The Clothes on Their Backs, by Linda Grant is a novel that revolves around Vivien Kovaks, and her passage from childhood to womanhood beginning in 1950s London.

From what I had read on the back of the paperback edition, I expected the book to be an interesting story line, especially since it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. The fact that it was based on Jewish Hungarian immigrants (Vivien’s parents Ervin and Berta), also caught my attention. I was hoping to learn more about the immigrant experience from it, as part of my own familial lineage includes Lithuanian immigrants, who emigrated to England.

In that respect The Clothes on Their Backs was interesting, but even at that, the novel didn’t delve deeply into that aspect. The book is mainly about Vivien, and her relationship with her parents, while coming of age, and also her interactions with an uncle she never knew existed until she was a young woman.

Vivien’s parents left Hungary at the right moment, able to escape the horrors of the Holocaust. They moved to a flat in a well-to-do area of London, known as Marylebone. Ervin is a jeweler, and her mother tends to the house. They don’t go out, stay to themselves and lead a simple and boring existence, not wanting to be noticed in any manner. Enter Sandor.

Her father’s brother, Sandor, remained behind, and was sent to a slave labor camp. He eventually emigrated to London, and became a slum lord there. Ervin and Sandor are estranged, and Ervin wants to have nothing to do with his brother, or anything to do with his past, for that matter.

Vivien eventually manipulates her way into Sandor’s life, or better yet, should I say that Sandor manipulates her into his life. From there begins a story of darkness, secrets, assimilation and identity. The clothes represent both the superficiality of how we present ourselves to the world on the outside, and the masks we wear to hide our emotions. They also represent how many immigrants arrive at a country with only the clothes on their backs, and no other belongings or luggage. Clothes are a metaphor, in other words, a metaphor for appearances and for the “baggage” we carry around with us, and also for how little we know our own family members.

Even if we hide our identity, and erase our ancestors from our background, the quietude of the decades resound loudly. The burdens of existence follow us no matter where we go or what we wear. Ervin and Berta decided, out of fear, to not speak of their past. Our past is ever present, whether we acknowledge it or not.

Ervin and Sandor seem to lead contrasting lives. Ervin is quiet and withdrawn, while Sandor is often on the verge of being boisterous, and is flamboyant. Yet, within each of them lies a moral code they adhere to. Morality is a strong theme in the novel.

The past always catches up to us, and it did catch up for both Ervin and Sandor, but in contrasting ways. It also caught up to Vivien, and her character, in my opinion, is never fully realized. I felt no empathy or sympathy towards her, and felt her choices only landed her in the same position, or worse, than she had been. Her clothes bring her down, and don’t necessarily evoke esteem or project a good image of who she is. I never quite understood her person, and felt she lacked substance, and maybe that is what Grant was trying to convey, I don’t know. She might have possibly been trying to depict a life of indecision and lack of self-esteem due to the circumstances of Vivien’s upbringing. She might have been trying to show how we don’t necessarily know our own family, due to their silences regarding the past. Not having familial background does affect one’s identity.

Grant, did manage to write a story of man’s humanness, in all of his flaws. From isolation to an outward need for materialistic items, each person in The Clothes on Their Backs is striving to survive in a world of turmoil, no matter the decade. But, within their survival techniques, they are left without the ability to mentally and emotionally fully function. They are caught in a time warp. I suppose this is what Linda Grant was intending for the reader to garner from Clothes on The Their Backs, but I’m not certain.

I would have liked to have seen Vivien given more depth and intensity. I would have liked to have learned more about Ervin and Berta. I realize that clothes are a metaphor for individual’s appearances and perceptions, and how the world sees them, but I do wish that the issue of clothes was explored and detailed more. That is just my opinion, and others might view the book differently than I do.
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Jew Wishes…Peace to you all.
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Saturday March 7, 2009 – 11th of Adar, 5769

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