of this book (it is great)....the sheer magic of the writing is great! There are so many of those great "one liners" that just hit you and you know you will always remember.
Rating: 
Summary: The Emperor Is Still Naked
Review: Fugitive Pieces, indeed. Not even creditable poetry. Certainly not estimable fiction. Pieces? yes. Fugitive? Without a doubt. The title may be the only honesty of this annoyance that pretends to be a book -- a novel or a long poem. I was asked by a friend to read it. Otherwise, I would never have finished it. Early on, I could sense its origins in poetic inspiration -- but of questionable quality. As I read I began to recognize yet another example of contemporary cultural product, the "packaged book" -- a stitched-together pastiche of poetic patches and prose hodgepodgeries pretending to Holocaust importance -- exploiting and thereby trivializing that tragedy. But the title should have warned us. These are "fugitive pieces." Why then blind ourselves with the perception that this book is more than that, as though it contains some deeper unity of meaning, some intriguing mystery? I cannot shake the feeling that this is yet another collection of discrete poetic pieces made to appear like a singular prose work. It may look like one but it doesn't read like one. It simply doesn't work. The seams still show. As for the poetry, there are flashes of lyrical beauty. But for the most part the poetic images are labored. Metaphors alone do not true poetry make. And "Fugitive Pieces," especially up front, drips in tiresome (and tired) metaphors. In fact, "Fugitive Pieces" is, itself, a metaphor for a book, not the real thing.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful novel full of poetry
Review: I haven't come across such a well-written novel in years. Its prose lapses into poetry. It is moving without sentimentality. It must be read, not only for its linguistic superiority, but of course for the power of the story. It is incredibly powerful, partly because of what is written, but partly also for what is left unsaid. The book tells us of a young Jewish boy separated from his family during the second world war. By pure luck he is rescued by a Greek archaeologist and smuggled out of Poland.... I was sceptical when I discovered the subject of the book... fearing detailed descriptions of gory concentration camps, but they are there only in the shadows. And for me those shadows are the very reason for the novel's success. I will definitely read it again very soon, but this time to savour the beautiful language and style rather than the compelling storyline.
Rating: 
Summary: You have to understand what the author is trying to convey.
Review: Fugitive Pieces is neither a novel nor a book of poetry. It is another form of expression which shares elements of both. With novels, the plot of the story is usually central to the understanding of the themes- not so with Fugitive Pieces; the events in the lives of the main characters are only secondary to their thoughts and feelings about their pasts. Because the plot is a less important element to the book, the author expresses her message in the thoughts of the main characters. To try to read this work as if it were a traditional novel is pointless. It might be boring to some but only because it is entirely different from most books. There is a profundity in this book that must be sought in the metaphors and short stories rather than a main plot. Only after these are understood, do the lives of the actions of the protagonists make sense.
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Summary: Beautiful. . . Nearly Great
Review: I found this book to be immediately engrossing. Unlike many of the reviewers, I did not find it necessary to let the book "grow on me". If anything, it seemed to me that the integrity of the book deteriorated towards the end, when it became somewhat over-wrought and plot driven (not necessarily a bad thing, but secondary to the effectiveness of this book). Nevertheless, overall I would say that this is a lyrical, evocative read. I look forward to reading some of Michael's much-acclaimed poetry, because I think her style would translate more naturally into that literery form.
Rating: 
Summary: Fugitive Pieces
Review: This is a complex and poetic novel, about a young boy, who witnesses the murder of his Jewish family by Nazi's during the holocaust. He is taken to Zakynthos by a Greek geologist. The boy, Jakob, then tells his story through diary entries. The pair migrate to Toronto, and his life story is told. The story is then continued past Jakob's death by Ben, a man so inspired by the philosophy of Jakob, that he journeys to Greece to recount the footsteps of his idol. The author, Anne Michaels is a poet - this is her first attempt at a novel - and consequently the book is full of poetic similes and metaphors. The style of the book is also quite spiritual, as the main character is so haunted by his past that he imagines his dead sister with him, as he remembers her when they were together. This past keeps interrupting his present, as though Jakob is reluctant to let go of it, and live his own life. This book is very calm, even the horrific murder of Jakob's parents and sister is written about in a dream like fashion. It also has a gentle, almost anti climatic ending. This is one of my criticisms of the book, as it seems to have little in the way of a conclusion. The style means that Fugitive Pieces is quite a difficult book to read, and you have to concentrate on the book's story to fully understand and appreciate it. However the story does come through with perseverance, and the novel comes together at the end.
Rating:
Summary: An interesting read
Review: Fugitive Pieces was given to me by an acquantance of my mom's after her master's presentation. At first I thought it was going to be a boring read. Instead it turned out to be an interesting read of one person's experience during the war and the relationship between two men who are affected by the holocaust, either their own experiences or the experiences of parents who went through the same thing. The interesting part about the book is Jakob's consitant reminders of his sister Bella and the things he remembers in his later years while in Toronto.
Rating:
Summary: unsatisfactory for women
Review: When I read this book I could not believe that a woman had written it. I feel ashamed that someone of my gender portrays women in such a cheap way and wants to show that men are superior to us and have really important problems that justify every kind of behaviour. The main character is transfixed on his sister and therefore unable to build up good relationships afterwards. This book is nothing for a modern woman.
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