Books Set in Europe: Germany and Austria

The Nazi Officer's Wife, by Edith Hahn Beer (1999)

This is a memoir by a young Jewish woman whose family was from Vienna, Austria, when the Gestapo forced her into a labor camp in the early 1940s.  When she returned to Vienna, she went underground.  A Christian friend helped her by letting her use "lost" identity papers, thus emerging in Munich as Grete Denner.  She met Werner Vetter, a Nazi party member who fell in love with her.  She eventually tells him her secret ~ that she is really Jewish.  He was not concerned and the two married after his divorce to his first wife became final.  Werner had a violent temper and expected his wife to keep their apartment spotless, have dinner ready and be available to him on demand.  Edith readily agreed and adapted to this life to protect her life.

She eventually has a daughter.  Werner wanted a son and is a distant parent.  Eventually, he was drafted and sent to the Eastern front.  He became a Russian prisoner of war.

After the war ended, Edith was able to return to her real identity and procured a job as a judge in Germany.  (She had gone to law school, but was not awarded a degree because she was Jewish.  After the war, she was able to get her credentials and practice law).  She begged the Russians to assist in getting her husband home from the prison camp.  He was thus able to be released, but was unable to adjust to an "overeducated" wife with a well-paying job.  He was violent with her and she eventually divorced him.

The book was an interesting slice of life and survival, but was not particularly well written.

3 Stars

Read:  December 22, 2015

Books Set in the United States: New Hampshire

Lone Wolf, by Jodi Picoult (2012)

I thought this story was rather far-fetched with respect to Luke Warren, who is portrayed to be a wolf biologist who actually lived in the wild with wolves for two years.  That aside, this is a novel about a dysfunctional family (aren't all families dysfunctional?), yet have to deal with a family member who has suffered irreparable brain injury.

The author does a good job at keeping the suspense, as family secrets are not divulged, and the reader is kept guessing as to causes of the family split.

Luke, Georgie, Edward and Cara were a family until Luke's research took him into the wild.  When he returned, he was a changed man.  At age 18, Edward and his father had a fight, ostensibly because Edward revealed to his father that he was gay.  The fight was enough so that Edward suddenly left the family and moved to Thailand where he got a job teaching English.  Luke and Georgie divorced; Georgie remarried and began a new family.  Cara moved in with her father.

One night, Luke and Cara were in a car accident that left Luke permanently brain damaged.  Cara suffers from extreme guilt, thinking that she was the cause of the accident.  When Georgie learns of the accident, she immediately called Edward and asked him to return.

Much of the deals with the ethics of ending a terminal life.  Jodi raises interesting points.  Throughout the novel are passages from Luke, as he discusses the lives of wolves and how they can correspond to human lives.

3 Stars

Read: December 20, 2015

Books Set in the United States: New Hampshire

Handle with Care, by Jodi Picoult (2009)

This novel follows the family of Willow O'Keefe, a young girl born with Type III osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as brittle bone syndrome.  The novel is told though the eyes of numerous people, including her mother, father, sister, her mother's OB/GYN and her mother's lawyer.  The brittle bone syndrome means that Willow must be extremely careful ~ the slightest movement can and will break her bones.  To care for Willow, her mother Charlotte has become a stay-at-home mother.  Her father Sean, a police officer, works overtime to afford the treatment and other special needs for Willow.

After Willow suffers broken bones while on vacation Disney World, her parents are initially arrested on grounds of child abuse.  Her parents seek out a lawyer to sue the bark, but end up discussing a lawsuit against the OB/GYN on grounds of malpractice for a wrongful birth.  The theory being that if they had known earlier that the fetus Charlotte was carrying, they may never have carried Willow to term.  They are told that if they win, they will have sufficient funds to care for Willow throughout her life.  Filing suit, however, means that Charlotte will be pitted against Piper, who, in addition to being her doctor, was also her closest friend.

The novel traces the medical ethics of and personal morality in the case of a disabled child.  In addition, it explores the impact of such a child has on other family members.  Sean is opposed to abortion and knows that that option was not truly an option.  He opts out of the lawsuit and defects to the defense.  This leads to a separation between Charlotte and Sean.

Willow's older sister, Amelia, feels neglected by all the attention given to Willow.  She develops bulimia and starts cutting herself to make her self feel.  All of this is done in secret and her parents are unaware of how the attention to Willow affects Amelia.  No one considered how the wrongful birth suit would impact Willow.  She feels somehow the cause of the split between her parents.

Jodi Picoult did a lot of research into both the disease and the ethics surrounding a wrongful birth lawsuit.

5 Stars

Read: December 12, 2015

Books Set in the United States: North Carolina

The Perfect Son, by Barbara Claypole White (2015)

This is a novel about a young teen-aged boy with Tourette's Syndrome.  He is the only child of Felix and Ella Fitxwilliam.  Felix is the child of a brutal father who terrorized him as a child.  He vows to be different from his father, but has a perfectionist personality disorder.  He has left childrearing to his wife.

When Ella suffers a heart attack at age 47, the same age that her mother was when she died of a heart attack, Felix's life, as well as that of his son, Harry, is turned upside down.  Suddenly, Felix must cope with dealing with his son.  Harry is a straight-A student and Felix wants him to attend Harvard.  Harry has other ideas, however, but has difficulty communicating with his distant father.

This book was well written until the ending, when it seemed to fall apart.

4 Stars

Read:  November 29, 2015

Books Set in Asia: Syria

The Sandcastle Girls, by Chris Bohjalian (2012)

This novel tells of the Armenian genocide during World War I as told through the eyes of a young American woman, Elizabeth, who went to Syria in 1915 intent on assisting in the hospitals.  There she meets a young widow, Arman, who is Armenian engineer.  He lost his wife and baby daughter in the slaughter.  Elizabeth writes of conditions in Aleppo where many of the Armenian refugees pass through.  Arman joins the British Army and experiences the horrors of the war in Gallipoli.

Interspersed throughout the novel is the adult granddaughter of Elizabeth and Arman who becomes interested in her family history and tracks down her grandmother's writings.

Read: November 26, 2015

5 Stars

Books Set in the United States: Tennessee

The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II, by Denise Kiernan (2013)

Read: November 14, 2015

4 Stars

Books Set in the United States: Alabama

Go Set a Watchman, by Harper Lee (2015)


Read: November 7, 2015

2 Stars