Sarah O'Connor

“You can burn a book or a library, but to really destroy a story you have to destroy the language and its people. Or write another one,” (Barwin).

After an unfortunate incident in his youth that left Motl ball-less, he has decided to go on a quest to find them and, hopefully, procreate. Except that Motl is now middle-aged, and the Nazi’s have just invaded Lithuania, also he’s Jewish. There are more than enough obstacles in his way, but for cowboy loving Motl nothing is impossible. When his mother Gitl gets lost on the journey, Motl joins forces with a Jewish woman named Esther whose family has been killed, an Indigenous man, ends up joining a circus and gets too close to comfort to Himmler, it’s a wonder how this middle-aged Jewish cowpoke will make it.

Back in 2020, I attended the online gritLit Festival where Barwin read an excerpt from his upcoming novel, which ended up being Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted. I remember being confused and intrigued during the reading, particularly shocked that a large part of the story was happening because Motl’s balls were shot off in WWI and he wants them back. Also the Nazi’s have invaded Lithuania, and Motl is Jewish, and he also idolizes cowboys. It’s a lot of plot points that are souped together that when summarized, doesn’t sound like it should work. But I was intrigued by what Barwin read and wanted to read the book when it came out. But then I forgot the title.

Thank God for Hamilton Reads for making it the 2023 book!

Despite all it’s moving parts, Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted is an excellent novel. It truly is a cowboy novel and a Holocaust novel and Barwin does this expertly. Motl was a great protagonist to follow, but I also loved Esther, Motl’s mother Gitl, and a whole host of characters who we only see briefly but still leave an impact on the story. Motl is an intriguing character that readers can’t help but love as we follow him on his bizarre quest to save his balls, avoid dying, and start a family all while being a Jewish cowboy in Nazi occupied Lithuania. You can’t help but root for Motl on his strange quest, and Barwin does an excellent job of balancing the fear and horrors that happen to and around Motl with humour, I was surprised at how many times I laughed while reading this book! But I think that’s the secret to a good, tragic story, enough light moments to make the moments that hurt really hurt. And boy do they!

My one issue is that the book is framed in such a way that it’s a story being told on us, which becomes relevant in the last section of the novel. I understand why the book was framed this way and its significance, it’s not even a secret really based on the first line. But I became so engaged in Motl’s story that I forgot the way the book was framed so that I felt taken out of the story by the last part. Again, I understand why the book was framed this way and the significance of doing so, it just wasn’t my favourite thing.

Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted is a truly brilliant novel that creates an engaging, tragic, and hilarious story with a completely bizarre concept. This was the first book I’ve read by Barwin, but certainly not my last!

Publication: March 9 2021
Publisher: Vintage Canada
Pages: 344 pages (Paperback)
Source: Library
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Humour, Canadian, Hamilton Reads
My Rating: ⛤⛤⛤⛤
Summary:

Motl is middle-aged, poor, nerdy, Jewish and in desperate need of a shave. Since having his balls shot cleanly off as a youth in WWI, he’s lived a quiet life at home in Vilnius with his shrewd and shrewish mom, Gitl, losing himself in the masculine fantasy world of cowboy novels by writers like Karl May–novels equally loved by Hitler, whose troops have just invaded Lithuania and are out to exterminate people like Motl. In his dreams, Motl is a fast-talking, rugged, expert gunslinger capable of dealing with the Nazi threat. But only in his dreams.
As friends and neighbours are killed around them, Motl and Gitl escape from Vilnius, saving their own skins. But they immediately risk everything to try rescue relatives they hope are still alive. With death all around him, Motl decides that a Jew’s best revenge is not only to live, but to procreate. In order to achieve this, though, he must relocate those most crucial pieces of his anatomy lost to him in a glacier in the Swiss Alps in the previous war. It’s an absurd yet life-affirming mission, made even more urgent when he’s separated from his mother, and isn’t sure whether she’s alive or dead. Joining forces, and eventually hearts, with Esther, a Jewish woman whose family has been killed, Motl ventures across Europe, a kaleidoscope of narrow escapes and close encounters with everyone from Himmler, to circus performers, double agents, quislings, fake “Indians” and real ones. Motl at last figures out that he has more connection to the Indigenous characters in western novels than the cowboys.