I'm just ripping through the books these days! Actually I've taken a bit of a break and have been watching movies - another great way to get off my feet and elevate them!!
But I did finish Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum. I had bought it awhile back on one of those bargain tables at Borders or Vromans - it looked pretty good - and was connected to the Holocaust - and I was doing a lot of Holcaust reading last spring. Anyway, I came across it and decided to read it.
It's a first novel - and as such starts out strong and ends up in a quandry - as if the author wasn't sure what to do now! It is not strictly a Holcaust story - rather the story of a German girl who falls in love with a Jewish doctor - but ends up as the mistress of an SS officer in order to save her life and the life of her daughter. (The child's Jewish father of course dies in the concentration camp.)
I know - this is the stuff of which melodramas are made - and this has some egregious sentimentality. The ending is far too "pat" but there are moments of good writing and suspense. I am passing the book on to a fellow book club member who thought it sounded interesting and won't care if I don't get it back.
I think it might be interesting to read more about the German side of the war - I'm certain not all Jews were Nazis - but maybe such Germans have been afraid to tell their stories.
Or maybe they are not the stuff of novels. War is horrible and perhaps the Germans simply don't want to delve - want to just forget. I know the Jews want to be sure that the world does not forget - and they are right - their stories really must be told.
But I did finish Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum. I had bought it awhile back on one of those bargain tables at Borders or Vromans - it looked pretty good - and was connected to the Holocaust - and I was doing a lot of Holcaust reading last spring. Anyway, I came across it and decided to read it.
It's a first novel - and as such starts out strong and ends up in a quandry - as if the author wasn't sure what to do now! It is not strictly a Holcaust story - rather the story of a German girl who falls in love with a Jewish doctor - but ends up as the mistress of an SS officer in order to save her life and the life of her daughter. (The child's Jewish father of course dies in the concentration camp.)
I know - this is the stuff of which melodramas are made - and this has some egregious sentimentality. The ending is far too "pat" but there are moments of good writing and suspense. I am passing the book on to a fellow book club member who thought it sounded interesting and won't care if I don't get it back.
I think it might be interesting to read more about the German side of the war - I'm certain not all Jews were Nazis - but maybe such Germans have been afraid to tell their stories.
Or maybe they are not the stuff of novels. War is horrible and perhaps the Germans simply don't want to delve - want to just forget. I know the Jews want to be sure that the world does not forget - and they are right - their stories really must be told.
1 comment:
Appparently no one has read this post since I should have said, "Not all Germans were Nazis" rather than "Not all Jews were Nazis."
If it wasn't so horrible that slip might be funny.
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