The Ethical Assassin by David Liss (2006)
I have generally liked David Liss's writings. I first read The Coffee Trader, when it was first published in 2003, and was absolutely hooked on Liss's historical fiction. The Coffee Trader described the rise of the modern commodities market in 17th Century Amsterdam. With The Ethical Assassin, however, Liss has moved to another genre. If I had read this book first, I would never have touched another book by Liss.
The Ethical Assassin tried to be both a crime novel and a treatise on animal rights. The story takes place in southern Florida in the mid-1980s. Young Lemuel Altick has taken a job as a door-to-door encyclopedia saiesman to earn tuition money for college. His assigned sales territory is a poor trailer park that is adjacent to a malodorous pig farm. Lemuel is about to close on a sale, in fact the check has been written, when his customer and her apparent husband are shot to death.
The hitman or "ethical assassin" informs Lemuel that his name is Melford Kean. He tells Lemuel that he will help him elude the police, but then begins to leave evidence that could frame Lemuel. More bodies begin to pile up and Lemuel finds himself linked to Kean's actions.
Kean is also concerned about the animal research that is being conducted at the research lab just beyond the pig farm. Kean begins talking about his vegan beliefs to Lemuel, which includes ethical treatment of animals. He believes strongly about animal rights, but has no apparent moral compunctions about murdering a human or two.
The author is a vegan, thus the subject matter on animal lives is close to his heart. I am not sure, however, that the direction of this novel is the proper forum for espousing his views. I hope David Liss goes back to writing historical fiction in which he informs the reader of the development of the economic institutions we are familiar with today.
Read: December 28, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Books Set in Europe: Germany
Every Man Dies Alone, by Hans Fallada (1947; English Translation 2009)
If you read only one book this year, that book should be Every Man Dies Alone, by Hans Fallada. It was originally published in Germany in 1947, but was recently translated and published in English. Every Man Dies Alone is the best book I have read in a long, long time.
The novel was based on a true story of a couple who quietly, but tragically tried to object to Hitler’s regime. The setting is Berlin in early 1941. Otto and Anna Quangel were a quiet middle-aged couple who lived a solitary live. Anna was a housewife and Otto was a furniture factory foreman. Their son and only child was sent off to fight. When the Quangels learn that their son, also named Otto, was killed, they decide to devise a campaign to protest the war, even though they know if they are caught, it will cost them their lives.
The Quangels lived in an apartment building, but they keep to themselves. Other residents of their building include an elderly Jewish woman, a judge who is sympathetic to the Jews, and a low-class Nazi family. The judge does what he can to protect the elderly Jewish woman, although she finds her confinement in his apartment too restrictive. The Nazi family continually enters her apartment to steal her meager belongings. The descriptions of the Quangels neighbors helps to set the scene of the Berlin environment during this period of the war.
Until the death of his son, Otto was non-political. He was not a member of the Nazi Party, which limited his job opportunities, however, he was satisfied being foreman at the factory. As the war deteriorated for the Germans, the factory switched from making furniture to coffins.
After his son’s death, Otto got the idea of writing postcards with containing anti-Nazi sentiments and leaving them around town. When Anna learns of his plan, she initially protests, but then decides to join him in his quiet protest. Each week, Otto and Anna begin dropping their postcards throughout the city. In their quiet way, Otto and Anna are fighting back. Their first card simply read: Mother! The Führer has murdered my son. Mother! The Führer will murder your sons too, he will not stop till he has brought sorrow to every home in the world!
Unknown to Otto and Anna, however, when the postcards are found, they are immediately reported to the Gestapo. Finders of the postcards realize that holding such inflammatory statements places them at risk.
Inspector Escherich is charged with finding the writer of the postcards. In his methodical way he traces where the postcards are located and develops a profile of the writer. Escherich knows that if he fails to find the postcard writer, his own life is in peril, as his boss is a violent Nazi officer who enjoys harming and humiliating.
The real-life Otto and Anna Quangle were Otto and his wife Elsie Hampel. After Elise’s brother was killed in the war, she and her husband began their own postcard campaign. They continued dropping their postcards for two years before they were caught and sentenced to death. Like Otto and Anna, the bulk of their cards were immediately turned over to the Gestapo.
The author, Hans Fallada is an interesting individual in his own right. He apparently wrote Every Man Dies Alone in 24 days after being given a copy of the Hampel’s Gestapo files. Hans Fallada was the pen name for Rudolf Ditzen, a psychologically damaged German writer. As a young man, Fallada and a friend had entered into a suicide pact, whereby each was to fight a duel. The friend was killed, but Fallada was merely injured. The case was quite sensational, hence, when he began to write, he was encouraged to write under a pseudonym.
Every Man Dies Alone is a great testimony to the righteous Germans who protested Hitler’s Germany. The English translation captures the mode of Berlin during this tragic period of German history.
Read: December 24, 2010
If you read only one book this year, that book should be Every Man Dies Alone, by Hans Fallada. It was originally published in Germany in 1947, but was recently translated and published in English. Every Man Dies Alone is the best book I have read in a long, long time.
The novel was based on a true story of a couple who quietly, but tragically tried to object to Hitler’s regime. The setting is Berlin in early 1941. Otto and Anna Quangel were a quiet middle-aged couple who lived a solitary live. Anna was a housewife and Otto was a furniture factory foreman. Their son and only child was sent off to fight. When the Quangels learn that their son, also named Otto, was killed, they decide to devise a campaign to protest the war, even though they know if they are caught, it will cost them their lives.
The Quangels lived in an apartment building, but they keep to themselves. Other residents of their building include an elderly Jewish woman, a judge who is sympathetic to the Jews, and a low-class Nazi family. The judge does what he can to protect the elderly Jewish woman, although she finds her confinement in his apartment too restrictive. The Nazi family continually enters her apartment to steal her meager belongings. The descriptions of the Quangels neighbors helps to set the scene of the Berlin environment during this period of the war.
Until the death of his son, Otto was non-political. He was not a member of the Nazi Party, which limited his job opportunities, however, he was satisfied being foreman at the factory. As the war deteriorated for the Germans, the factory switched from making furniture to coffins.
After his son’s death, Otto got the idea of writing postcards with containing anti-Nazi sentiments and leaving them around town. When Anna learns of his plan, she initially protests, but then decides to join him in his quiet protest. Each week, Otto and Anna begin dropping their postcards throughout the city. In their quiet way, Otto and Anna are fighting back. Their first card simply read: Mother! The Führer has murdered my son. Mother! The Führer will murder your sons too, he will not stop till he has brought sorrow to every home in the world!
Unknown to Otto and Anna, however, when the postcards are found, they are immediately reported to the Gestapo. Finders of the postcards realize that holding such inflammatory statements places them at risk.
Inspector Escherich is charged with finding the writer of the postcards. In his methodical way he traces where the postcards are located and develops a profile of the writer. Escherich knows that if he fails to find the postcard writer, his own life is in peril, as his boss is a violent Nazi officer who enjoys harming and humiliating.
The real-life Otto and Anna Quangle were Otto and his wife Elsie Hampel. After Elise’s brother was killed in the war, she and her husband began their own postcard campaign. They continued dropping their postcards for two years before they were caught and sentenced to death. Like Otto and Anna, the bulk of their cards were immediately turned over to the Gestapo.
The author, Hans Fallada is an interesting individual in his own right. He apparently wrote Every Man Dies Alone in 24 days after being given a copy of the Hampel’s Gestapo files. Hans Fallada was the pen name for Rudolf Ditzen, a psychologically damaged German writer. As a young man, Fallada and a friend had entered into a suicide pact, whereby each was to fight a duel. The friend was killed, but Fallada was merely injured. The case was quite sensational, hence, when he began to write, he was encouraged to write under a pseudonym.
Every Man Dies Alone is a great testimony to the righteous Germans who protested Hitler’s Germany. The English translation captures the mode of Berlin during this tragic period of German history.
Read: December 24, 2010
Books Set In the United States: Louisiana
The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc, by Loraine Depres (2001)
I read this book in August 2010, but somehow its review didn't make it to the list on time.
The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc reinforces southern stereotypes. The story begins in the mid-1950s in the fictitious town of Gentry, Louisiana. Sissy LeBlanc is a bored housewife and mother of three children. Her husband, whom she married straight out of high school, is emotionally and sexually distant. The family is struggling to survive.
Suddenly one summer’s day, Sissy’s high school boyfriend, Parker Davidson, appears back in town. For the past 14 years, Davidson has been traveling about the world. He apparently made a fortune only to have it taken from him by a dishonest business partner. He returns to Gentry with no money and takes a job as a lineman for the company. Soon Sissy and Parker are an item again. Although her husband, PeeWee is a cockhold, her young children are aware of the budding relationship between their mother and the handsome stranger, who is gratuitously Jewish, so that the townsfolks can call him anti-Semitic names. (Some of which were new terms to me.)
Sissy lives in the shadow of her older brother’s death who died in 1941, at a time when Sissy was a young teenager and very vulnerable. Her brother’s death was followed by her mother’s illness and subsequence death. The emotional upheaval lead Sissy into the arms of Bourrée LeBlanc, the evil and cruel man who would become her father-in-law. Although Sissy is initially infatuated with Bourrée, after he uses her, he tosses her away. Then one night, he rapes her. She when she becomes pregnant and turns to Bourrée, he brings her a woman for a back-alley abortion. Realizing that this could kill her, she runs away and convinces PeeWee, Bourrée’s son to marry her. He believes that he is the father of Sissy’s oldest son.
Meanwhile, the powerful white men in town are secretly carrying on with their black mistresses. The illegitimate daughter of Sissy’s uncle and his black mistress is a young woman who looks just like Sissy. When Parker Davidson can’t have Sissy, he sleeps with the next best thing ~ Sissy’s black cousin.
Things finally come to a head when PeeWee realizes that his wife has not been faithful. Oh yes, and since this is a southern town, there is the obligatory gun. Someone is going to be killed.
The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc is the first in a trilogy by Loraine Despres. I think I’ll skip the other two books in the series.
Read: August 21, 2010
I read this book in August 2010, but somehow its review didn't make it to the list on time.
The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc reinforces southern stereotypes. The story begins in the mid-1950s in the fictitious town of Gentry, Louisiana. Sissy LeBlanc is a bored housewife and mother of three children. Her husband, whom she married straight out of high school, is emotionally and sexually distant. The family is struggling to survive.
Suddenly one summer’s day, Sissy’s high school boyfriend, Parker Davidson, appears back in town. For the past 14 years, Davidson has been traveling about the world. He apparently made a fortune only to have it taken from him by a dishonest business partner. He returns to Gentry with no money and takes a job as a lineman for the company. Soon Sissy and Parker are an item again. Although her husband, PeeWee is a cockhold, her young children are aware of the budding relationship between their mother and the handsome stranger, who is gratuitously Jewish, so that the townsfolks can call him anti-Semitic names. (Some of which were new terms to me.)
Sissy lives in the shadow of her older brother’s death who died in 1941, at a time when Sissy was a young teenager and very vulnerable. Her brother’s death was followed by her mother’s illness and subsequence death. The emotional upheaval lead Sissy into the arms of Bourrée LeBlanc, the evil and cruel man who would become her father-in-law. Although Sissy is initially infatuated with Bourrée, after he uses her, he tosses her away. Then one night, he rapes her. She when she becomes pregnant and turns to Bourrée, he brings her a woman for a back-alley abortion. Realizing that this could kill her, she runs away and convinces PeeWee, Bourrée’s son to marry her. He believes that he is the father of Sissy’s oldest son.
Meanwhile, the powerful white men in town are secretly carrying on with their black mistresses. The illegitimate daughter of Sissy’s uncle and his black mistress is a young woman who looks just like Sissy. When Parker Davidson can’t have Sissy, he sleeps with the next best thing ~ Sissy’s black cousin.
Things finally come to a head when PeeWee realizes that his wife has not been faithful. Oh yes, and since this is a southern town, there is the obligatory gun. Someone is going to be killed.
The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc is the first in a trilogy by Loraine Despres. I think I’ll skip the other two books in the series.
Read: August 21, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Books Set in England: Victorian London
A Dangerous Fortune, by Ken Follett (1993)
A Dangerous Fortune was the first book that I read on an e-reader. I don’t believe, however, the medium used to read this book influenced my feeling of the book. I was disappointed in this Follett novel. I found it too much of a formula book ~ the villain with no conscious, who takes what he wants without regard for others, the wealthy family with its poor relatives, and the humiliation of those with less.
The novel begins at a wealthy private English academy by the mysterious drowning of Peter Middleton in a quarry near the school. Edward Pilaster and Mickey Miranda, a South American, who are two years older than Peter know more about his death than they let on. The death sets the backdrop of the rest of the novel.
The Pilasters are a wealthy banking dynasty. Hugh’s father was the black sheep of the family, who went off on his own. When his business went bankrupt, he killed himself, leaving his family as the poor relations of the Pilaster family. Hugh, however, is a talented banker in his own right. He goes to work for the family business, but is given no favors for being a family member. Edward, however, is a different story. He has no head for business, but is ultimately made a senior partner.
Edward’s mother, Augusta, is very social conscious and schemes have her husband become a Lord. She is sexually attracted to Mickey Miranda, although she doesn’t act on her impulses. Mickey has led her to believe that Edward is responsible for Peter’s drowning, although the official story is that Edward tried to save Peter.
Follett spent a considerable focus on the romantic relationships of the major characters. There is the obligatory anti-Semitism with a rival banker who is Jewish. Augusta schemes to see that he is denied a place in parliament due to his religious background. In addition, Follett spends a considerable amount of time spent on sexual relationships between the major characters and the women of the brothel. The major characters are in loveless marriages so frequent the brothels. Edward, it seems is a closet homosexual, who is only able to have relations when Mickey is present.
A Dangerous Fortune does not hold a candle to Follett’s sagas, Pillars of the Earth, or The World Without End.
Read: December 7, 2010
A Dangerous Fortune was the first book that I read on an e-reader. I don’t believe, however, the medium used to read this book influenced my feeling of the book. I was disappointed in this Follett novel. I found it too much of a formula book ~ the villain with no conscious, who takes what he wants without regard for others, the wealthy family with its poor relatives, and the humiliation of those with less.
The novel begins at a wealthy private English academy by the mysterious drowning of Peter Middleton in a quarry near the school. Edward Pilaster and Mickey Miranda, a South American, who are two years older than Peter know more about his death than they let on. The death sets the backdrop of the rest of the novel.
The Pilasters are a wealthy banking dynasty. Hugh’s father was the black sheep of the family, who went off on his own. When his business went bankrupt, he killed himself, leaving his family as the poor relations of the Pilaster family. Hugh, however, is a talented banker in his own right. He goes to work for the family business, but is given no favors for being a family member. Edward, however, is a different story. He has no head for business, but is ultimately made a senior partner.
Edward’s mother, Augusta, is very social conscious and schemes have her husband become a Lord. She is sexually attracted to Mickey Miranda, although she doesn’t act on her impulses. Mickey has led her to believe that Edward is responsible for Peter’s drowning, although the official story is that Edward tried to save Peter.
Follett spent a considerable focus on the romantic relationships of the major characters. There is the obligatory anti-Semitism with a rival banker who is Jewish. Augusta schemes to see that he is denied a place in parliament due to his religious background. In addition, Follett spends a considerable amount of time spent on sexual relationships between the major characters and the women of the brothel. The major characters are in loveless marriages so frequent the brothels. Edward, it seems is a closet homosexual, who is only able to have relations when Mickey is present.
A Dangerous Fortune does not hold a candle to Follett’s sagas, Pillars of the Earth, or The World Without End.
Read: December 7, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Books Set in Europe: 18th Century England
The Elephant Keeper, by Christopher Nicholson (2009)
The Elephant Keeper is narrated by Tom Page, a young man who was hired to mind the horses for a wealthy landowner in England in the late 1700s. When his master purchases two Indian elephants, Tom is put in charge of these large, exotic beasts. The elephants had been transported to England, crated in large boxes and arrived near death. Tom learns to tend these animals with love. Tom devotes his entire life to "his" elephants, forgoing the love of a woman who might have been a good companion for him.
Tom gives the elephants names ~ Timothy and Jenny. No one in England knows anything about elephants, and Tom, who is barely literate, is asked to write a history of elephants, thus the book is Tom’s “history” of his elephants.
Early on, Tom observes that Timothy periodically has hormonal episodes that render him very dangerous and uncontrollable. Eventually, the elephants are sold separately. Tom stays with Jenny and moves to another wealthy landowner, Lord Bidborough. Tom and Jenny live happily on Lord Bidborough’s estate. Tom learns that elephants are very intelligent and teaches Jenny lots of tricks.
Lord Bidborough son and heir, however, is malicious. He mistreats people, especially woman, and the elephants. After the son rapes one of the lower-class young women, following an outing in which he demanded that Tom and Jenny provide the transportation, he (the heir) turns up dead. Jenny does not forget those who mistreat her.
After the death of Lord Bidborough, Tom and Jenny find themselves in a traveling circus. Tom’s narrative is not only about the life of an elephant, but also a portrait of life in England in the 18th Century. It shows a cross-section of life among the gentry as well as those struggling to make a living.
The Elephant Keeper starts out slowly. It took a while for me to concentrate on the story, but about a third of the way, this book just opened up and was a real gift. The Elephant Keeper is an amazing first novel by Christopher Nicholson.
Read: November 8, 2010
The Elephant Keeper is narrated by Tom Page, a young man who was hired to mind the horses for a wealthy landowner in England in the late 1700s. When his master purchases two Indian elephants, Tom is put in charge of these large, exotic beasts. The elephants had been transported to England, crated in large boxes and arrived near death. Tom learns to tend these animals with love. Tom devotes his entire life to "his" elephants, forgoing the love of a woman who might have been a good companion for him.
Tom gives the elephants names ~ Timothy and Jenny. No one in England knows anything about elephants, and Tom, who is barely literate, is asked to write a history of elephants, thus the book is Tom’s “history” of his elephants.
Early on, Tom observes that Timothy periodically has hormonal episodes that render him very dangerous and uncontrollable. Eventually, the elephants are sold separately. Tom stays with Jenny and moves to another wealthy landowner, Lord Bidborough. Tom and Jenny live happily on Lord Bidborough’s estate. Tom learns that elephants are very intelligent and teaches Jenny lots of tricks.
Lord Bidborough son and heir, however, is malicious. He mistreats people, especially woman, and the elephants. After the son rapes one of the lower-class young women, following an outing in which he demanded that Tom and Jenny provide the transportation, he (the heir) turns up dead. Jenny does not forget those who mistreat her.
After the death of Lord Bidborough, Tom and Jenny find themselves in a traveling circus. Tom’s narrative is not only about the life of an elephant, but also a portrait of life in England in the 18th Century. It shows a cross-section of life among the gentry as well as those struggling to make a living.
The Elephant Keeper starts out slowly. It took a while for me to concentrate on the story, but about a third of the way, this book just opened up and was a real gift. The Elephant Keeper is an amazing first novel by Christopher Nicholson.
Read: November 8, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Books Set in the United States
The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time by Judith Shulevitz (2010).
The Sabbath is not just a holy day of rest. It is also a concept of a less pressured and purer world.
Judith Shulevitz describes her own reckoning with the Sabbath by exploring the concepts of the Jewish and Christian sabbaths. How the sabbath is celebrated changes throughout time. It's origins come from Torah, Talmud and Christian Gospels. Various religious doctrines have imposed harsh penalties on those who fail to rest on the Sabbath, yet other views perceive the Sabbath as being made for man's reflection on life.
This book is an interesting meditation of the meaning of a day of rest. It is somewhat scholarly and not an easy read.
Read: October 2010.
The Sabbath is not just a holy day of rest. It is also a concept of a less pressured and purer world.
Judith Shulevitz describes her own reckoning with the Sabbath by exploring the concepts of the Jewish and Christian sabbaths. How the sabbath is celebrated changes throughout time. It's origins come from Torah, Talmud and Christian Gospels. Various religious doctrines have imposed harsh penalties on those who fail to rest on the Sabbath, yet other views perceive the Sabbath as being made for man's reflection on life.
This book is an interesting meditation of the meaning of a day of rest. It is somewhat scholarly and not an easy read.
Read: October 2010.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Books Set in Europe: Germany and Poland
Skeletons at the Feast, by Chris Bohjalian (2008)
Skeletons at the Feast is the first book by Chris Bohjalian that I have ever read. I was quite taken by this book and the author’s writing style. This novel takes place at the end of World War II and describes the flight of the Germans from Prussia as the Russian army invades. The author gained access to the diary of a neighbor’s grandmother who had experienced first-hand the flight as the Russian army marched through Poland.
The novel tells the story from three perspectives ~ a wealthy German family living in Prussia traveling with a Scottish POW caught behind enemy lines; Cecile, a Jewish woman in a concentration camp; and a renegade Jew who essentially wills himself to survive the war.
The Emmerich’s, the German, tried to ignore and downplay the horrific events of the war. Living on the family estate are Mutti, the mother, Rolf, the father, their 18-year old twins, Anna and Helmut, and 10-year old Theo. Their oldest son is already off fighting for the Reich.
Mutti convinces herself that the German cause will prevail. She has hung a portrait of the fuehrer in her parlor, but apparently doesn’t fully understand or appreciate what the fuerher stands for. Rolf, however, has a better understanding of what is going on. He convinces his wife that they must flee to Germany before the Russian army reaches their country estate. He and Anna tell Mutti that they have buried the family silverware and will retrieve it when they return. In fact, however, in the middle of January 1945, the ground is too frozen solid. Both Anna and her father know that returning to the family home is not a reality.
The family gathers what belongings it can and sets off. Traveling with the Emmerich's, although hidden under the food supplies in their wagon, is Callum Finella, the Scottish paratrooper and prisoner of war who had been assisting on the family farm. Their motive for taking Callum, however, it not altogether altruistic. The father hopes that by having the POW with them, Callum will buy them safety from the Allied army. Unbeknownst to the rest of the family, Anna and Callum have become lovers. Soon, however, the father and Helmut decide to turn around to fight the Russian army. Mutti, Anna Theo continue on alone towards Germany.
A second perspective of the events is Cecile, a French Jewish prisoner in a concentration/work camp. In the final months of the War, the Germans attempted to erase signs of the concentration and work camps. Cecile was in a group of women who were marched from such a camp. Cecile came from a privileged family who attributed her survival to her hiking boots.
The novel also follows Uri Singer. He and his family had been rounded up and forced into a rail car for transport to Auschwitz. Uri managed to escape and, after killing a Nazi soldier, passes as a German. Knowing that his family has likely been killed, Uri does everything possible to survive to tell their tale. He becomes a chameleon, changing names and identities with alarming frequency. He takes the uniforms and names of various German soldiers who he kills when they cross his path. Uri is obsessed with his sister, from whom he was separated from when they were forced into the rail car. He ultimately ends up joining the Emmerichs’ on their trek. Although he doesn’t reveal his true identity, he begins go find comfort with this German family.
Skeletons at the Feast explores questions not often seen in Holocaust novels. Did civilians really know what was going on in Germany? How much did they know, and how could they not take action? The author describes this chaotic period of World War II in a way I had not seen before. The characters are fully developed and react in ways very human ways when faced with such agonizing moral choices encountered during wartime.
Read: October 3, 2010.
Skeletons at the Feast is the first book by Chris Bohjalian that I have ever read. I was quite taken by this book and the author’s writing style. This novel takes place at the end of World War II and describes the flight of the Germans from Prussia as the Russian army invades. The author gained access to the diary of a neighbor’s grandmother who had experienced first-hand the flight as the Russian army marched through Poland.
The novel tells the story from three perspectives ~ a wealthy German family living in Prussia traveling with a Scottish POW caught behind enemy lines; Cecile, a Jewish woman in a concentration camp; and a renegade Jew who essentially wills himself to survive the war.
The Emmerich’s, the German, tried to ignore and downplay the horrific events of the war. Living on the family estate are Mutti, the mother, Rolf, the father, their 18-year old twins, Anna and Helmut, and 10-year old Theo. Their oldest son is already off fighting for the Reich.
Mutti convinces herself that the German cause will prevail. She has hung a portrait of the fuehrer in her parlor, but apparently doesn’t fully understand or appreciate what the fuerher stands for. Rolf, however, has a better understanding of what is going on. He convinces his wife that they must flee to Germany before the Russian army reaches their country estate. He and Anna tell Mutti that they have buried the family silverware and will retrieve it when they return. In fact, however, in the middle of January 1945, the ground is too frozen solid. Both Anna and her father know that returning to the family home is not a reality.
The family gathers what belongings it can and sets off. Traveling with the Emmerich's, although hidden under the food supplies in their wagon, is Callum Finella, the Scottish paratrooper and prisoner of war who had been assisting on the family farm. Their motive for taking Callum, however, it not altogether altruistic. The father hopes that by having the POW with them, Callum will buy them safety from the Allied army. Unbeknownst to the rest of the family, Anna and Callum have become lovers. Soon, however, the father and Helmut decide to turn around to fight the Russian army. Mutti, Anna Theo continue on alone towards Germany.
A second perspective of the events is Cecile, a French Jewish prisoner in a concentration/work camp. In the final months of the War, the Germans attempted to erase signs of the concentration and work camps. Cecile was in a group of women who were marched from such a camp. Cecile came from a privileged family who attributed her survival to her hiking boots.
The novel also follows Uri Singer. He and his family had been rounded up and forced into a rail car for transport to Auschwitz. Uri managed to escape and, after killing a Nazi soldier, passes as a German. Knowing that his family has likely been killed, Uri does everything possible to survive to tell their tale. He becomes a chameleon, changing names and identities with alarming frequency. He takes the uniforms and names of various German soldiers who he kills when they cross his path. Uri is obsessed with his sister, from whom he was separated from when they were forced into the rail car. He ultimately ends up joining the Emmerichs’ on their trek. Although he doesn’t reveal his true identity, he begins go find comfort with this German family.
Skeletons at the Feast explores questions not often seen in Holocaust novels. Did civilians really know what was going on in Germany? How much did they know, and how could they not take action? The author describes this chaotic period of World War II in a way I had not seen before. The characters are fully developed and react in ways very human ways when faced with such agonizing moral choices encountered during wartime.
Read: October 3, 2010.
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