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.
God, I hate feeling left out. Have you ever read a book everyone else loved, but you were like:
I feel you Ben Wyatt. And it was just a dumb, kind-of-small horse. Don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise.
It seems like people either love or hate this book. I went into it with a lot of hope from all the five star reviews, but also aware that the subject matter might have me wanting to throw it across the room. I was prepared for a heart breaker and a moving experience. However, much to my surprise, I felt... nothing. I meh this book. For me, this was nothing more than an average, if somewhat uncomfortable, read.
Yes, I was disturbed by a 26 year old man having sexual relations with a 13 year old. The fact that Kellen was the only parental figure Wavy had ever known and had been caring for her since she was 8 only made the matter worse. I guess I'm supposed to think that what Kellen and Wavy have isspecial and that their inappropriate relationship makes sense for these characters. But isn't that what every pedophile thinks? That the world is just ignorant to their unique love? That it's different for them? Consider me unconvinced.
Outside of the controversial aspect, I'm not sure what this book has to offer. I found that when I wasn't horrified reading about neglected children, domestic abuse, drugs, and pedophilia, I was pretty bored. There's no question this book is well written and the characters well developed, but not in any way I enjoyed. I didn't even like Wavy, although I did feel sorry for her. I don't think she had any appreciation for what her Aunt sacrificed for her. The only characters I connected with or really cared about were Amy and Donal.
This book will be available for purchase on August 9 2016 and is being released by Thomas Dunne Books
Rating: ★★★
Author: Tiffany McDaniel
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: 7/26/16
Version Reviewed: digital ARC via NetGalley
Rating: ★★★★
Lawyer Autopsy Bliss put an add in the local paper welcoming the devil to the town of Breathed, Ohio. The only response came in the form of a pre-teen boy named Sal, who claims to be none other than beelzebub in the flesh. And if Sal hadn't been black and the weather unrelentingly brutal, maybe that would have been the end of it. But prejudice, fear and heat are a bad mix. Soon, a band of bad luck is moving through Breathed, and the townspeople know who's to blame.
The story is told from the perspective of thirteen-year-old Fielding Bliss, who is recounting that summer of 1984 as an old man. Fielding's life is never the same after Sal comes to town, and he never moves on from that fateful summer. It continues to haunt him seventy-one years later. Perhaps a dance with the devil will do that to a person...
This book isn't my normal cup of tea. I find most "literary fiction" books try to hard. I think that's true for this book, as well. However, the story is good enough to overcome a pretty heavy handed writing style and use of allegory that borders on excess. This book is a needed reminder of the dangers of mob mentality, cult of personality, and ignorance-- something that remains as much a part of society today as in 1984 Southern Ohio.
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.
Title: The Invoice
Author: Jonas Karlsson
Publisher: Hogarth
Release Date: 7/12/16
Version Reviewed: digital ARC courtesy of NetGalley
Rating: ★★★★
If money can't buy happiness, how did he wind up with a bill for 5,700,000 kroner? It turns out everyone in the world has received an invoice in an effort to redistribute wealth from the happy in life to the unhappy. For those who have had a good life, it's time to balance the scales and pay up. It turns out the best things in life really aren't free after all.
But surely his invoice must be a mistake! What does he even have to be happy about? He works a part-time menial job with no prospects of improvement, rents a small apartment, owns nothing of value, has no wife or children and very few friends. How could his bill be so high? And what happens when he can't pay it? He decides to dispute the charge, but every encounter with the collection firm only makes matters worse. He's warned there's a debt ceiling, after which he will "no longer be allowed to have experiences"-- he's not sure what that entails and not eager to find out. He's confused, anxious, but able to strike up a friendship with the customer service agent who takes his calls, which provides a silver lining among storm clouds.
I enjoyed this short book. I liked the unnamed protagonist and identified with his frustration. One thing that struck me was that no one in the book questioned the *right* of some self-deputizing organization to charge them a bill, but rather quibbled over the amount. I don't know if that was for the purposes of the story, or if there are differences in the Scandinavian vs. American mindset. This is a book that makes you think, and does so in a fun and lighthearted way.
