Let Me Go - Helga Schneider (audio)

Not long ago, I read a compelling review for "Let Me Go" by Helga Schneider from Melissa @ Shhh...I'm Reading. All I really needed to know was that it was a 4-disc audio, it was about WWII, and was narrated by Barbara Rosenblat (some effusive fangirl adoration on her in a minute). I ordered it from the library on the spot. Cool, I thought. After audios ranging from 15 to 48 discs, I can handle 4!!! Not so fast. Friends, there is more heartbreaking emotion packed in those 4 discs than in 40. Small but mighty is this one.

This is a true story, written from the viewpoint of Helga, who has not seen her mother in 30 years, and even then, only for an afternoon. At this uncomfortable meeting, Helga learned that her mother had abandoned her, her brother and her father to become a member of the SS and a powerful guard at Auschwitz. Sickened and horrified, Helga walked away from her mother, determined to cut off all ties forever. However, 30 years later, Helga has been notified that her mother, at the age of 90, is residing in a Viennese nursing home and is asking for her. With trepidation in her heart, but a determination to receive answers and closure, she leaves her home in Italy with a cousin to visit her.

A majority of the story is a recounting of this visit. Helga finds her mother partly lucid, the next minute delusional, irrational and belligerent. She initially states that her children are dead, and denies Helga's existence. She shows no maternal instinct whatsoever. She seems to be obsessed with how she looks, and is offended that she could have a child that is such an "old bag". Her moods swing from pathetic tears to rage to ice cold belief in the Nazi's "final solution".

Helga, in her determination to ask every ugly unanswered question her mind has ever conjured, to avenge a lifetime of betrayal, starvation and abuse from a step-mother, and soothe her disgust for her mother's role in the Holocaust, begins to aggressively and persistently pick away at her mother's hardened shell. What role did she play in the medical experiments? Did she ever feel guilt for putting thousands of children to death? Did she form any relationships with her prisoners? Did she ever think of her own children or miss them? Did she really hate the Jews deep down in her heart, or was she just following orders?

And her mother eventually answers the questions with unflinching honesty. But not before she emotionally blackmails Helga. Yes, Helga, I will tell you everything you want to know, but first you must promise to come back tomorrow and bring me yellow roses. Yes, Helga, I will tell you that, but you must call me "Mutti" (mother). It is blood-chilling to witness. Diabolical almost.

Throughout the story, Helga also flashes back occasionally, filling in the blanks with historical fact as she knows it. Some of it from general knowledge, some from Helga's mother's file.

I listened to the entire audio with a knot in my stomach and a tight throat. In my mind, at the end of "Let Me Go", we are left with one final mystery. Did her mother answer all of Helga's questions with the specific intention of solidifying her daughter's hate and thus freeing her to walk away with a clear conscience? Or is Helga's mother truly without remorse? I will leave that for you to decide.

A note about the narrator: Barbara Rosenblat is one of the masters, ranking up there with Jim Dale, Simon Vance, Jonathan Davis. If you've ever heard her, you will never forget her. For me, her specialty is with languages and accents, which are flawless. She has won 6 Audie awards, and over 40 Golden Earphone Awards. If you happen to see her name on an audiobook, you must experience her first-hand. You won't be sorry.

5 out of 5 stars

The Night Watch - Sarah Waters (audio)

After listening to and loving The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters this summer, I made a dash to the library to find more of her work. Particularly, I wanted to find the audio of Fingersmith, which is supposed to be her Magnum Opus. While they did not carry that audio (and will now require an interlibrary loan!) they did have The Night Watch. It has been locked and loaded on my iPod for months, and I've just now gotten around to it.

The book starts out post WWII in London, when everything is dark, shabby and in a state of disrepair and rubble. We are introduced to a cast of characters that are loosely related...sort of a six degrees of separation type of thing. There is Viv and Helen, two ladies in their early 30's working for a matchmaking service. Viv is in a long-term relationship with a married man, and is living a life filled with clandestine meetings. Helen is in a relationship with Julia, a writer, and suffers from a lack of confidence in her ability to maintain Julia's interest and affection. Kay is a lonely, masculine woman who wanders the streets aimlessly and listlessly, and who was once involved with both Julia and Helen. Duncan, Viv's "fey-looking" brother, lives a sheltered life with a creepy "uncle", and frequently experiences anxiety issues stemming back to his life in prison during the war, and the death of his best friend. Instantly the reader's mind is filled with questions. What on earth got them to this point? Everything is grey, blanketed with ugliness from the war, an atmosphere you can feel in your bones.

Chronologically, we then turn the clock back to the heat of the battle, in the dead center of WWII in 1944. How does Helen meet Julia? And what of her relationship with Kay? Why is Duncan so damaged, and why was he in prison? How did Viv meet her married lover? The scenes are almost surreal, with the details of lives unfolding while bombs and buildings fall around them, endangering themselves every time they step out of the house. The war forces circumstances upon all of them, as they all try desperately to grab hold of a shred of normalcy and happiness.

Turn back the clock one more time, to 1941. It is here that we get the answers to our questions about the inception of our characters' relationships and their fatal flaws. It is an interesting way to build tension in a novel, to back into the story, from end to beginning. You don't see if often, but when you do, it is brilliant.

This is a highly character-driven novel. While there is action and chaos in the war happening around them, and the setting is highly atmospheric, the characters' lives themselves are outlined in slow detailed conversations, fractured and damaged psyches, and internal struggles. It is a dark, troubling story with personalities that are so well-developed, personalities that are so real, you feel you know each and every one of them as you would a good friend.

Amidst the experience of listening to The Night Watch, I kept asking myself the question "What is the damn plot????" and "What is the point???". I intentionally avoided reading any synopsis of the book, so I felt I was tromping around blind, waiting for something to happen. But the more time I spent with Helen, Kay, Julia, Duncan and Viv, the more I became invested in their welfare. It took me a week just to mull over the story after I'd finished before attempting a review, and found that I became more and more fond of it as time passed. I'm starting to think that Waters has this effect...she works on your subconscious. And of course her prose is a delight. It flows easily, it is highly descriptive, and is beautiful.


While the presence of lesbianism is subtle in The Little Stranger, in this book it is overt. In fact, it becomes a common theme (i.e. frustration in suppressing their real selves and their relationships in public). And while it is overt, it isn't ever preachy or uncomfortable. Waters actually approaches it in a very natural way and is not distracting whatsoever.

One word about the narrator, Juanita McMahon. Phenomenal. She rates up there with the best of the best. She is not only reading her script, she is ACTING. She is adding emotion, a tremulous voice, a flirtatious lilt, hesitations, inflections, attitude, fear, joy, you name it. It was if there was a little movie going on in my head.

My best advice is that if you like Waters, give The Night Watch a try. You may have to tell yourself to stick with it. There were times I felt I was force-feeding myself, which is a fairly easy thing to do with audio. At the end of the day, however, Waters worked her magic on me.

4 out of 5 stars

War Through the Generations Winners!

I happy to announce the following three winners from the BBAW War Through the Generations giveaway, selected via random.org:





J.T. Oldfield

Barb

Strangelove


Each of you will receive a copy of "War Through the Margins" by Libby Cone. In addition, you will have the fun of participating in one of the greatest challenges out there!

Anna will be contacting you shortly for your mailing addresses! Congrats to all!

War Through the Generations Anyone?

As you probably all know, our beloved War Through the Generations 2009 Reading Challenge, hosted by Anna and Serena, was short-listed for the BBAW Awards "Best Challenge". I immediately joined this challenge at the beginning of the year, because I have always been fascinated (bordering on obsessed, if I were to be honest) with anything remotely related to WWII. Any review posted by a participant of the challenge is likewise posted on the War Through the Generations Website, in order to introduce great reading options to the rest of us. Anna and Serena also on occasion will publish guest posts from authors in this genre, newsworthy articles, and other interesting factoids on the website. If you have any interest in this time period, this challenge is where you need to be!

Why the sales speech, you ask? Well, in honor of this most awesome challenge, there will be a special challenge-wide giveaway for anyone who would like to jump on the bandwagon. Even though the challenge started January 1st of this year, there is still time to join before the challenge ends on December 31st, 2009. All you have to do is read five books relating to WWII before the end of the year. You've already read three so far this year, you say? That's great! You can still count them. Just publish a post on your blog with your list of five books (more if you are so inclined), and officially sign up at the War Through the Generations Challenge site. Then, leave a message here telling me you're in! You also don't have to have a blog to join. Everyone is welcome here!


So what's in it for you? If you sign up for this challenge this week, you will be entered into a giveaway for one of three copies of "War on the Margins" by Libby Cone. (See the four-star review of this book by Rob Around Books.) This great opportunity will last all BBAW, and will close on Sunday September 20th at midnight. This is an international giveaway, so come one, come all. What are you waiting for? What's one more challenge?

Night of Flames - Douglas W. Jacobson

Always anxious and willing to read anything associated with WWII, I gladly accepted Dorothy's invitation to participate in the blog tour with Pump Up Your Book Promotion. I was originally scheduled to post on September 16th, but then realized that fell smack dab in the middle of BBAW. To make sure this review didn't get lost in the fanfare, I moved the post back to today.

At the outset of our story, we are introduced to Jan and Anna, a young Polish couple, faced with the threat of war in 1939. Jan is a member of the Polish Army and is on the receiving end of the brutality of the German forces. Anna is visiting a Jewish friend in Warsaw when they find themselves amidst a firestorm of bombs and bullets. Jan escapes to London, and Anna, her friend and friend's son run for Belgium, both in hopes of survival. Over a period of five years, we follow each in their involvement in the Resistance against the Nazis, battling the forces of evil and at the same time, desperately searching for each other.

There is much to like about this book. I always find it refreshing to read about WWII from a new perspective. In Night of Flames, we get a strategic, military battlefield perspective that transports one to heart of the action. We also get a rather gritty, realistic view of British and Belgian resistance from the everyday little person trying to make a difference. Jacobson does not sugar-coat the horrors. He weaves historical fact and fiction into an interesting story, and a conclusive (albeit tidy) ending. I appreciate this in a WWII novel.

But the story is not without a few flaws. While the historical events carry the story, character development was on the one-dimensional end of the spectrum and left me feeling less than invested. The dialogue, both internal and external, was stilted and flat. Overall, the writing was factual and lacked emotional depth. I never was able to fully understand the significance of the title of the book, either. This being said, the book is well-worth reading for anyone interested in the era and the unsung heroes of the Resistance.

Douglas W. Jacobson is an engineer, a businessman, and a WWII enthusiast. His interest in this time period is fueled by the war-time experiences of his Belgian and Polish ancestors. His passion for the stories of the struggle of the common man against the Nazi regime shines through in the details of the story. Earlier this year, he was featured on the War Through the Generations blog hosted by Serena and Anna, with fascinating true stories of valor of the Belgian resistance, complete with pictures of some of the actual members. (Click here for Part I, Part II and Part III.) You can also visit his blog here.

3 out of 5 stars

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford (audio)

I will admit, in the world of book blogging, I am probably the last person to read this book. However, I'm at peace with the fact that I am always a good 6 months behind the trend. It gives the dust time to settle! I saw this audio sitting on the library shelves during an emergency visit, and I knew this was thrown into my path for a reason. It is my tenth and last book in my WWII Reading Challenge. Anything that I read now on that topic is icing on the cake!

Henry, a middle-aged Chinese American and a recent widow, is going about the business of grieving and reconnecting with his college-aged son. When the old Panama Hotel, boarded up since WWII, is re-opened, and a basement-full of forty-year-old Japanese effects are discovered, emotions resurface for Henry. With permission from the hotel's new owner, Henry digs through trunks of old pictures, wedding dresses, toys...evidence of lives interrupted...to find a sketch book and an old jazz record. This is what he had been searching for. They belonged to Keiko.

Henry begins to travel back in his mind to his youth in Seattle. WWII was in full swing. Henry's parents, originally from China, insisted that Henry go to an American school, and only speak English in their home. Sadly, Henry's parents only speak Cantonese, and thereby forces an irreversible distance between the generations. Henry's father's life revolves solely around the war, and his hatred for the Japanese. So when Henry meets Keiko, a Japanese American girl at his school, and finds friendship, an ally against prejudice, and a fellow lover of Jazz, life gets pretty complicated for a 12 year old.

Keiko and all other persons of Japanese heritage are eventually "relocated" to an internment camp, leaving behind their personal effects to be hidden in places like the Panama Hotel basement. Henry stays fiercely loyal to Keiko, visiting and writing to her, and later, pledging his love to her. Slowly, for reasons that are revealed later in the book, their letters start to dwindle, and Henry assumes Keiko has lost interest. He moves on. Until now, when the memories flood back and cause Henry to question...can some broken things ever really be fixed?

The title of the novel is perfect. The story is full of the bitter and the sweet. Bitter for the American prejudices held not only for the Japanese, but for anyone of Asian descent. Bitter for missed opportunities and lost love, for estranged sons and fathers, and the persecution of Japanese immigrants by our government. But the story is so heart-breakingly sweet too. The innocence of first love, the ability of children to find hope and joy, despite the obstacles, from great jazz music and the company of each other.

The novel is incredibly predictable. There was nothing in the story that surprised me. However, as the tale unraveled, I was relieved it went the direction it did. You desperately want the story to end well, so I was willing to let this particular annoyance slide by. It was also a highly emotional read. No tears on this end, but definitely anger. Anger at the bullish pride of Henry's father who is so determined to mold his son into an ideal, that he is blinded to the irreversible damage he has done. Anger at the injustices we wrought on those who were also Americans, but with different colored skin. It is unnerving to face the fact that the Nazis weren't the only ones doing wrong by others.

It was also a nice change to read about WWII from the perspective of an Asian immigrant. We hear so little about anything but the atrocities that occurred in Europe, and, assuming the author stayed true to his facts, is a learning experience for me.

4 out of 5 stars

The War Through the Generations Reading Challege - Complete!

One of the most exciting challenges I signed up for this year was the War Through the Generations Reading Challenge, concentrating this year on WWII. As you all know, I'm a WWII buff, and never tire of reading about the different aspects of this time period. Many say they can't stomach the topic. For me, though, from the ashes of tragedy arise stories of hope, survival, love and forgiveness. The fact that these little rays of sunshine force their way through such a dark time in history makes this the most rewarding of all genres.

The challenge is sponsored by Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit and Anna of Diary of an Eccentric. They do an excellent job of posting all challenge reviews at the War Through the Generations blog site here.

I enthusiastically signed up to read 10 books for this challenge. Here they are, with links to my reviews:

Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Annie Barrows

Resistance - Owen Sheers

The True Story of Hansel and Gretel - Louise Murphy

Night - Elie Wiesel

Number the Stars - Lois Lowry

Every Man Dies Alone - Hans Fallada

Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl

The Spies of Warsaw - Alan Furst

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford (review coming 8/20)

You probably wouldn't be at all surprised to know that there a few titles that are still on my list, some of them which are sitting on my shelf screaming for attention. It is my intention to still read them as soon as humanly possible:

The Naked and the Dead - Norman Mailer

Guernica - Dave Boling

Keeping Hannah Waiting - Dave Clarke

The Mascot - Mark Kurzem

Fugitive Pieces - Anne Michaels

What are your favorite WWII novels? Have you read any of them that I have listed above?

Spies of Warsaw - Alan Furst

As most of you know, I have a little bit of an obsession with books and movies that take place during WWII. At the beginning of the year, I signed up to read 10 books for the War Through the Generations Reading Challenge, and I've completed 8 of them. The last two books are still up for grabs...I am always excited to discover what the Book Gods are going to throw in my path. So one day, when I was perusing some books featured on the Pump Up Your Book Promotion website, I noticed "Spies of Warsaw". Spies? WWII? Poland? Ah, the inspiration I'd been waiting for! Where do I sign up? Thanks Dorothy, for letting me jump on this bandwagon! Within a few hours of receiving the book in the mail, I had already started it.

I've never read anything by the author, Alan Furst. But after some quick research, I've discovered him to be THE expert on all things espionage in the years leading up to WWII. In fact, based on an interview of Alan on You Tube, he is quite a likeable guy that stays religiously true to the historical facts. Like a master chef, he takes his basic ingredients of documented history, adds a dash of character development of a great protagonist, a pinch of dangerous risk-taking, seasons it up with some romance, and you have a ripping, read-through-the night spy novel.

Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier works as a military attache for the French Embassy in Warsaw, Poland. A recent widower, a war hero, and a dedicated yet tormented employee, he is the best in the business. That is, the business of recruiting spies to obtain information from the Germans. He has many tricks up his sleeves, and possesses an almost sixth sense of what could motivate a human being to take such to take such drastic measures. Money, perhaps? An affair with a hot "countess"? Or maybe sanctuary from a life on the run, or revenge on a government run amuck. Mercier knows which buttons to push, and he gets results. He is even willing to do the dirty work himself if necessary. After all, it could mean the difference between peace and war, and Mercier believes in his heart that this benefit outweighs any of the necessary evils of the job.

But the French aren't the only game in town. In fact, Warsaw is teeming with Germans spying on Germans, Russians spying on the Polish, and Germans spying on the French, and often sides are switched when the going gets tough. They are literally tripping over each other. It is an era of paranoia, keeping your friends close and your enemies closer, witch hunts and finger-pointing, and figuring out exactly who can be trusted. Mercier learns the hard way that sometimes the enemy isn't necessarily always the dude with the swastika on his uniform.

As any fan of WWII historical fiction would probably agree, I've had my share of concentration camps. For anyone interested in this time period, this book is an excellent diversion from the expected. Another angle, another perspective. Mercier is achingly human and likeable, and Furst does an excellent job of helping us understand what makes him tick. The prose was very interesting - it flowed well (I read the book in just a couple of days), and was written in a slightly formal way, perhaps in order to capture Mercier's European professionalism and personality.

Having visited Warsaw myself, I was just a bit disappointed that the city's essence wasn't more fully developed. I love to read books that make me feel that I've seen it, smelled it, tasted it, and lived it, but this was missing from Spies of Warsaw. Furst instead focused on more of the emotional ambiance of fear and betrayal, which gets your heart racing quite nicely. There were also a few loose story lines that were still hanging unraveled at the end of the story. Small quibbles aside, however, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will most definitely more of Alan Furst.

4 out of 5 stars

Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl (Kindle)

In a comment from my last novel read and reviewed for my WWII Reading Challenge, "Night", I received a recommendation from my blogger buddy C.B. James to give "Man's Search for Meaning a try. In doing a small bit of research, it seems that this novel, written in 1956 by Holocaust survivor Frankl, has sold more than 10 million copies in twenty-four languages, and has been deemed one of the most influential books of our time. OK, good enough for me.

Between 1942 and 1945, Frankl, with a an MD and PhD in psychology, was interred in various concentration camps, including Auschwitz. Similar to a heart surgeon having a heart attack, or a brain scientist having a stroke, this experience allowed Frankl to observe and understand first-hand how, in a nutshell, attitude is everything, and that life holds potential meaning under any conditions, even the most miserable ones.

Frankl explores three specific stages that the prisoners went through as a result of their imprisonment. The first stage is shock and denial. These people truly believed that it was all a big misunderstanding, and that they weren't really going to be shot or gassed, even though they were well aware of many before them had suffered this fate. Once they saw their mothers, fathers, wives and kids led off to the gas chamber, they quickly progressed in the second stage, apathy.

In the second stage, prisoners were "insensitive to daily and hourly beatings. By means of this insensibility the prisoner soon surrounded himself with a very necessary protective shell." A self-defense mechanism, if you will. If a prisoner exhibited any sign of revulsion, anger, or annoyance, they were beaten within an inch of their lives, so apathy was reinforced.

Frankl began to notice other differences between those that survived and those who did not. It wasn't always the physically strong ones that survived...it was the ones that found meaning in their lives. A loved one that was waiting on the outside, an unfinished novel, the desire to travel the world...when the deep spirituality of these motivators were lost, the person soon died. Humor was also another of the "soul's weapons in the fight for self-preservation." Gratefulness for the smaller things, like having time to delouse before bed so they could sleep in peace, pulled them through the day. One of the most memorable quotes that I came across was this one - one that each one of us needs to remember on a daily basis:

"We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

Paramount to all these other shifts in attitude was the ability to suffer with purpose and dignity. It is best described in this quote:

"When a man finds that it is his destiny to suffer, he will have to accept his suffering as his task; his single and unique task. He will have to acknowledge the fact that even in suffering he is unique and alone in the universe. No one can relieve him of his suffering or suffer in his place. His unique opportunity lies in the way in which he bears his burden."

Whoa. This makes you stop and think, doesn't it? Can you imagine going through the day, with the highlight of being given the gift of time to pick the lice out of your head? That your destiny could possibly be to suffer, and that you should take the opportunity to do it right? I'm liking this guy more and more. There isn't a human being alive that couldn't learn a lesson here. It makes me ashamed for feeling depressed over the mountain of laundry waiting for me, or my complaining about my jet lag.

The last phase experiences by the victims was liberation, and how it was handled by the individual. Surprisingly, many prisoners did not handle freedom well at all. Likened to a psychological version of "the bends", getting freedom too quickly can cause a person to implode. Many were aggressive and angry. At a minimum, the victims had "lost the ability to feel pleased and had to relearn it slowly."

The last half of Frankl's book applies what he learned in the camps to his psychiatry practice of "logotherapy", where he explains that many of the afflictions and neuroses suffered today can be alleviated by finding the meaning to your life. In the words of Nietzsche, "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how." Alcoholics, drug addicts and suicide threats often have resorted to such actions because they think they have nothing to live for. He says that "a human being is not one in pursuit of happiness but rather in search of a reason to become happy." It may seem a little simplistic, but to me, makes a whole hell of a lot of sense. It inspired a long discussion between my husband and I about what we live for now, and what we will live for in our later years. We talked about how certain troubled individuals in our lives could really use some of this logotherapy.

The book is relatively short, but not the easiest to read in one sitting. It is compelling, though, and I believe has worthy of its reputation for making differences in people's lives. The latter half of the book on logotherapy could be considered a bit dry in parts (although I was somewhat sleep-deprived when I was reading it!), but I pulled through it and was glad I did. I doubt that I will ever view hardship the same again, and hope it serves as a permanent attitude adjustment that it was meant to be.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Every Man Dies Alone - Hans Fallada

"Mother! The Fuhrer has murdered my son. Mother! The Fuhrer will murder your sons, too. He will not stop til he has brought sorrow to every home in the world. Pass this card on. So that many people read it! Don't give to the Winter Relief Fund! Work as slowly as you can! Put sand in the machines! Every stroke of work not done will shorten the war!"

This was the first postcard written by Otto and Anna Quangel, then left in a stairwell of a Berlin business. The first of hundreds. Having just lost their only son in the war, this working class couple decides they must do something to protect their decency and integrity. They must not blindly obey the criminals that are in charge. So they methodically create these postcards and leave them all over the city, in hopes of convincing others to join the fight. A termite revolution, if you will.

Does it work? At the end of the day, most of the postcards dropped were turned into the Gestapo with a hot-potato fear. It surely didn't have the affect the Quangels were hoping for. But in a perfect example of The Butterfly Effect, many devastating results occured. The deaths of at least seven souls, most innocent. Ruination of a successful career. The arrest, interrogation, torture and imprisonment of many. A runaway child. A mother's abandonment of a family. In an era of the predatory, guilt-by-association witch hunt, many do not survive the downfall of the Quangels.

The proud, ethical inspector Escherich keeps a wall-sized map in his office, littered with a red flag for every postcard found. Finding and arresting the "hobgoblin" planting these postcards becomes his mission in life. But when he finally does, he finds himself faced with some pretty humbling realizations. He has participated in the humiliation and the degradation of a decent man, and he questions who, indeed, is the real criminal. He is disgusted to provide "fresh prey" for the authorities. He understands that the only man truly converted by Quangel has sentenced him to death. He has sealed Quangel's fate.

This story, which by the way, is loosely based on a true story, starts out as an interesting tale of intersecting lives. Lives of those not convinced of Hitler's motives. Lives of lazy deadbeats who are always on the take. Lives of those just trying to survive. There are moments of humor - some of the personalities are priceless, and you chuckle. Then an innocent old woman, terrorized by a Hitler Youth punk, jumps out the window to her death. Zero to 60 in a few pages, then back again. The prose is rigid and unembellished, but about two-thirds the way through the book, uses its power to pull you into a dark, murky hole. The last hundred pages made my heart race, made me nautious and almost, I dare say, weepish. However, if you know me, you will know that this is a true sign of a masterpiece. I'm not moved easily in this way. It got to me.

The story of the author bears mentioning, and it is as dysfunctional as any fictional tale. Rudolph Ditzen struggled with his sexuality in his teens, and to protect the reputations of their families, staged a duel with his friend, intending to kill each other. Rudolph's bullet hit its mark; his friend's did not. Ditzen was committed to a sanatorium and was later released. He changed his name to Hans Fallada and moved to Berlin, where he began his literary career. He found some success, but most of his work came under scrutiny of the Third Reich, and his craft and spirit were beaten down by authorities. He became addicted to alcohol and various drugs, and was in and out of asylums. A fellow author and friend brought him the case file of Otto and Elise Hampel, a couple that was incarcerated for a three-year propaganda campaign against the Nazis. From their story, Fallada created the Quangels, and wrote this story in 24 days. He died of a morphine overdose before it was published. Fallada's personal demons and struggles are subtly woven into this story, and leaves you with a feeling of deep regret for his pain.

For those of you who are interested in the German resistance to the Nazis, I whole-heartedly recommend this book. Just plan on reading some Stephanie Plum or David Sedaris afterwards.

5 out of 5 stars

Night by Elie Wiesel

Serendipitously, I finished this book Tuesday, which was Holocaust Remembrance Day (even though I didn't know it at the time). It seems the most appropriate way to pay homage to those who lost their lives in the Holocaust and to those who survived as well.

Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor himself, has a reputation that is without question one of the most respected in the WWII literary world. He has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal, the French Legion of Honor, and the Nobel Peace Prize. Although he has published over forty internationally acclaimed works of fiction and nonfiction, Night was his first, written a little over ten years after he was liberated from Buchenwald. The first version was published in Yiddish in 1956, and then in English in 1960. In 2006, his wife, who probably best understands Elie's voice and personality, re-translated the version I read.

Elie was born and raised in Transylvania, and as a youth, lived as a devout Jew. When he was fifteen years old, he was herded into a ghetto, then transported with his family to Auschwitz. His mother and younger sister were exterminated there, but Elie and his father were able to stay together until they were moved to Buchenwald, where his father eventually died. While this is an auto-biographical recount of his experience, it about more than the horrors we have come to expect in a book about the Holocaust. It is more about the loss of youth, the loss of faith in God, and questions what one would renounce in order to survive.

"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky. Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes. Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never."

I'm sorry, but if this doesn't put a chill in your bones, nothing will.

This is a very short book - only 120 pages - but took me days to read. I had to put it down often. The prose is direct and factual, and lacks any in-depth character development. Despite this, I'm left with echoes of a young Polish boy who played his beloved violin to his death. Of hundreds of cries and moans of distress from the train cars, "a death rattle of an entire convoy with the end approaching". Of a commandant telling young Elie not to worry about his dying father, that it is "every man for himself" and there is "no such thing as a father, a brother or a friend".

Did I like this book? Yes I did. I can't ditch my Miss Merry Sunshine badge quite yet...this would not be a good place to start with a critical attitude. But neither would I be anxious to re-read it anytime soon. I know this is an overused word, but it is downright haunting. But Wiesel accomplished what he set out to do, and that is to first, bear witness. Second, to "prevent the enemy from enjoying one last victory by allowing his crimes to be erased from human memory".

Resistance - Owen Sheers

Based on a rave recommendation from C.B. James, I placed "Resistance" on two of my reading challenges for 2009...my TBR Challenge and my WWII Challenge. I special-ordered it from Borders, and chose it to be my vacation read this week. This debut novel by Welsh-born Sheers has been both reveled and criticized in the reviews, but personally I thought it was brilliant.

The setting is this: In an alternative WWII in 1944, Germany has invaded Britain and has occupied a vast majority of the country. Small groups of resistance fighters have silently banded together all over the country to do their part. In a small, remote valley in Wales, a handful of farm wives wake to find their husbands gone. No explanations, no notes, no hints to their whereabouts, just an indentation on the bed beside them, almost like God himself started Judgement Day a little early. The women have their suspicions, of course, but are in various stages of acceptance and denial. Even more urgent is the knowledge that they are faced with the labor-intensive task of running their farms by themselves. In the spirit of sisterhood, they lower their heads, lock arms, and figure it out together, and pray their husbands will return soon.

Soon after, however, a small group of German soldiers show up at their door, their intentions unknown. They are polite and do not interfere, but inform the women that they will occupy a nearby empty farmhouse. When a brutal winter storm cripples the valley, it becomes apparent that the women and the soldiers will need each other's assistance to survive. Slowly and gradually, the wives begin to accept the presence of the soldiers, and even become hesitant friends. One soldier begins to fall in love with one of the daughters. One damaged soldier allows himself to be nurtured by a woman who has lost her son in the war. Of primary interest to us is the captain, Albrecht, and a 26-year-old wife Sarah. Sarah is perhaps the most resistant of all the wives to the soldiers, but the two forge a delicate attachment. In one scene that particularly touched me, Albrecht brings a gramophone to Sarah's house for her birthday. The scene is magical.

"It was as if the notes of her heart over these past three months had been dictated directly to the hand that drew this bow over these strings to describe, so perfectly, the complex yet simple geometry of her damaged soul."

Despite the original agenda of the soldiers (which we find out late in the story), they all decide that they are not all that anxious to rejoin the fighting and die prematurely. They feel more complete and satisfied now than they have in a long time, and choose to remain in their little bubble of simplicity and serenity for as long as possible. The magic that has been created between the wives and soldiers is soon shattered when a resistance fighter is alerted to the perceived "collaboration", and takes action.

Sheers artfully introduces various themes of resistance into the story. There are the British resistance fighters waging their solitary war against the Germany army, which we expect. But we also sense the wives' resistance in believing they truly have been left alone forever by their husbands. Resistance of the wives to accept the presence and friendship of the soldiers. Resistance of the soldiers to be a willing participant of the brutality of the war anymore. Resistance to let go of the things that are safe and comfortable. Sheers' prose is deliberate at times, other times delicate and poetic. And in this novel, unlike many, I saw the entire story played out very clearly before my mind's eye...am I the only one out here that thinks this would make a great movie?

Number the Stars - Lois Lowry (audio)

Yes, I know. We have been on quite a Lois Lowry kick here lately, primarily because my kids can't get enough. The extra bonus for me with this novel is that it qualifies for my WWII Reading Challenge, which has been unintentionally ignored for the last couple of months.

"Number the Stars", a Newberry winner, is a different type of Lois Lowry story than we have been reading. While "Gossamer", "The Giver" and "Messenger" were fantasy-ish, this novel is good, old-fashioned historical fiction. The setting is Nazi-occupied Denmark. Our protagonist, Anne Marie Johansen, is a normal 10 year old who desires to win the running race at her school, is often irritated with her chatty little sister, and shares everything with her best friend Ellen. She is also scared of the soldiers that stand on the street corners and try to intimidate them, and longs for life's luxuries long since gone...butter, meat, sweets. When the Germans turn up the heat and start to "relocate" the Danish Jews, Anne Marie's family and friends join the resistance in order to save Anne Marie's best friend, Ellen and her family. Anne Marie quickly learns what it means to be brave, and to defend the freedom and lives of those you love.

I know I will sound like a broken record, but Lowry's stories are something very special. They have a touch of magic, a touch of whimsy, and a touch of unflinching stone-cold reality. Lowry isn't afraid to unveil a bit of brutality, death or prejudice, which makes us all a little bit afraid of what is going to happen in each chapter of her books. At one point in this story, while we were listening in the car, I heard my 11 year old whisper to my 9 year old, "I'm scared". Her stories are so multi-layered, that if you take the time to slowly digest the words, and allow yourself to sort of nestle down in them, you find things you didn't know were there at first blush. Here is what Lowry's #1 fan has to say!

Ryan's take: This book really showed me the cruelty of the Nazis in WWII, especially from a kid's perspective, and made me feel scared and sad. But I still liked it! Mom says this type of story is called historical fiction, and I like it because you can learn about the past in a more interesting way than reading my Social Studies book. My favorite part of the story is when the members of the resistance fool the Nazis when they try to smuggle the Jews out of Denmark.

"The True Story of Hansel and Gretel" by Louise Murphy

We've all read the story about Hansel and Gretel as children. I, for one, was terrified by it. Mean stepmothers, dark forests, witches with massive ovens that want to cook and eat children?! Perhaps it is fitting, then, that Louise Murphy puts a clever spin on this fairy tale, and weaves it into a fictional and terrifying account of the survival of two Jewish children during the Holocaust.

A 10-year-old girl and her 7 year-old brother, named "Hansel" and "Gretel" by their father and stepmother to disguise their Jewish heritage, are encouraged to run and hide in the ancient, primeval forests of Eastern Poland to escape capture by the Nazis. They happen upon an old "witch", or healer, with a Gypsy background, named Magda. Putting herself and her entire village at risk, Magda takes in the children, feeds them, and acquires Christian identification for them. A very tense, fine line must be walked in their interaction with the nearby village Piaski, which is governed by a small but ruthless German group led by a Major Frankel and the psychologically twisted Oberfuhrer.

The village Piaski is a perfect microcosm of Europe in the middle of WWII. Many of the villagers only want anonymity, but some are angry and preparing to uprise, storing away weapons and waiting for the opportunity. Some do their best to get in the Germans' good graces for favor. Most are starving. Major Frankel is a defeated man that started out a soldier's soldier, who has become ensnared in the dehumanization of the Polish people and the Jews. His superior, the Oberfuhrer, on the other hand, is what one would consider the epitome of Nazi ism and evil. He is one sick and twisted human being, and enjoys inflicting pain on others. This is not a happy or comfortable place to live.

At the same time, the children's father and strong, independent stepmother join a rogue band of Russians whose solitary mission in life is to seek revenge upon the Germans for all that has been taken from them, and eventually join forces with the Russian army that will collide with the German army in Poland. Neither the children nor the parents know of each other's well-being, nor do they know if they will ever see each other again.

While I generally prefer to read actual memoirs on the Holocaust (why make it up when reality is vivid enough?), this was an engaging and nerve-wracking read. While lyrical and poetic at times, Murphy does not hold back the horrors of the Holocaust from her story. In one instance, the Oberfuhrer systematically starts selecting the "perfect" Polish children with Aryan qualities, with the intent of sending them to be fostered in Germany to strengthen the Aryan race. The townspeople learn of the plan, and begin physically maiming their own children to prevent them from being selected. As a parent, this is a devastating scenario, but understandable. We see other blood-chilling horrors happen to Hansel and Gretel. Things that made me put the book down and walk away. On the other hand, there are strands of hope and redemption sewn throughout the story. The feminist in me was intrigued and excited that Murphy purposefully redeemed the "witch" and the "stepmother" by making them powerful, positive figures, versus the stereotypes we see in all of our childhood fables. I was just a bit disappointed with the ultimate integration of the fairy tale and the story told on these pages. It felt to me like an original and clever seed of an idea that got lost in a bigger story. Either way, the story is a worthwhile investment of your time.

"Suite Francaise" by Irene Nemirovsky

Suite Francaise is one of those rare books where I actually experienced trepidation in reviewing it. I'm not really sure my pedestrian use of the English language can do it justice. A friend of mine, John Cole, very highly recommended it to me, knowing my interest in WWII stories are above the norm. (My husband was raised in Communist Poland, and his parents and grandparents were intimately involved with the Solidarity movement, WWII and WWI.) But this isn't just a book about WWII. It probably was THE first book about WWII. This will probably be the longest post I have written thus far, but please bear with me. It is worth it. Let me give you the back story...

Irene was born in Kiev, Russia to an upper class Jewish family. They fled Russia in 1918 because of the revolution, and ultimately ended up in Paris. She studied literature at the Sorbonne, married Richard Epstein (also a Russian Jew) in 1926, and continued to live in Paris for the duration. Between 1926 and 1939 she published several successful novels. Despite spending their adult lives in France, neither had citizenship. With the threat of the German invasion looming in the distance, both Irene and her husband converted to Catholicism, but the French government still would not grant them citizenship. They shipped their children off the countryside to stay with friends, and themselves stayed in Paris where Irene continued writing. In June of 1941, the Germans took over France. Irene and her husband went into hiding, and Irene began to write "Suite Francaise". She fabricates a fictitious story about a collection of people trying to survive the German occupation, writing it "real time", as it occurred to her. Despite Irene's notoriety as an author, and her conversion to Catholicism, Irene was arrested in 1942 and jailed briefly, all the while still writing. She and her husband were eventually taken to Auschwitz, where Irene died of Typhus and her husband was gassed. The authorities vigorously pursued the children, but were never caught. Years later, Irene's daughter discovered the unfinished manuscript, as well as creative notes, and had them published.

The book is separated in the four sections. The first is "Storm in June", which depicts the mass exodus of Parisians into the countryside to avoid being killed by the approaching German army.

"Then a dark shape would glide across the star-covered sky, everyone would look up and the laughter would stop. It wasn't exactly what you'd call fear, rather a strange sadness - a sadness that had nothing human about it any more, for it lacked both courage and hope. This was how animals waited to die. It was the way fish caught in a net watch the shadow of the fisherman moving back and forth above them."

Nemirovsky focuses in on a handful of families, some hard-working, modest middle-class, and some fussy, superficial upper-class. She intricately writes about the little details of their struggles to survive...their worries about their sons fighting in the war, their attempt to find food and petrol, their frantic grasping for their wordly possessions, their fight for survival on a minute-by-minute basis. The author very keenly captures the terror and confusion of these events - I felt it myself while I was reading it - and we know this is because Irene is experiencing it firsthand.

The second section is called "Dolce". The insanity has settled a bit. The Germans have occupied France, and have settled into the towns and villages, living with the embittered townspeople in their homes. Irene has chosen to focus on one particular small village, where a few of the characters from "A Storm in June" live. There is a food shortage, fatherless families left to fend for themselves, and in the middle of all this, Germans living among them. The disparity between the rich landowners and the farmers is a stark contrast in this section. ..the rich hoard the food and supplies, and the poor are forced to steal. Central to Dolce, however, it the story of Lucile, whose husband is a POW and is forced to live with her rigid mother-in-law, and the young handsome German soldier, Bruno, who lives with them. There is a connection between the two that is likened to an eye of a cyclone. War, hatred and uncertainty outside, but peace and happiness between them. This, more than anything, communicates that war is universally damning. Sacrifices are made by both the victors and the defeated. There are moments so chaste and beautiful between these two, I am amazed Nemirovsky could resurrect such an emotion in light of her circumstances.

The last two sections are Appendix I and Appendix II. Ordinarily I don't give much attention to such things, but in this situation, it is where it all becomes way too poignant and emotional for me. In the first Appendix, we are allowed to read Irene's notes and her creative train of thought with regards to the storyline. It becomes heartbreakingly apparent that this novel would have been one of the great masterpieces of the time, had she been allowed to finish it. We see that she envisioned five sections, the third named "Captivity" and the fourth and fifth unnamed due the uncertainty of the direction the war would take. She muses on the fates of Lucile and other characters, who will fall in love, who will be imprisoned, who will die. She draws inspiration from "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina". In the second Appendix, we know that Irene has been imprisoned, and we read the frantic pleading in the correspondence between her husband and the authorities to release her. We read the letters sent by friends, trying to locate her once she is deported to Poland. It is simply devastating to read.

How many books do you read in a lifetime that truly haunt you? I can only name a few, and Suite Francaise would be one of them. Obviously the circumstances surrounding the author are attributable. That aside, Nemirovsky is a wonderful writer. She has a fresh, humorous, unique style of prose that is easy to read. One particular technique that she uses is when she suddenly steps inside the mind of an unlikely bystander...a pet cat or a small child for example...to chronicle an impression. Her writing also has a texture, a smell, an aura, that makes you feel that you are living the moment yourself, and stays with you for a very long time. Irene Nemirovsky is yet another treasure, tragically taken from us as a result of the Nazi regime.

"Escape from the Deep" by Alex Kershaw (audio)

I have to admit, I am not a big fan of war novels. I get lost in the technical details, the strategy...I have to drag my way through them and often are abandoned midway. This book had some interesting reviews, though, and thought it had some potential. The USS Tang was said to be the deadliest submarine in WWII history, led by its bold, renegade captain Richard O'Kane. On its last mission alone, it sank 13 Japanese ships. But the last torpedo fired from the sub malfunctioned, killing half its crew, and the Tang sank to the depths of 180 feet. A few crew members were thrown from the craft, including O'Kane, but most of them were trapped below. A handful were able to manage their way out, risking sharks, drowning or death from the change in pressure. In total, nine men made it to the surface...the first time anyone ever survived a sinking of a submarine. They went on to be captured by the Japanese, thrown in POW camps, starved and tortured for nearly a year. All accounts of this amazing piece of history were retrieved through interviews with the survivors or their family members.

This is not a long novel, but did seem to drag at first, with the background of all the men on board, and the battle history of the submarine. Once the craft sinks, however, I was really drawn into this almost unbelievable tale of bravery, tenacity and odds against the survival of these men. I feel that the prose was pretty dry and factual, but despite this, it is still a gripping read...just as good as anything fiction out there. I always feel that if I learn something while I am being entertained, and I certainly did with this book, that is an added bonus.