The Breaking of Eggs: A Novel by Jim Powell

The Breaking of Eggs: A Novel

Jim Powell
351 pages
Penguin Books
Jul 2010
Hardcover
All Fiction WSBN
0
Readers
0
Reviews
0
Discussions
0
Quotes
Read Jim Powell's blogs and other content on the Penguin Community. The Breaking of Eggs is the story of the curmudgeonly Feliks Zhokovski, Polish by birth, Communist at heart, who at age 61 finds that just about everything he has based his life on is crumbling. Separated from him family as a child when the Nazis invaded Poland, Feliks is currently living in Paris and his life's work is a travel guide to the old Eastern bloc. But unfortunately for Feliks, it's 1991: the Berlin Wall has fallen, Communism has collapsed, East Germany isn't the economic miracle he wants it to be, and he's forced to confront the fact that his travel-writing days are numbered. His guide was a flourishing business, but the old pro-Communist descriptions won't do, for Western visitors will now be able to see for themselves. So he makes the (extremely difficult) decision to sell his guide to a big, capitalist American publisher. This sets in motion a chain of events that will reunite him with a brother living in Ohio that he hasn't seen in fifty years, reveal the truth about the mother he thought abandoned him and offer him a second chance with a long-lost love. Equal parts hilarious and moving, The Breaking of Eggs is the story of a man who closed himself off from everyone and everything years ago and now awakens to discover the world has changed dramatically and he must change with it. The Breaking of Eggs also has the added bonus of being a crash course in 20th century European history, subtly told as a backdrop to Feliks' riveting personal story. Imagine Everything is Illuminated meets The Elegance of the Hedgehog, then forget all the publishing clichés and discover this incredible new voice.
Join the conversation

No discussions yet. Join BookLovers to start a discussion about this book!

No reviews yet. Join BookLovers to write the first review!

No quotes shared yet. Join BookLovers to share your favorite quotes!

Earn Points
Your voice matters. Every comment, review, and quote earns you reward points redeemable for Bitcoin.
Comment +5 pts Review +20 pts Quote +7 pts Upvote +1 pt
BookMatch Quiz
Find books similar to this one
About this book
Pages 351
Publisher Penguin Books
Published 2010
Readers 0