Gaëlle Josse
Teoksen The Last Days of Ellis Island tekijä
About the Author
Tekijän teokset
Vermeer, entre deux songes : Une lecture de Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675), Jeune Fille assoupie, 1657, Metropolitan… (2017) 2 kappaletta
Une longue impatience 1 kappale
Les heures silencieuses 1 kappale
Josse Gaelle 1 kappale
Associated Works
Merkitty avainsanalla
Yleistieto
- Kanoninen nimi
- Josse, Gaëlle
- Syntymäaika
- 1960-09-22
- Sukupuoli
- female
- Kansalaisuus
- France
- Asuinpaikat
- New Caledonia
Paris, France
Jäseniä
Kirja-arvosteluja
The Last Days of Ellis Island Tekijä: Gaëlle Josse
Powerful story about America's welcome mat, the first "landfall", even though Ellis is an island, for hopeful immigrants and future citizens. If Goodreads had 1/2 stars, I'd give this a solid 4-1/2 ⭐ stars.
Maybe my problem was I was expecting a more uplifting story about Ellis Island. Instead Josse wrote about the realities of the immigration experience. Reading the story of John Mitchell, the last supervisor and resident of the island, was interesting and I was saddened to think how much I disliked him by the end of the book. The book failed to resonate with me, perhaps it is in the translation?
Only 96 pages, but so powerful!
As the book opens, the Bureau of Immigrations Commissioner, John Mitchell, is preparing for the closure of the immigration inspection office on Ellis Island. In his solitude, he reflects on the 45 years he has worked there. Feeling a need to rid himself of the past, he begins writing a diary. He has nine days to exorcise the ghosts of the island’s many temporary inhabitants that haunt him. The author writes: “I am the captain of a phantom ship that has been abandoned to its ghosts.”
Through the author’s elegant writing, I could sense the emotions Miller experienced each time a new group of immigrants disembarked. “I was always moved at the thought of all these people who had risked their lives on board for a fate as yet unknown.” Miller bared his soul, revealing the struggle he went through the two times he let his personal interests override the rules of his position. “There was too much love, too much pain on those pages.”
This book makes me want to return to Ellis Island and see it this time through the eyes of John Miller. I think the author stated it beautifully in saying the Museum of Immigration now “guards the memory of all those exiles”.
I received this book from the publisher with no expectation of a positive review.… (lisätietoja)
As the book opens, the Bureau of Immigrations Commissioner, John Mitchell, is preparing for the closure of the immigration inspection office on Ellis Island. In his solitude, he reflects on the 45 years he has worked there. Feeling a need to rid himself of the past, he begins writing a diary. He has nine days to exorcise the ghosts of the island’s many temporary inhabitants that haunt him. The author writes: “I am the captain of a phantom ship that has been abandoned to its ghosts.”
Through the author’s elegant writing, I could sense the emotions Miller experienced each time a new group of immigrants disembarked. “I was always moved at the thought of all these people who had risked their lives on board for a fate as yet unknown.” Miller bared his soul, revealing the struggle he went through the two times he let his personal interests override the rules of his position. “There was too much love, too much pain on those pages.”
This book makes me want to return to Ellis Island and see it this time through the eyes of John Miller. I think the author stated it beautifully in saying the Museum of Immigration now “guards the memory of all those exiles”.
I received this book from the publisher with no expectation of a positive review.… (lisätietoja)
> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Josse-Le-dernier-gardien-dEllis-Island/611443
> LE DERNIER GARDIEN D'ELLIS ISLAND, par Gaelle Josse (J'Ai Lu, 2016, Poche, 192 pages). — New York, 3 novembre 1954. Dans quelques jours, le centre d’immigration d’Ellis Island va fermer. John Mitchell, son directeur, reste seul dans ce lieu déserté, remonte le cours de sa vie en écrivant dans un journal les souvenirs qui le hantent : Liz, l’épouse aimée, et Nella, l’immigrante sarde porteuse d’un très étrange passé. Un moment de vérité où il fait l’expérience de ses défaillances et se sent coupable à la suite d’évènements tragiques. Même s’il sait que l’homme n’est pas maître de son destin, il tente d’en saisir le sens jusqu’au vertige.
À travers ce récit résonne une histoire d’exil, de transgression, de passion amoureuse, et de complexité d’un homme face à ses choix les plus terribles.
—Johnny Gimenez (Culturebox)… (lisätietoja)
> LE DERNIER GARDIEN D'ELLIS ISLAND, par Gaelle Josse (J'Ai Lu, 2016, Poche, 192 pages). — New York, 3 novembre 1954. Dans quelques jours, le centre d’immigration d’Ellis Island va fermer. John Mitchell, son directeur, reste seul dans ce lieu déserté, remonte le cours de sa vie en écrivant dans un journal les souvenirs qui le hantent : Liz, l’épouse aimée, et Nella, l’immigrante sarde porteuse d’un très étrange passé. Un moment de vérité où il fait l’expérience de ses défaillances et se sent coupable à la suite d’évènements tragiques. Même s’il sait que l’homme n’est pas maître de son destin, il tente d’en saisir le sens jusqu’au vertige.
À travers ce récit résonne une histoire d’exil, de transgression, de passion amoureuse, et de complexité d’un homme face à ses choix les plus terribles.
—Johnny Gimenez (Culturebox)… (lisätietoja)
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