Some thoughts on World War II

May 8, 2015May 8, 20152 Comments

So I haven’t been around here in a while, and I’m not really sure why. I’m still reading a lot, and they’re mostly good books that I want to recommend to people! But I’m about 15 reviews behind now, and the thought of trying to catch up is daunting. Nevertheless, I wanted to post today because it’s the 70th anniversary of VE Day, and I want to talk a little bit about my interest in World War II history and literature, and then recommend some of my favorite WWII books.

Growing up, I had no particular interest in World War II or in literature set during the period. I read The Diary of Anne Frank like everyone else, but I don’t think it made a particularly big impact on me at the time. I do remember reading and loving Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars, however! When I got older, I started to get really excited about a few historical periods, but they were primarily the Regency era (thanks to Jane Austen) and the Middle Ages (probably thanks to my Catholicism, but I’ll give Ellis Peters and Sharon Kay Penman some credit too!). So I’m not really sure what prompted me to start reading more about World War II. Maybe it was the 2001 movie “Enigma,” which dealt with breaking the German submarine codes. (It’s a good movie, and I definitely recommend it to fans of the period!)

But regardless of what initially sparked my interest, I’ve become fascinated with World War II and especially with fiction set during the period. I must admit, though, that my interest is heavily skewed towards the British experience. That’s partly an issue of language, I’m guessing, and partly an issue of simple geography. Although America was attacked at Pearl Harbor, the war never really came to us the way it did to England. We didn’t live through the Blitzkrieg. We didn’t have to evacuate our children or plan for an imminent invasion. So for me, WWII novels set in England have much more tension and immediacy than those set in the U.S.

But of course, there were many other countries involved in the war, and I must admit that I haven’t read so much about them. I don’t think I’ve read anything at all set in the Pacific theater, which is especially shameful because my grandfather actually fought there! And as for Holocaust literature…well. Obviously it is incredibly important and valuable and necessary. I think everyone in the world should read Elie Wiesel’s Night, even though it will break your heart. But for me, reading descriptions of what happened in the concentration camps is just too much. Thinking about it for any length of time is just too horrible. So instead, I gravitate to WWII books set in Britain, which generally have plenty of gravity and pathos without being unspeakably horrific.

So, without further ado, here are some of my favorite books about World War II:

Elizabeth Wein, Code Name Verity — This book is about two young women and their extraordinary friendship. One is a pilot for the Air Transport Auxiliary. One is a spy who has just been captured by the Germans. The spy begins the story, stating that she is writing her confession, but her narrative is much more complex than meets the eye. I cannot recommend this novel highly enough. It’s suspenseful, fascinating, and utterly heartbreaking. My review is here.

Connie Willis, Blackout / All Clear — This novel is an extremely detailed account of the experience of Londoners during the war, particularly during the Blitz. I can’t explain the spirit of this book any better than by quoting the dedication to All Clear:

To all the ambulance drivers, firewatchers, air-raid wardens, nurses, canteen workers, airplane spotters, rescue workers, mathematicians, vicars, vergers, shopgirls, chorus girls, librarians, debutantes, spinsters, fishermen, retired sailors, servants, evacuees, Shakespearean actors, and mystery novelists who won the war.

The books are a bit long-winded, but they are so, so worth it. My review is here.

Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society — This book is quite a bit more light-hearted than the previous two, even though it deals with the fairly serious subject of German occupation of the Channel Islands. It starts with a thank-you note from a Guernsey man to a London woman who had donated some books to the occupied islands. The two characters strike up a correspondence, and eventually the woman, who is a journalist, travels to Guernsey to write about the experiences of the people there. The war almost takes a backseat to the various personal stories and relationships that emerge. But it’s one of my very favorite books, so I have to include it on this list! 🙂 My review is here.

Ben Macintyre, Operation Mincemeat — A nonfiction work that reads like a novel, this book tells the story of an absolutely outrageous Allied plan to feed misinformation to the Germans — and how that plan, against all odds, succeeded! Espionage is another longstanding interest of mine (although that’s another post, haha), so I was fascinated to read this account! Now that a lot of information about WWII intelligence operations has been/is being declassified, it’s a great time to learn more about the actual history behind the fiction. My review of the book is here.

If you’re also a fan of books set in World War II, what do you think of this list? What books should I add? What is the most fascinating aspect of WWII for you?

Review: All the Light We Cannot See

December 4, 20145 Comments

Anthony Doerr, All the Light We Cannot See

This sprawling novel tells the stories of two children growing up on opposite sides of World War II. Marie-Laure lives in Paris with her father, who is a locksmith working for the Museum of Natural History. She has been blind since the age of six, so her father has built a tiny replica of the city for her to memorize. But Marie-Laure is uprooted from these familiar surroundings when the Germans invade Paris and she has to flee to her great-uncle’s house on Saint-Malo. Meanwhile, Werner is a German orphan whose knack for fixing radios changes the course of his life. Instead of being doomed to a life of coal mining, he is chosen to attend a school where he will be trained as a Hitler Youth. Werner soon learns that the school is grueling and brutal, a place where weakness is mercilessly punished. But his desire to become a scientist, combined with fear for his own safety, keeps him silent. Werner’s story eventually converges with Marie-Laure’s in 1944, when the Germans are trying to hold Saint-Malo against an Allied invasion.

I was eager to read this novel after seeing several rave reviews, but unfortunately I have mixed feelings about it. I didn’t particularly like the novel’s structure, which constantly moves between Werner’s story and Marie-Laure’s, as well as jumping back and forth in time. Every time I got invested in one storyline, the book would jump to something else, which was frustrating. Also, there’s not a whole lot of plot in the book; it’s more a very detailed depiction of everyday life on both sides of WWII. That’s interesting in its own right, but I often became impatient with the meticulous descriptive language, especially when it came at the expense of the story. On the other hand, I’m very impressed with the character of Werner in this book. It’s easy (and justifiably so) to paint the Nazis as pure villains, but Werner manages to be a complex character whose motives are usually better than his actions. It helps that both he and Marie-Laure are children throughout most of the book, which makes them more sympathetic. Overall, I do think the novel is worth reading, but I’m glad I got it from the library rather than buying it.

Review: The Beauty Chorus

October 22, 20143 Comments

Kate Lord Brown, The Beauty Chorus

This novel centers around three female pilots who join the Air Transport Auxiliary, ferrying planes back and forth between Allied bases during World War II. Evie Chase is a headstrong young debutante who enjoys her life of privilege but wants to “do her bit” for the war effort — and escape from her odious stepmother. Stella Grainger is struggling with being separated from her baby boy, whom she’s sent to her husband’s parents in Ireland. And Megan Jones, a 17-year-old Welsh girl, wants nothing more than to keep her family’s farm running and to marry her sweetheart, Bill. These three young women couldn’t be more different, but when they join the ATA and become roommates, they form an extremely close bond. Together they deal with the challenges of flying different aircraft, the discrimination they face for being women in a man’s world, and the joys and sorrows of wartime love affairs. But despite their strength and determination, they can never quite escape the brutal realities of war.

This is a book I really wanted to love. The story has so much going for it — WWII, female pilots, romance, and even a little espionage! — but unfortunately, I was disappointed. The biggest problem for me was the clunky writing style; for example, on one occasion, the author drops a character name into the story before introducing that character. I had to flip backward to make sure I hadn’t somehow missed his entrance, but in fact, it was just a confusing way to introduce the new character. There’s also a lot of head-hopping in the book; not only does the point of view shift between the three girls (which would be understandable), but there are random paragraphs from the perspectives of their suitors and various other minor characters. Finally, while I liked the main characters in theory, they never really rose above clichés. For example, Evie is a typical HF heroine: incredibly beautiful, naturally talented as a flyer, and implausibly far ahead of her time. Overall, while the book certainly wasn’t a slog, I can’t say I’d recommend it either.

Review: Farthing

September 5, 2014Leave a comment

Jo Walton, Farthing

This novel is a murder mystery with a twist: what if a fascist English government had made a separate peace with Hitler? In the world of this book, it’s 1949, and war still rages between the Third Reich (which now encompasses all of Europe) and the Soviet Union, but England has managed to remain at peace. The “Farthing set,” who engineered the treaty with Hitler, have congregated at an English country estate, where Lucy (the daughter of the house) and her husband David are staying. Because David is Jewish, they both endure various snubs and cruelties from the other guests. Then a notable member of the Farthing set is murdered, and his corpse is decorated with Jewish symbols. Lucy is convinced that her husband has been framed, and Inspector Carmichael of Scotland Yard agrees. But as the English government becomes more totalitarian and anti-Semitic, both Lucy and Carmichael must make devastating choices that could allow the murderer to go free.

This book was unsettling, to say the least, and I have very conflicting feelings about it. Part of the story is told from Lucy’s perspective, and I really enjoyed her character and her narrative voice. I also think the book very skillfully depicts a nation’s slow slide into despotism; one of the most heartbreaking and effective parts of the book, for me, was David’s strong faith in England. Despite the hardships he endures, he is convinced that Jews will never be persecuted in England the way they are in the Reich…but of course, events in the book ultimately prove him wrong. On the negative side, the “mystery” element of the book is very underdeveloped. I also became irritated by the sheer number of secret, illicit, and/or adulterous relationships in the book; it seemed like EVERY character was involved, which strained my credulity. (Also, everyone seems to have really good “gaydar,” if you’ll pardon the expression!) Overall, I’m not sure the positives outweighed the negatives for me, and I’m still undecided about continuing with the series.

Review: Double Cross

June 26, 20142 Comments

Ben Macintyre, Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies

Seventy years ago, the Allies stormed the beaches of Normandy and began the campaign to liberate Nazi-occupied Europe. Many circumstances contributed to the success of the D-Day invasion, but one of the most important factors was the campaign of disinformation being fed to the Germans by a network of double agents whose sole purpose was to convince the Abwehr that the Allies would be landing at Calais rather than Normandy. Had these agents failed, the Germans would have concentrated their forces at Normandy, most likely stopping the Allied invasion in its tracks. This book tells the stories of the individual double agents involved in this task, including Serbian playboy Dusko Popov (“Tricycle”), Peruvian socialite Elvira Chaudoir (“Bronx”), and Polish nationalist Roman Czerniawski (“Valentine”). Ultimately, Macintyre makes a convincing case for the proposition that the Allies would never have won the war on the battlefields had they not already won the intelligence war.

This book gives a wealth of fascinating detail about the six men and women who acted as double agents in Britain, allegedly spying for Germany but really working for the Allies. I was shocked to learn that British intelligence had actually discovered and turned every German agent in Britain at the time! Because of this, the Allies were able to present a unified message to the Germans, subtlely directing their attention away from Normandy and toward other possible invasion sites. Some of the specific stories in the book prove once again that truth is stranger than fiction: for example, Dusko Popov thrived on creating networks of sub-agents that were entirely fictional, yet he retained the Abwehr’s complete trust. I also loved the fact that these double agents were handled in Britain by the Twenty Committee, so named because the Roman numeral for 20 is XX, or “double cross.” In short, if you’re interested in true stories of WWII-era espionage, Ben Macintyre is your man!

Review: Rose Under Fire

June 20, 20142 Comments

Elizabeth Wein, Rose Under Fire

Rose Justice is an American pilot who has just come to England to help with the war effort. Though women aren’t allowed to fly planes in combat, she is able to get a job with the Women’s Air Transport Auxiliary ferrying planes back and forth within Allied territory. At first Rose sees her work as a grand adventure, a fascinating change from her sheltered upbringing. But her life is instantly, horribly changed when she is captured by the Germans in the middle of a routine flight from France to England. She is immediately arrested and transported to the women’s concentration camp at Ravensbrück. There Rose confronts the hideous realities of this war for the first time, including the brutal scientific experiments performed on a group of young women known as “rabbits.” But depsite the horrific treatment Rose endures, she forges close bonds with a small group of fellow prisoners and somehow manages to hold onto hope.

This companion novel to Code Name Verity is equally powerful and moving, although it struck me in a very different way. I loved CNV for its suspense, its elements of espionage, and its intense portrayal of friendship. This book is not as suspenseful; we know from the start of Rose’s narrative about Ravensbrück that she is remembering her experiences after she has escaped. It’s also not as personal (if that’s the word I want) because while Rose forms incredibly close bonds with her fellow prisoners, the emphasis is less on individual relationships and more on the experience of Ravensbrück as a whole. Neverthless, this book did strike me on a very deep personal level. It’s easy to become a little desensitized to the atrocities committed by the Nazis, simply because we’ve heard about them so many times, but this book certainly made them vivid for me. The most horrifying thing is that similar atrocities are still occurring in parts of the world today. So this is not an easy read, but I think it’s a very important one.

Review: Letters from Skye

May 12, 20143 Comments

Jessica Brockmole, Letters from Skye

This epistolary novel tells two parallel love stories, each set against the backdrop of a world war. In 1912, Scottish poet Elspeth Dunn receives a fan letter from David Graham, an exuberant young American. Elspeth replies to the letter, and she and Davey soon strike up a regular correspondence. At first they discuss literature and their favorite books, but soon they’re exchanging ideas about everything under the sun, including their most secret dreams. Unsurprisingly, Elspeth and Davey fall in love, but their romance is fraught with complications. When America enters World War I, Davey enlists immediately as an ambulance driver on the battlefields of France. Additionally, Elspeth is already married, so her stolen moments with Davey are as fleeting as they are precious. Meanwhile, in 1940, Elspeth’s daughter Margaret — also involved in a wartime romance — stumbles upon one of Davey’s letters and decides to search for the secrets in her mother’s past.

In theory, I should love this book, since it combines a lot of my favorite things: epistolary novel, WWI and WWII setting, love stories, family secrets. But while I found it an entertaining read, my overall experience was somewhat disappointing. First of all, the story is really about Elspeth and Davey, so the parts about Margaret felt very cursory and not fleshed out at all. I would have liked to know a lot more about her reactions to her mother’s secret, as well as the details of her own romance. Also, the story itself seems very superficial, given the gravity of the WWI backdrop. Even though I enjoy light romances with happy endings, I felt like this book lacked emotional stakes. Elspeth and Davey are likeable characters, and their letters are often very charming, but I was never in any real doubt about the end result of their story. Maybe part of my problem is that this book seems like a copycat of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, only not nearly as good! Overall, this book is a nice, quick read, but it won’t stay with me the way Guernsey has.

Review: The Girl Is Murder

March 19, 20142 Comments

Kathryn Miller Haines, The Girl Is Murder

Fifteen-year-old Iris Anderson is having a hard time. About a year ago, her Pop returned from Pearl Harbor with a missing leg, which meant he was no longer able to do the active work required by his business as a private investigator. As a result, Pop and Iris have moved from their old affluent neighborhood to a poor area on the Lower East Side, and Iris has to go to public school instead of the elite private school she formerly attended. Hoping to get closer to her only surviving parent (her mother committed suicide shortly after Pop returned from the war), Iris tries to help Pop with his cases, but he forbids her from having anything to do with the PI business. When one of the boys at Iris’ new school goes missing, however, she can’t help but do a little sleuthing. Along the way, she makes a few friends at her new school, including the unpopular Pearl and the glamorous, fast-talking Suze; but as Iris navigates her way through various cliques and social minefields, how will she know whom she can really trust?

If you enjoy Haines’ Rosie Winter mysteries, you’ll feel right at home in the world of this novel, set in the fall of 1942. The book isn’t about World War II, yet the war permeates almost every aspect of Iris’ life, from the slang used by Suze and the other cool girls at school to the disturbing racisim and anti-Semitism espoused by some of the characters. (These attitudes are definitely not condoned by the book, however; they simply mirror the atttitudes of many Americans at that time.) I liked Iris as a protagonist; her problems are specific to her era yet also universal, as she struggles with her own identity, fitting in, and building a relationship with a distant parent. Her voice is occasionally too precocious for a 15-year-old, but I found that flaw forgivable since she’s so entertaining. As a mystery, the book is very weak; Iris doesn’t spend much time investigating anything, and she’s not even the one who solves the case! So I’d recommend this to someone looking for an interesting YA book about World War II, but it’s not a great read for a mystery fan.

Review: The Two Mrs. Abbotts

January 22, 20145 Comments

D.E. Stevenson, The Two Mrs. Abbotts

Warning: SPOILERS for Miss Buncle’s Book and Miss Buncle Married.

This third book in the “Miss Buncle” series jumps forward in time to explore life in an English village during World War II. Barbara Abbott, née Buncle, now lives in Wandlebury with her husband and two adorable children. The war apparently has little effect on her life, except that there is less food available at the market. But Barbara’s niece by marriage, Jerry Abbott, is dealing with the fact that her husband Sam is fighting somewhere in Africa; in the meantime, she has opened her home to soldiers and evacuees. But despite the privations and worries of wartime, there are still plenty of opportunities for gossip and romance! Sullen Lancreste Marvell has fallen in love with an unsuitable woman; famous authoress Janetta Walters is coming to Wandlebury to speak at the village bazaar; and Jerry’s brother Archie finally seems to be ready for marriage. Finding herself in the midst of these entanglements, will Barbara be able to engineer a happy ending?

I’m so happy that Sourcebooks is re-releasing D.E. Stevenson’s books! I really loved the first two “Miss Buncle” books, and this one is also quite fun and charming, though it definitely suffers by comparison. The problem with this book is that it lacks cohesion; there are several little plots going on, but they are largely independent of one another. Some plots also seem to peter out with no resolution; for example, in the beginning of the book, an old friend of Barbara’s comes to visit, and it seems as though she is going to be a big part of the story, but then she vanishes about halfway through the book. Ultimately the biggest story is about Archie’s courtship, which is quite sweet, but it’s not really developed in much depth. I did like reading a World War II novel that isn’t really about the war, but nevertheless the war affects many aspects of the characters’ lives. The happy, wholesome picture of village life in this book was most likely vanishing at the time Stevenson wrote the novel. Overall, I’d recommend this book to people who liked the other “Miss Buncle” books and are looking for a nice comfort read.

Review: Operation Mincemeat

June 9, 20135 Comments

Ben Macintyre, Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory

This book about a World War II intelligence operation proves once again that truth is stranger than fiction. In the spring of 1943, the Allies hoped to invade a Europe that was firmly in control of the Nazis. The obvious target for an invasion was Sicily, but unfortunately, the Germans knew this all too well. So a few creative members of British intelligence came up with a daring plan, codenamed “Operation Mincemeat”: They would float a dead body wearing a British uniform onto a Spanish beach. This corpse would be carrying top-secret — and totally false — documents stating that the Allies were planning to launch a two-pronged attack against Greece and Sardinia; Sicily would only be a “decoy” target. Since neutral Spain had pro-German sympathies, it was hoped that the Spaniards would turn over these documents to the Germans and thus convince the Axis to rearrange their defensive forces. This book tells the story of this extraordinary plan and its even more extraordinary success.

I’m not normally a big reader of nonfiction, but the premise of this book caught my attention right away, and I’m really glad it did! This is an extremely readable and entertaining account of a plan so farfetched, it couldn’t possibly be true — except it is. The book covers every aspect of Operation Mincemeat with meticulous attention to detail, describing everything from the difficulties of acquiring an appropriate body to the creation of a fictitious identity for the corpse to the various personalities who contributed to the formation of the plan. To me, one of the most astonishing things about the operation was how easily everything could have gone wrong. What if the Spanish authorities had returned the documents to the British immediately (as, indeed, some of them tried to do)? What if the Germans had been skeptical of this intelligence instead of eagerly grasping at a welcome piece of news? In short, this is a well-written account of an absolutely fascinating subject. I definitely plan to read more by Ben Macintrye — Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies is already on my wishlist!

You Book Me All Night Long

Tag: world war ii