War in the Margins

This novel, by Libby Cone, more than The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, described what day to day life was like for the residents of the Channel Islands during the German Occupation in World War II. Especially for the Jersey Jews. I found it fascinating how the Germans passed laws culminating in complete control of the Jewish population one by one, first requiring registration then slowly taking all of their rights until there were none. I've heard about this in the past but reading this & feeling as if I were a part in this novel really brought it home & made it more for me.

I thought this seemed to start a little slowly, but once it took my attention it had it & drew me into this world, using excerpts from official German documents to tell the story, not merely supporting the story. Without these documents the story would have been untold. This made it so much more real to me. It's one thing to read how some change is enacted and yet another to read the actual documents that made this happen.

The stories of starvation, of the loss of trees for building for the Germans and firewood for warmth is something I have no concept of. I live in the United States & have never lived through a War that has affected my life on a day to day basis. I struggled to wrap my head around a world where there was no food, where I would have to live in hiding in my home land.

The author tied the characters together quite nicely, not necessarily pleasantly yet leaving a very realistic taste in my mouth. The ending is sweet but a bit of bitterness is there, too, most characters have some action to account for in themselves. Some bit of oversight or action caused by fear. The author created an opportunity for forgiveness and redemption between a group of people with little in common before the war but with so much in common after the war.

Please read this one, it is wonderfully written and will give a much more personal spin on life in the Channel Islands during World War II.

Hmmm

Zoo Station, David Downing...The opening of this novel hurt my heart, I expect it would draw other readers in but with an 12 -18 month old son it tore at my heart and almost left a hole. The setting was a train station in Berlin, I assume it was Zoo Station but don't really remember. The scene was full of children and their parents, the children were being shipped out of the country because of the soon coming war. This is what hurt my heart, the thought of having to say goodbye to my son for his protection, not knowing if we would ever be together again, man, a kicker.

The setting of the story is Berlin Germany in the years before World War II, I found the changes in the city before the war, I think in my subconscious the war happened overnight & the people of Germany accepted it that way. This historical novel / mystery describes life for Germans before the war, the fear they lived with for breaking any laws, the arrogance and lawlessness of military personal. It is written in first person, the character can hold either British or US citizenship so is protected to a certain extent from the punishments passed on to German citizens. He's also a journalist and has the curiosity of a journalist. So when a suspicious death of an acquaintance happens, he can't avoid getting into the thick of it.

This novel didn't thrill me. The opening set the stage for me & where I am with my life, this wasn't a good thing. Five years ago it wouldn't have affected me the way it did, now, is a different story. Something seemed to run very slow for me as well. This may have been my inner apprehension because of the opening, or it may have been the writing itself. This was the first of a long series so many seem to like this but I'm not sure if I will read another in the series.