About the Book
Werner Zilch was adopted as an infant, and knows nothing of his biological family. But when, in 1970s New York, he meets the family of Rebecca, the woman he has fallen in love with, a mysterious link means he must uncover the truth of his past, or run the risk of losing her.
Spanning 1945 Dresden, the Bavarian Alps and uncovering Operation Paperclip, this is a riveting novel of family and love that seamlessly blends fact with fiction.
Format: Paperback (352 pages) Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Publication date: 12th July 2018 Genre: Historical Fiction
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My Review
I’ve been attempting to continue the good work started through taking part in NetGalley November by reading some of the older books on my NetGalley To-Read shelf. The Last of Our Kind is one of those, having been on my shelf for longer than I care to mention.
The plot of the novel depends on a huge helping of coincidence, starting with a chance encounter between Werner Zilch and Rebecca Lynch in a New York restaurant in 1969. From the moment he sees Rebecca, Werner becomes convinced she is the woman for him, christening her ‘the love of my life’ (TLOML) and frequently referring to her by that moniker or as ‘my beauty’. They embark on an affair which sees them hanging out in trendy bars and restaurants, listening to Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa and Nina Simone perform on stage, and hobnobbing with Andy Warhol at his studio, The Factory. ‘At the Electric Circus, evening gowns mingled with flowery sundresses, men with slick-backed hair talked with guys covered in tattoos, and a man dressed as a Roman emperor could come on to a model in a sequinned minidress.’
The relationship between Werner and Rebecca is a torrid affair and at one point Rebecca disappears from Werner’s life after a particularly uncomfortable meeting with her family. He professes himself bereft although he manages to find consolation elsewhere before long.
Despite the tragic circumstances of his birth, I didn’t find Werner a particularly likeable character. He is brash, arrogant and self-obsessed, seemingly motivated by a combination of ambition and lust, and completely convinced he is irresistible to women. The fact he was adopted and knows little about his birth parents didn’t seem to me to entirely excuse his behaviour and his attitude towards women. His sister, Lauren, and best friend and business partner, Marcus, do their best to control Werner’s worst excesses with, it has to be said, limited success.
Alternating between the story of Werner’s relationship with Rebecca are chapters set in Germany during World War 2 in which we learn about Werner’s birth and his early life in the care of Magda, the sister of his birth mother. Through her harrowing story the reader witnesses the horrors of the Nazi regime. I thought these sections of the book were much more compelling and powerful than Werner’s story in the later timeline.
The two storylines are written in very different styles and for a lot of the time they felt like two separate books stapled together only in the final few chapters. The point at which the storylines come together introduces the element of mystery referred to in the book description but again this relies on a generous amount of coincidence. I found myself agreeing with Werner when he observes, ‘It’s impossible that out of all four billion people who live on this planet we managed to meet…’.
The Last of Our Kind had many elements I admired but overall I was left a little disappointed. In this respect I seem to be out of step with critical opinion as the book won the Académie Francaise Grand Prix du Roman 2016, one of the most prestigious literary awards in France.
I received a review copy courtesy of Hodder & Stoughton via NetGalley.
In three words: Dramatic, emotional, uneven
Try something similar: The Lost Girl in Paris by Jina Bacarr
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About the Author
Adélaïde de Clermont-Tonnerre’s first novel, Fourrure, won five literary prizes in France. Le Dernier des Nôtres (The Last of Our Kind) was the winner of both the Académie Francaise Grand Prix du Roman and the 2016 inaugural Filigranes prize, awarded to the book with the widest general appeal. It was on the longlist for the 2016 Renaudot prize, on the shortlist of four for the 2016 Landerneau prize, and longlisted for the Prix de Flore. (Photo: Twitter profile)
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What Cathy Read Next... 
Hm… maybe it lost something in translation. It doesn’t sound very appealing to me – not from your review and not even on the basis of the summary alone. Oh well… on to the next book!
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Yes, I was rather disappointed given it had won a literary prize. However it’s one less on my NetGalley shelf 🙂
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