A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Brigid Pasulka (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2009

The novel opens on the eve of World War II. In the mountain village of Half-Village, a young man nicknamed the Pigeon, under the approving eyes of the entire village, courts the beautiful Anielica Hetmanska. But the war's arrival wreaks havoc in all their lives and delays their marriage for six long years. Nearly fifty years later, their granddaughter, Beata, leaves Half-Village for Krakow, the place where her grandparents lived as newlyweds after the war and the setting of her grandmother's most magical stories. Beata yearns to find her own place in this new city, one that is very different from her imagination and the past. Her first person insight into a country on the cusp of change--and the human toll of Poland's rapid-fire embrace of capitalism--transports readers to another world. When two unexpected events occur, one undeniably tragic, and the other a kind of miracle, Beata is given a fresh glimpse at her family's and her country's, history and a vision of her own essential role in the New Poland. With the effortless, accomplished grace of a gifted storyteller, Pasulka weaves together the two strands of her story, re-imagining half a century of Polish history through the legacy of one profound love affair--that of the Pigeon and Anielica--which readers won't soon forget.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Pasulka's delightful debut braids together two tales of old and new Poland. The old is the fairy tale love story of the Pigeon, a young man so entranced by village beauty Anielica that he builds her family a house to prove his devotion. When war comes to Poland, the Pigeon works for the resistance, guarding the town and his Jewish sister-in-law with creativity and bravery. After the war, he and Anielica get engaged and the Pigeon brings his family to Kraków, but the fabled promises of the golden city and the glories of communism prove hollow. The new tale is about Anielica and the Pigeon's granddaughter, Beata, whose plainness has earned her the nickname Baba Yaga. Now living in a much-changed Kraków, Beata is a bar girl with no hopes of love or plans for the future. When tragedy strikes and Beata uncovers family secrets, she brings together the old and new to create her own bright future. Pasulka creates a world that's magical despite the absence of magical happenings, and where Poland's history is bound up in one family's story. (Aug.)
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Review

"Delightful … Pasulka creates a world that’s magical despite the absence of magical happenings, and where Poland’s history is bound up in one family’s story."

(Publishers Weekly 20090715)

"Grand in scope, yet meticulous in detail, Brigid Pasulka’s generous and affectionate novel finds universal truths in both its most-dramatic moments and its most-intimate observations. A compassionate, elegant, and moving debut."

(Adam Langer, author of CROSSING CALIFORNIA 20090809)

"Their love story encapsulates the complications and frustrations of modern Poland."

(Kirkus Review 20090812)

"One of the many gifts of Brigid Pasulka''s debut novel, A Long Long Time Ago & Essentially True, is that it transports us through the outer layers straight into the heart of Poland, brilliantly evoking the country''s emotional landscape. Pasulka poignantly portrays Poland''s checkerboard history iin the latter half of the 20th century and the evolution of its national character under Nazi occupation, Soviet Communism, and post-Soviet capitalism. With a passion for Poland that suffuses each page, A Long Long Time Ago & Essentially True rings hauntingly, echoingly real."

(National Geographic Traveler 20091018)

"The story of Pigeon and Anielica is consistently magical, and this first-time novelist has an indisputable talent for a tale well-told. Like any good host, she makes us feel as if we''ve found a small piece of home."

(Bookpage )

"Pasulka brings to both narratives a warm understanding of her characters’ foibles as they struggle to find happiness in a land racked by tumultuous change."





"Pasulka…does a marvelous job of capturing her ancestral homeland’s culture, including its supple, evocative language."





"Her sweet, generous novel offers hope that her appealing heroine and a nation to often brutalized frequently by the forces of history will both have better tomorrows."

(Chicago Tribune )

"Essentially True is warm and charming, and it brings together a matched pair of stories about old and new Poland together with careful craft."





"Pasulka shows the way that history''s disappintments provide the strength for new growth."

(Philadelphia City Paper )

"...Pasulka, an American descendant of Polish immigrants, has charms of her own—appealing characters and keen observations... The most resonant moments come in Baba Yaga’s everyday perceptions."

(New York Times Book Review )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 354 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co (August 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0547055072
• ISBN-13: 978-0547055077
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #781,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

BRIGID PASULKA, the descendant of Polish immigrants, first arrived in Kraków in the early nineties, with no contacts, no knowledge of the language, and only a vague idea of Polish culture. She quickly fell in love with the place, learned Polish, and decided to live there for one year. She now teaches English at a Chicago high school.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great book, September 22, 2009

By 

Audrey M. Neal - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True (Hardcover)

Years ago, I became a huge fan of novels that used myths and fairy tales as a way to reimagine and retell other stories. The best of these books straddle a line between fantasy and reality, literary fiction and genre fiction. Pasulka's novel is one of these books.

Told through alternating narratives, Pasulka mixes folksy language and fairy-tale elements to tell the story of Pigeon and Nela's relationship with a more modern narrative voice and plot sequence for Beata's day-to-day life in Krakow. The movement between the two narratives never gets confusing, nor does it grow tiresome. Instead, the mundane details of Beata's life at the bar and at home provide an interesting contrast to the more general and dreamlike quality of Nela's story.

This is a culture and a city that I'm unfamiliar with, for the most part, but I thought that Pasulka's lively characters and her attention to detail really helped to define this country and its growing pains for me -- a growth that is beautifully reflected through Beata's own struggle to determine her own life and make her own choices. I really connected to her as a character, and I found myself thinking about her and the decisions she made (or didn't make) even when I wasn't reading the novel, which doesn't happen to me all that often. The other characters are just as three-dimensional and defined, and while they often embody any number of stereotypes (which is common in mythic fiction), Pasulka adds more depth and dimension to what are usually fairly flat characters.

The writing is lively, and while I loved the characters, the plot, and the themes at work, it was the writing itself that made this book such a pleasure to read. There's such a range of emotion at work here too -- humor, heartbreak, hope. Pasulka has definitely written a winner. You should definitely pick this one up; I've seen it on the recommended new fiction shelves at a couple of different bookstores lately, and it is definitely worth the purchase price in hardcover.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, September 21, 2009

By 

Ecotorium "Ecotorium" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True (Hardcover)

Brigid went above and beyond in this novel. I laughed. I cried. I pined for more. And yet, I wasn't left wanting. It wasn't a Hollywood production. This is life. This book makes you feel as though you're hearing the first hand stories from the people who lived them. I can't give enough praise.

The strength of these people is awe-inspiring . All of which faced their own present day issues. Brigid's descriptions build the scene around you. You don't guess, you simply read. Her wit is something to marvel at. Her detail is uncanny. I couldn't put the book down. I didn't want it to end, and yet, I felt satisfied at the end.

Brigid, as well as her book, is simply brilliant.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars enjoyed reading this, July 13, 2010

By 

Lois Minsky "litlover" (burlington vt) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True (Paperback)

I like the novels way of going back and forth with the history of the family