Showing posts with label historical fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label historical fiction. Show all posts
Friday, November 30, 2012
30 Day Book Challenge, Day 15: What is a book you think should be on a high school reading list?
Monday, November 26, 2012
30 Day Book Challenge, Day 11: What is a book you absolutely hated?
I have read many books that did not appeal to me. Some were for classes that I took, some were for book clubs. But books that I do not like fade quickly from my memory, and so I am having a hard time remembering a book that I absolutely hated. And "hate" is such a strong word! Most books have some redeeming quality about them.
Nevertheless, I can choose a book for this category. It is a book that simply NEVER should have been written because it was impossible to succeed at what the author set out to do: write a sequel to a classic long after the author of the classic has passed away. One of my all time favorite books is Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell. I am certain that this book will come up in a later category. The book that I despise is called Scarlett, and it was written by Alexandra Ripley. Ripley attempted to write a sequel to Mitchell's classic, and her attempt is a major disappointment!
First of all, who in their right mind would try to build on something as iconic as Gone With the Wind? Mitchell's one and only novel is a wonder, and it's tragic ending was completely perfect. There was nothing...NOTHING...that should have been added. After a thrilling 1057 pages, it was complete. THE END.
But Ripley couldn't just leave things as they were. The pages that she writes are somewhat of an abomination--beloved characters lose their defining characteristics, and the plot is so amazingly mundane I cannot even remember what Scarlett was about!
First of all, who in their right mind would try to build on something as iconic as Gone With the Wind? Mitchell's one and only novel is a wonder, and it's tragic ending was completely perfect. There was nothing...NOTHING...that should have been added. After a thrilling 1057 pages, it was complete. THE END.
But Ripley couldn't just leave things as they were. The pages that she writes are somewhat of an abomination--beloved characters lose their defining characteristics, and the plot is so amazingly mundane I cannot even remember what Scarlett was about!
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Three WWII Favorites
I have a great interest in books about the holocaust. When I was a teenager I read The Diary of Anne Frank, and I was haunted by it for years. Then as I grew older, I discovered a wealth of books that are set in Europe during World War II. My favorites include a classic, a recently discovered treasure, and a new gem!
A Classic: The Hiding Place is Corrie ten Boom's autobiography, and one of the most inspiring books I've ever read. Though set in one of the darkest periods of modern history, this book is bursting with hope, joy, and love. There are no spiritual platitudes; rather, hard wrought morsels of truth.
Corrie was the daughter of a Dutch watchmaker, and as both she and her sister Betsy never married, they lived and worked in their father's workshop for most of their lives. When the Nazi's invaded Holland, the ten Boom family became actively involved in the resistance movement. They designed and built a secret room in their attic which they used to hide Jews. Eventually, they were found out, and Corrie and her sister were sent to a concentration camp.
If you have not read The Hiding Place, I urge you to add it to your list. You will be profoundly moved by this story of faith in action.
A Recently Discovered Treasure: Suite Française, by Irene Nemirovsky is a fictional story written about France during the Nazi occupation. It was written in France during the war, but it was not discovered and published until 2007.
The author, Irene Nemirovsky, was the daughter of a wealthy Jewish- Russian businessman who moved his family from Russia to Paris, France to escape persecution. At sixteen, she learned to speak and write fluently in French. She was married and had two daughters when Germany invaded France. With her family, she fled to the south of France, where Nazis had not yet invaded. There she began working for the resistance movement by writing for an underground newspaper. At the same time, she worked on her novel, Suite Française. Eventually she was found out, and taken to concentration camp.
Because he loved his wife so much, Irene's husband wrote daily to ask if he could take his wife's place in prison. He worried for her life, because she was not in good health. The officials tired of his requests, and rather than releasing his wife, they simply decided to imprison him as well. Just before he was taken, he managed to get his two daughters into hiding with one of their teachers. All they took with them was a satchel of their mother's writings.
When the war finally ended, the two daughters went every day to the train station where prisoners returned from the concentration camps, hoping to find their mother or father. But neither parent had survived. Years later, one of the daughters became a book editor in New York. She finally dared to open the satchel of her mother's writings, and what she found was this novel, Suite Française. The story, which was written as their mother observed events unfold before her eyes, reads like an eye-witness account, even though it is a work of fiction. It is, of course, unfinished; but, the publisher includes the author's notes, in which Nemirovsky has carefully outlined the entire plot.
A New Gem: The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, is one of the best written books I've ever read. Set in Germany during the second World War, it is the story of young foster girl named Liesl Memiger who is taken in by a passive resister and his wife. Her foster father teaches her to read using a book she had stolen off of a book burning pile--thus the title. The Book Thief offers a rare perspective for the WWII genre--one from inside the homes and families of everyday German people.The characters are flawed, real, and endearing.
I cannot possibly convey the brilliance with which this story is told. It is narrated by Death, a character that is so well personified that as a reader, I developed an affection for the phantom. He is gentle, witty, and, in his own words, "...nothing, if not fair." In order to whet your appetite, I'll leave you with excerpt from the prologue:
A Classic: The Hiding Place is Corrie ten Boom's autobiography, and one of the most inspiring books I've ever read. Though set in one of the darkest periods of modern history, this book is bursting with hope, joy, and love. There are no spiritual platitudes; rather, hard wrought morsels of truth.
Corrie was the daughter of a Dutch watchmaker, and as both she and her sister Betsy never married, they lived and worked in their father's workshop for most of their lives. When the Nazi's invaded Holland, the ten Boom family became actively involved in the resistance movement. They designed and built a secret room in their attic which they used to hide Jews. Eventually, they were found out, and Corrie and her sister were sent to a concentration camp.
If you have not read The Hiding Place, I urge you to add it to your list. You will be profoundly moved by this story of faith in action.
A Recently Discovered Treasure: Suite Française, by Irene Nemirovsky is a fictional story written about France during the Nazi occupation. It was written in France during the war, but it was not discovered and published until 2007.
The author, Irene Nemirovsky, was the daughter of a wealthy Jewish- Russian businessman who moved his family from Russia to Paris, France to escape persecution. At sixteen, she learned to speak and write fluently in French. She was married and had two daughters when Germany invaded France. With her family, she fled to the south of France, where Nazis had not yet invaded. There she began working for the resistance movement by writing for an underground newspaper. At the same time, she worked on her novel, Suite Française. Eventually she was found out, and taken to concentration camp.
Because he loved his wife so much, Irene's husband wrote daily to ask if he could take his wife's place in prison. He worried for her life, because she was not in good health. The officials tired of his requests, and rather than releasing his wife, they simply decided to imprison him as well. Just before he was taken, he managed to get his two daughters into hiding with one of their teachers. All they took with them was a satchel of their mother's writings.
When the war finally ended, the two daughters went every day to the train station where prisoners returned from the concentration camps, hoping to find their mother or father. But neither parent had survived. Years later, one of the daughters became a book editor in New York. She finally dared to open the satchel of her mother's writings, and what she found was this novel, Suite Française. The story, which was written as their mother observed events unfold before her eyes, reads like an eye-witness account, even though it is a work of fiction. It is, of course, unfinished; but, the publisher includes the author's notes, in which Nemirovsky has carefully outlined the entire plot.
A New Gem: The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, is one of the best written books I've ever read. Set in Germany during the second World War, it is the story of young foster girl named Liesl Memiger who is taken in by a passive resister and his wife. Her foster father teaches her to read using a book she had stolen off of a book burning pile--thus the title. The Book Thief offers a rare perspective for the WWII genre--one from inside the homes and families of everyday German people.The characters are flawed, real, and endearing.
I cannot possibly convey the brilliance with which this story is told. It is narrated by Death, a character that is so well personified that as a reader, I developed an affection for the phantom. He is gentle, witty, and, in his own words, "...nothing, if not fair." In order to whet your appetite, I'll leave you with excerpt from the prologue:
I could introduce myself properly, but it's really not necessary. You will know me well enough and soon enough, depending on a diverse range of variables. It suffices to say that as some point in time, I will be standing over you, as genially as possible. Your soul will be in my arms. A color will be perched on my shoulder. I will carry you gently away.
At that moment you will be lying there (I rarely find people standing up). You will be caked in your own body. There might be a discovery; a scream will dribble down the air. The only sound I'll hear after that will be my own breathing, and the sound of the smell, of my footsteps.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Day After Night
Set in the Atilt Detention Center, Day After Night is the story of four young women who, after surviving the horrors of the holocaust, meet in a British run internment camp in Palestine. Their stories entwine as they await the proper papers that will allow them to complete the immigration process.
The characters are well developed and completely engaging: Shayndel is a Polish Zionist who fought with the resistance. Many believe she was a hero, but she is haunted by memories that bring her shame. Zorah tries to hide the tattooed numbers on her arm, mortified by anything that associates her with the atrocities of Auschwitz. Tedi, with blue eyes, blond curls, and long legs, was sent into hiding by her parents, who trusted in her Dutch genetics to save her. Meanwhile, her younger sister (who took after the Jewish side of the family) was not so fortunate. Leonie, the Parisian beauty, gets rescued from the round-up, only to discover another form of Nazi torture.
Diamant's story is a verbal collage. She has an amazing way of piecing a plot together through a collection of snapshots. Different times, settings, characters, and themes are arranged in such a way that each has a significance of its own while contributing to the bigger picture.
The author carefully researched the Atilt Detention Center (which can still be visited today) as well as the events and circumstances surrounding many of its detainees. While I appreciate her commitment to candid realism, it sometimes results in hard-to-read passages. She does not glorify violence or evil, but she does describe them accurately. At the same time, beauty and tenderness are given their due. Like the title suggests, Day After Night is rich with contrasts: Hatred and love; cruelty and kindness; justice and mercy.
I have only read two of Diamant's books, and I have liked them both. Her writing is not for the faint of heart, her world is not made of sunshine and roses. Rather, she paints the clouds and the thorns for what they are--while allowing the sun rays and rose petals to be seen in their midst.
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