Historical Fiction

Review of The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman

January 14, 2020 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

The World That We Knew is a historical fiction story that opens in 1941 in Berlin during the time when the Nazi Regime is coming into power. Aware of how bad things are becoming for Jewish people, a woman named Hanni visits the local Rabbi and begs him to create a Golem — a mystical Jewish creature made from mud and clay — to protect her daughter. The Rabbi refuses, but his young daughter Ettie overhears the conversation and agrees, in secret, to create a Golem for Hanni’s daughter Lea. So Ettie accomplishes what is said that only men can do, and she brings her special golem to life. The golem is given the name of Ava, and she (it’s a female golem) is sworn to protect Lea. Lea and Ava flee Germany for Paris, but as it turns out, there aren’t safe there for very long, and soon, they are running for their lives.

Though there is a magical realism aspect to the story, this is far from being a fairy tale. It’s a heartbreaking story as Lea, Ava, and the other characters in the story witness one horrifying atrocity after another at the hands of the monstrous Nazis. Through the author’s brilliant storytelling and memorable characters, we really get a feeling for the depth of the suffering that the Nazis imposed on innocent people.

And that’s what really made this novel stand out for me — it was the deep, intense, and meaningful relationships between the characters and how their lives all intertwined and collided. I also thought that it was a heartfelt tribute to those brave souls who, in a time marked by evil and death, risked their lives to help the many Jewish people to safety.

In these characters, we see heart-warming kindness, beauty, and sacrifice as they all fought the evil in their own way: by saving lives. In this way, the author gives us the best of humanity in these heroes juxtaposed with the monstrous insanity of the Nazi regime. We have a doctor who treats resistance fighters, nuns who protect refugees, underground groups who lead people to safety across the borders, individual people who house and feed the persecuted, and many, many more.

This was such an emotionally engaging story, and I teared up many times throughout. I’ll admit that there were many passages that I found difficult to read – passages about those who didn’t escape, those who were rounded up and taken to the death camps, and those allies and resistance members who ended up murdered. And yes, many of our favorite characters ended up among the dead. But though it was undoubtedly bleak in parts, there was always the thread of love, hope, and humanity at its core — all of which kept people moving forward even in those darkest of times.

In the midst of these chilling atrocities, the author shows us the kindness, compassion, and love of the many honorable characters and in so doing, transforms this into an uplifting and moving story. The theme of love was also quite prevalent throughout the story — the characters’ love for each other and their love for life. The book explores themes of cruelty, war, humanity, of mothers and daughters, faith, fear, sacrifice, and loss but also illustrates courage, bravery, love, and humanity as well as the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit.

Though Ava the golem played a big part in this story, the horror that the Nazis brought down upon millions of people was always at the forefront of this novel. The use of the golem as a plot device in no way dilutes the unimaginable crimes of the Nazis, who were referred to as demons in the story — living monsters. What was interesting is that Ava, the actual “monster” in this story, turns out to be more human than many of the humans, and she ends up representing for Lea a mother’s love. I felt that the magical realism aspect actually helped the reader to get through some of the more gut-wrenching and emotionally overpowering scenes. In addition to the golem, there was the appearance of The Angel of Death and of a dancing Heron, both who played fascinating roles in the story.

The book is also meticulously researched, and I learned a lot about this time period that I didn’t know before. Hoffman stated that she traveled to France and visited many of the places that hid refugees. She also met with and interviewed Holocaust survivors both in France and in the United States, and I was surprised by the amount of history that the author incorporated in the story.

All in all, The World That We Knew is an intense, sometimes brutal, no-holds-barred historical fiction novel of courage and sacrifice featuring characters unlike any you’ve ever seen. In my opinion, the beauty of the story lies in the successful balance between Historical Fiction and Mythology, and the author blends the ‘real’ and the mythic seamlessly.

Yes, it will also break your heart in a million pieces but then will slowly glue it back together, so in this way, it’s simultaneously heartbreaking and heart-mending with an underlying current of hope throughout. Additionally, I found Hoffman’s writing to be evocative, eloquent and stirring, and is overflowing with gorgeous imagery and lyrical prose. Though heavier than some of her other novels, I’m so glad that this book crossed my path, and for me, it’s a solid 5-star read.

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Review of Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

January 10, 2020 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Where the Crawdads Sing is a fascinating book that takes place during the 1950s and ’60s and follows a misunderstood girl named Kya Clark, who is also known as the Marsh Girl or Marsh Trash by the local people in Barclay Cove. Kaya is abandoned, first by her mother, then all of her siblings, and finally, by her drunken and abusive father, leaving her to fend for herself all alone on the marsh, without assistance from anyone. I think she was ten years old or so when the last of her family abandoned her.

The story is told in two alternate timelines: the first, focusing on Kya’s life in the marsh and her eventual romantic involvement with two young men from town. The other timeline occurs in 1969, during which a young man named Chase Andrews is found dead. At first, police think I was an accident, but upon further investigation, begin to suspect that the young man was, in fact, murdered. The townies immediately suspect the strange and aloof Marsh girl, especially given that she has been seen several times over the years in Chase’s company.

This is another one of those books that is super-haunting and atmospheric, and the rich, vivid descriptions of the soggy swamp, the birds, insects, water, sand, mud, plants, fish and other animals transported me right back to the 1950s and makes you feel as though you’re in the marsh right along with Kya.

While this is a lovely homage to nature, it’s also a moving and heartbreaking coming-of-age story about a resilient young woman who had to overcome abandonment, prejudice, scorn, and immense loneliness and how a person can rise above their circumstance when people believe in you.

Where the Crawdads Sing a character-driven story with an admirable and tenacious heroine that is part mystery, part love story, part suspense, and part adventure. This was an engrossing and surprising story that I absolutely loved and one that I will no doubt contemplate for a long time to come.

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Review of The Binding by Bridget Collins

February 5, 2019 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

First thing I want to point out is how beautiful the book is, not just the art on the dust jacket but the book itself with gorgeous gold embossing. It’s gorgeous!

Introducing Emmett

The Binding follows a young man named Emmett Farmer who is recovering from a strange illness, of which nobody knows the cause. Though he’s trying to be helpful in his father’s fields, his strength, stamina, and usefulness are only a shadow of what they once were, as he continues to suffer bouts of dizziness, nausea, and general weakness.

Summoned by a Witch

One day a strange letter arrives from a well-known Bookbinder named Seredith, requesting that Emmett become her apprentice. Now in this world, a bookbinder is not merely someone who stitches together pages of a book. Rather, Bookbinders are feared, hated and treated with suspicion. Some people call them witches because what they do, is remove portions of a person’s memory and then bind those memories in elegant leather-bound books.

The Art of Bookbinding

People go to Bookbinders to remove those memories that cause them pain, cause them grief or as a manner to hide a dark secret. Do you want to forget something? Go to a Bookbinder. Do you have secrets, an embarrassing mistake or a dark past that you want to be removed from your memory? A Bookbinder can fix you right up. Is the pain or grief from the loss of a loved one so great that you simply cannot live with it? A Bookbinder can remove it all for you. And once you’ve been bound, you’ll completely forget that you’ve been bound.

The books created from these memories have the power to change lives and destroy lives, should they ever fall into the wrong hands. And what happens if those books are ever destroyed? Why, all of the memories in the book come immediately rushing right back to their originator, which could have some quite disturbing consequences.

Emmett’s Destiny

As Emmett learns from Seredith, Bookbinders aren’t made, they’re born — bookbinding is part of who you are — it’s in your blood. For as long as Emmett can remember, he’s been strangely drawn to books even though his father has strictly forbidden them. His new mentor tells him that Bookbinding is a sacred vocation and informs him that the reason he has felt this affinity for books is that he is “binder-born,” which was also the cause of his illness. But now that Emmett is working with books and fulfilling his destiny, his illness abates, and he finds a kind of peace in his workshop.

Shady Characters

Now, this is one of those novels that you can’t say too much about without giving anything away. I went into this book completely blind, having not even an inkling of the plot and I’m so glad I did because the surprises are worth it. Let me just say that not all binders are of the high moral caliber as Seredith, and there are definitely some bad apples. Some of them are in it just for the money, and some even stoop so low as to illicitly sell these books of memories on the market to make a profit.

Eventually, Emmett unwillingly becomes involved with some of these less scrupulous binders and ends up having to make some really tough decisions. It’s also worth mentioning that the art of Bookbinding is abused by some of the more dodgy characters in the book, leading to some powerful and heart-wrenching scenes. For instance, I found it genuinely chilling that memories from a rape victim can be wiped clean, allowing the perpetrator to walk away unpunished. Emmett soon finds himself plunged into a world of wealth, abuse, cruelty, depravity and deception.

A Story in Three Parts

The book is told in three parts. The first part follows Emmett’s story in the present as he is summoned by the Bookbinder and begins his apprenticeship. It’s in this part where we learn the truth about what Bookbinding actually is. I found this section absolutely riveting as we’re introduced to the somewhat unsettling and macabre world of Bookbinding.

Part Two of the story brings us to the past but prior to Emmett’s illness, before Emmett knew who or what he was. Here, we’re integrated into Emmett’s daily life on the farm and see the events that led to Emmett’s illness and his subsequent summons by the elderly Bookbinder. Initially, I found this abrupt change in direction from the first part a bit jarring, mainly because I didn’t understand the purpose to this section and how it related to the story we’ve been told thus far. But then, all the pieces fell into place leading to a delightful “ah-ha!” moment.

In Part Three, we return to present day, but interestingly, we are no longer experiencing the story through Emmett’s eyes but instead, through the eyes of someone else and I found this section just as beautiful and compelling and as the previous ones.

Verdict

The Binding is a beautiful, atmospheric and haunting story that I found to be a remarkable read. I adored the intriguing and frightening premise of this fantasy world where portions of a person’s memories can be removed and then be preserved for safekeeping in a book. I thought this concept was absolutely mind-blowing — it was so imaginative, original and clever. This was one of those books that stuck its hooks into me almost immediately, and I didn’t want to let go at the story’s finish. A truly captivating story that I didn’t want to end.

Though the world of the Binders is fascinating, the heart of this story lies in the beautifully woven yet forbidden romance of two desperate souls who find themselves caught up in the dark and cruel machinations of others around them. This story wrecked me in the best and most unexpected ways. It hit me right in the heart, and I’m still thinking about it many days later so in this way, it’s an incredibly profound and shattering story.

This book certainly raises some interesting questions and made me wonder how many of us would pay a visit to a Binder to get painful or embarrassing memories permanently removed, thus creating new stories for ourselves in the process? Quite an interesting concept, for sure.

All in all, The Binding is a unique, haunting and beautifully written multi-layered novel that’s unlike anything I’ve ever read before and I completely fell in love with this story. The author created such a vivid and realistic world here that at times, I forget I was reading fantasy. All in all, a solid 5-star read for me and I’m already thinking about giving this one a re-read.

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Review of Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

November 21, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Song of achilles book cover The Song of Achilles is a retelling of Homer’s the Iliad, focussing specifically on the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus. But this book is told from the point of view of Patroclus, Achilles’s best friend who, in this story, is cast as the lover of Achilles. So in this way, the story takes the Greek legends and the works of Homer and expands on them, turning them into something wholly new and different.

Patroclus, a young prince who accidentally kills the son of a nobleman, is exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect golden-haired son Achilles, whom we learn is a demigod, his mother being the fierce sea goddess Thetis. Achilles develops a friendship with Patroclus which deepens and becomes something more, much to the displeasure of Achilles’ mother who feels he is unworthy of being the companion of a future god.

I liked the fact that the romantic relationship between Achilles and Patroclus wasn’t rushed or forced but instead built up slowly and powerfully throughout the years. It was definitely a slow burn as these two first grew up together, learned about life together and even fought together, their bond deepening as they matured into young men.

But their world comes crashing down when Helen of Sparta is kidnapped by Prince Paris, the son of the king of Troy and Achilles is strongly encouraged to fight for Sparta. So he and Patroclus journey to Troy to fight with the Spartan army in spite of prophecy that threatens to destroy everything they hold dear.

What I enjoyed is that often, Achilles is portrayed as an arrogant, unsympathetic character but in this novel, we get the see his human and vulnerable side — someone capable of deep love and loyalty. We see his tenderness and his insecurities. It was interesting to see Achilles attempt to balance his duty as a prince and warrior with his love for Patroclus. Though an admirable character, it’s easy to see his weaknesses, namely his ego, excessive pride and errors in judgment.

But it was Patroclus’ character that I especially loved; he was brave, loyal, wise beyond his years and compassionate to the plight of others around him. I loved seeing him transform from a clumsy, socially inept exiled prince to the self-assured and confident lover of Achilles. Though he wasn’t skilled in battle like his demigod lover, he is skilled in surgery, empathy and helping others.

I also loved his description of his epic love for Achilles in one passage:

“I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world.”

I appreciated that fact that the author didn’t make their relationship perfect and without strife. Like all relationships, there was conflict. They quarreled, clashed at times, and even hurt each other, but most of the time, their disagreements were because of their deep love for the other — though Achilles’ god-like pride was often at fault.

It’s also interesting to note that Patroclus often played the role of Achilles’ conscience, causing him to consider his actions and evaluate his judgment. It also struck me that it was Patroclus who taught Achilles to be human, to be compassionate and most importantly, how to love. Patroclus cares deeply about people in an otherwise harsh and cruel world, and perhaps this caring for others rubbed off on Achilles, causing him to become more than just a cold-hearted warrior.

Now even though the romance between Achilles and Patroclus is an essential element in this story and helped to illustrate Achilles’ human side, this novel is not defined by that romance. Rather, this is also the story of a demigod driven by honor who grew to fulfill his destiny as a warrior and a hero — perhaps even someone who was tainted by war.

If you’ve read the Iliad or are familiar with the Trojan war, you know that the story has a tragic end; but in case you haven’t, I won’t tell you what happens. But even though I knew how it all turns out, the ending of this book still left me absolutely shattered and broke my heart into pieces. I was so invested in these characters that I couldn’t help but hope that they could somehow escape their fate, to somehow rise above it. So even though I thought I was prepared for how it would hit, it still wrecked me and left me breathless.

Though this ending was painful and heart-wrenching, it was also eloquent and beautiful, and I’m so glad that I read it. This is a book about joy, suffering, war, glory, violence, heroes and the cruelty of men. It’s about pride, hubris, and vanity. But it’s also about being loved and being remembered. The Song of Achilles is a beautifully written book with rich, lyrical prose and a captivating story with a lot of heart about a love so powerful it defies death and time.

The descriptions and settings were realistic and evocative, and because of the richness of detail, I felt at times that I was there with the characters, witnessing and experiencing the events right along with them. It probably helped that I listened to this on audiobook.

All in all, The Song of Achilles is a lush and expertly woven novel that fascinates from its opening words to its tender final scenes, and I ended up giving this five stars.

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