The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa
Published October 18, 2016 by Atria
Rating: ★★★★
When eleven-year-old Hannah Rosenthal winds up on the cover of the German Girl, a Nazi propaganda magazine for pre-teen girls, it's almost a sick joke. Because if her childhood in Berlin living amongst the "Ogres" has taught her anything it's that she's not German-- not pure, not wanted, barely tolerated. Her blonde hair and blue eyes can do nothing to change that. By 1939, her family is more or less holed up in their apartment building, the one that's been in her mother's family for decades but that the Ogres now want for themselves. The Rosenthal family's tenants used to respect them, but now they ask "Why won't they just leave?" (the building they own! the country of their birth!)"Why are they still here? Don't they know how uncomfortable this situation is making us?"And Hannah's family does leave, because as Jews they don't really have any other options. The Ogres arrest Hannah's father, only allowing the family to leave the country if they turn over all their assets. But it's worth it for the chance to escape to Cuba, where they will go on to America. Along with 900 other Jewish passengers, including Hannah's best friend, Leo Martin, the Rosenthals set sail on the MS St. Louisbound for Havana. In one final insult, all the passengers are forced to buy return tickets, even though everyone knows this is a one way trip.For two weeks, they're human beings again. Their captain, a German but not an Ogre, makes sure that his passengers were treated with respect. There is fine dining, dancing, and swimming. It's almost a dream vacation.It ends in a nightmare. Unknown to the passengers aboard, the Cuban government had retroactively invalidated almost everyone's visas. Hannah and her pregnant mother are allowed to disembark, but her father and Leo are still on ship as it is forced to sail away from salvation. But Cuba doesn't turn out to be a salvation for Hannah, not really. Even though she lives to become an old woman, her life pretty much ended in 1939.The German Girl is told from two perspectives: Hannah and Anna, her only living relative. Hannah's story follows the events of 1939, from life in Berlin, where her only refuge is in her friend Leo, to the sailing of the St. Louis, to life in Cuba afterwards. Anna is her grand-niece. She comes to Cuba to meet with Hannah and learn about her father's past. Anna's father died before she was born on 9/11.The historical subject matter of this book is pretty fascinating, but I wasn't always riveted by the The German Girl. The writing is beautiful, but I don't read a book like this for the glamour. This book was slow for me to get through. I will say the ending was masterful. I don't know that I would have given this book 4 stars otherwise. Overall, this is a book that grows on you and gets better as it goes on.I don't feel like we get to know too much about Anna. Hannah definitely dominates this book, but even then we get a lot of "I wish I had said" and "what I wanted to do was" and not a lot of genuine action. Hannah is definitely stuck in her own head a lot.I loved the story of Hannah and Leo. I enjoyed the parallels between Nazi German and Communist Cuba. When the passengers boarded the St. Louis, crowds jeered and spit on them. Newspapers covered the event with the words: "Good Riddance!" The same exact thing happened to Cubans fleeing the island to America. The Nazis took Hannah's mother's apartment building; the Cuban state took her pharmacy. Their Cuban maid's nephew became an "enemy of the state" as a Jehovah's Witness and sent to a work camp, with a huge sign at the entrance that read: "Work will make men of you."Sounds familiar, no?
I recommend this book to fans of historical fiction, lovers of beautiful writing, and ww2 buffs. I also recommend learning about the real St. Louis and especially its hero captain Gustav Schroder.
Mischling by Affinity Konar
Published September 6, 2016 by Lee Boudreaux Books
Rating: ★★★
"Stasha would take the funny, the future, the bad. I would take the sad, the past, the good."
Identical twins Pearl and Stasha arrived at Auschwitz as two halves of one whole. Pearl, the eldest, was sweet and musical, Stasha fearless and imaginative. Fresh off the transport train, the pair catch the eye of the notorious "doctor" Josef Mengele, who favors twins as subjects for his gruesome medical and genetic experiments. At Auschwitz, being a double can be a good thing. It can keep you alive for another day. But it's not only death that can separate twins forever in Mengele's Zoo. The so-called Angel of Death had the ability to take two girls who are one and cleave them apart for good. It's something the girls fear almost as much as the gas chamber.
Half of this book is set in Auschwitz, and half in the chaotic aftermath of the camp's liberation. It's written largely in thick, overworked prose that obscures moments of tension and genuine emotion. I never got a sense of any of the characters and found all but Stasha remarkably flat. Lyrical prose somehow hides the horrors of Auschwitz. This book tells the story of the torture of children by one of the most sadistic psychopaths in history, but manages to do so in a distant, dispassionate fashion. I haven't read a Holocaust book that's provoked less of an emotional reaction from me. I was disappointed in the ending, and details throughout seemed a bit historically... bendable. But mostly this book just failed to capture my attention.
Karolina's Twins by Ronald H. Balson
On Sale September 6, 2016
Published by St. Martin's Press
Rating: ★★★
In 1943 in the Chrzanow, Poland ghetto, Karolina, a young Jewish woman, gives birth to twins with help of her best friend, Lena. Before being transferred to a slave labor camp, Karolina makes one, desperate last ditch attempt to save her babies. Seventy years later, Lena is a Holocaust survivor and living in Chicago. She decides it's time to keep her promise to Karolina to find the twins and enlists a lawyer/PI team to help her.
The structure of this book was maddening. It can best be summed up as: "hey, did I ever tell you my life's story?" As such, the book is almost entirely in dialogue. But the dialogue isn't very good. At times, it feels more like characters reciting pages out of a history textbook than genuine conversation. The writing in this book is flat, uninspiring, and at times reminded me of a cable tv cop show.
"Well, Arthur, I don't know too much about head-spinning, but I think you're going to find out that Ms. Lockhart's really good at ass-kickin'."
I do think there has to be a certain amount of leeway given to historical fiction in terms of accuracy and I get the sense that this author did his research. But some parts of this book are so preposterous. The story of what happens to the twins? No, nope, sorry, no way. A judge throwing a pregnant woman into jail for refusing to break privilege? Please. The parts of the story that resonated with me did so because of the history. By contrast, the parts that were the author's creation left me cold. Basically, I find WW2 interesting enough to give this book 3-stars.
The One Man by Andrew Gross
On Sale August 23, 2016
Published by Minotaur Books
Rating: ★★★★★
This book is part historical fiction and part thriller, and it completely blew me away.
America is in a race with Germany to develop the atomic bomb. If the Third Reich beats them to it, the consequences could be dire. But the Allied effort is lagging behind in their so-called Manhattan Project. What they really need is the expertise of a Polish physicist, Alfred Mendl. He's rumored to be one of only two people alive with the necessary knowledge to help build the bomb-- the other is working with the Nazis. Just one minor snag. Mendl is Jewish. And a couple months ago he was deported to Auschwitz. US intelligence hasn't had word from him since.
The US government devices a radical and risky plan. They're going to break Alfred Mendl out of Auschwitz, by sending another man in. Nathan Blum escaped occupied Poland once before. Since coming to America, he's been working as a translator in the army, waiting his chance to do something more. Something to help him make up for the debt he feels on his soul for surviving while his family left behind in the Krakow ghetto perished. But can he really agree to go back into Nazi territory, into a concentration camp no less? And to rescue a man who might not even be alive anymore?
The setting of Auschwitz for this thriller, combined with masterful storytelling and historical realism, raises the stakes for readers in a way few other in this genre can match. There were times I put aside my Kindle just to get my heart rate down. This is the type of book that's completely engrossing, even when it's horrifying. The author does an incredible job of recreating Auschwitz, along with the terror, and hope, within the wire fence.
This is one of my favorite new books for 2016. There were parts about the ending that disappointed me and felt a bit rushed. There's also a scene involving a cat that's pretty messed up. But I can't recommend this enough, especially for fans of historical thrillers.
We're in the midst of a pretty obnoxious, stubborn heatwave. In it's honor, I decided to review a book about a heatwave. The Trouble with Goats and Sheep takes place during the memorable 1976 heatwave that baked England dry. And in case you forget for a moment how hot it was that summer, this book will remind you, again and again. It's a debut novel that's generated a ton of buzz, and, while I didn't like it as much as some other reviewers, I recommend it. However, I do laugh a little in the direction of the Britt's definition of hot, hot, hot! weather. I don't even blink if it's 86 degrees (30 degrees to the rest of the world). That's just summer. Call me when it gets to triple digits and full humidity.
Author: Joanna Cannon
Publisher: Scribner
Release Date: 7/12/16
Version Reviewed: digital ARC courtesy of NetGalley
Rating: ★★★
Mrs. Creasy has disappeared. Enter 10-year-old Grace and her best friend Tilly. They are determined to get to the bottom of the mystery in the most logical fashion possible: by finding God. After all, God protects all his sheep and brings them home. Of course, the job of finding both God and missing neighbor becomes very complicated when all the adults are around you are keeping secrets...
This book is beautifully written, although perhaps a bit overdone at times. It did seem like 10 is too old for a child to think there is a physical manifestation of the Lord Almighty hiding out in one of the neighbors' houses. However, Grace and Tilly are lovable characters that leave you with a smile. None of the adult characters left me with a similarly positive impression, and the mysterious circumstances surrounding a neighborhood fire grew tiresome. The book both started and ended strong, but the middle sagged.
