All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

 This highly acclaimed novel, published in 2014,  was awarded a Pulitzer Prize. It took 10 years for the author to finalize this work.   I had not read it until it was selected by Word on Fire Book Club. So I purchased it and read along  in September through early November, all 530 pages.  I admit to having difficulty continuing at times.  The writing is truly beautiful in descriptive but I was having trouble switching back and forth and around the characters who ultimately are woven together for an ending.  Had it not been a selection of WOF I likely still would not have read it.  I have read other works by this Author in the past and do not recall what I thought of those.  

The primary setting is before during and after WWII in Europe and France.  There are a couple main characters -- Marie, a blind girl living in Paris with her father who is a master maker of locks and employed sat  the Louvre. and Werner an orphan living in Germany.   

I still hesitate to give this novel 4 **** but given the acclaim I am doing so.  I suppose reflecting back it was a good choice for me to read because I'd not have chosen on my own despite my interest in WWII and history.

Below is the front flap which better gives the overview.  

Front flap 

Here is the introduction to the book from Cybthia Adkins, Word on Fire who co facilitated this with her husband Dr. Michael Adkins.  

Cynthia Adkins Intro  Con't below

 Cythia Adkins

Dead Wake by Erik Larson

Dead Wake is another excellent historical research nonfiction novel by Erik Larson, published 2015 by Crown Publishers, 353 pages, 6 pages of Acknowledgements, 50 pages of Notes, 8 pages of Bibliography and the Index  all together to offer a complete story of the sinking of the Lusitania.  This is the 3rd novel  of Larson's I have read and enjoyed.  This relates the voyage of the commercial Cunard cruise ship, Lucy aka Lusitania, torpedoed and sunk by a German U20 boat near the end of its sailing across the Atlantic from New York  to Liverpool.  The sinking of this ship, death of the American passengers including some who were very prominent precipitated the entry of the United States in WWI.   May  7, 1915 making good their threat to sink commercial liners as well as military, the Germans stepped up U-2 boats off the coastal waters surrounding England. Captain Walther Schwieger of the Unterseeboot-20 aka U-20, submarine was responsible for the disaster.  As stated on the inside cover flap, " an array of forces both grand and achingly small--hubris, a chance fog, a closely guarded secret, and more--all converged to produce of the the great disasters of history." Of the 1959 passengers there were 189 Americans.  

With all the historical information, the author does an excellent job introducing characters such as Captain Turner of the Lusitania, the German Captain  Schwieger, and many passengers and President Woodrow Wilson.  There is intrigue about the British Room 40, the secret decoders a system which was kept fully secret.  I had thought and recalled that the sinking of the Lusitania immediately drove President Wilson to enter WWI when actually the US did not enter the war for another two years. 

Erik Larson, author

I absolutely enjoyed reading this and learned a lot about the era, the technical aspects of the German submarines and President Woodrow Wilson. I felt sorry for Captain Turner being made the scapegoat by the Cunard line and the British Admirality. Pg. 355, Acknowledgements by the author:" What especially drew me was the rich array of materials available to help tell the story in as vivid a manner as possible, --such archival treasures  as telegrams, intercepted wireless messages, survivor depositions, secret intelligence ledgers, Kapitanleutnant Schwieger's actual war log, Edith Galt's love letters and even a film of the Lusitania's final departure from New York.  .....Finding these things was half the fun.  Every book is an expedition into unfamiliar realms, with both an intellectual and a physical component..  The intellectual journey takes you deep into a subject, to the point where you achieve a level of expertise...."  

Near the end  page 326 takes the reader down the lane of "what ifs", "if only ....Captain Turner had not had to wit the extra two hours for the transfer of passengers from the Cameronia he likely would have passed Schwieger in the fog, when the U-20 was submerged and on its way home.  ...More importantly had Turner not been compelled to shut down the fourth boiler room....." 

I give this the full 5*****.  Another excellent example of why historical nonfiction, properly researched and presented by a good author is my preference in reading.   

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I heard about this book from a local friend  almost a year ago; her grand daughter had passed it along to her. First published in 2005, Knopf released the paperback, 550 pages in September, 2007. Because the movie is now underway,  touted for December release, and I prefer to read a book before I see a movie, I picked it up and read it in a few evening in November.  It is a different book, told by Death personified, set in Germany WWII era, it begins in 1939, and traces the experiences of a young girl, Liesel Meminger who is adopted by her foster family after her brother dies and  her mother can not care for her.  It is one of those books known as a crossover, because it was written for  younger readers, adolescents, juniors but is being avidly read by adults, the genre of books I have found to be clearly and well written with good information and emotionally moving.  It takes a  bit of perseverance to get used to Death as a narrator in what could be a gloomy tale but what becomes historically illuminating.  Reviews compare it to Anne Frank.   This era is of great personal interst to me and having just been through a series of Holocaust lectures at the University of Wisconsin, my interest was reignited.

Leisel's foster family shelters a Jew, Max, who was previously known to her father in their basement.   Leisel who is definitely "slow" learns to read through her nightmares as her father begins to spend evenings and nights with her to soothe her when she awakens screaming. Books are not readily available and Leisel begins to still books, odd ones, those she can save from the incineration piles of the gestapo.  

Listen to Death on pg. 491, "It's probably fair to say that in all the years of Hitler's reign, no person was able to serve the Fuhrer as loyally as me.  A human doesn't  have a heart like mine.  The human heart is a line, whereas my own is a circle, and I have the endless ability to be in the right place at the right time.  The consequence of this is that I'm always finding humans at their best and worst.  I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both.  Still, they have one thing I envy.  Humans if nothing else have the good sense to die."

I give this a solid 4 ****

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

History has proven that for tyrants and evil to prevail, it begins insidiously, while well meaning folks look the other way and tell themselves, that nothing will come of this.  Erik Larson"s newest historical narrative, makes that point in this excellent book, published in 2011, 365 pages supplemented by 83 more pages of sources, acknowledgements and  indices.  This is our June book club selection; I will be anxious to discuss it next week when we meet. 

The Garden of Beasts is part of what is known as the Tiergarten in Berlin, near the ambassador's office and similar to  the Central Park in New York.  It was where people could go and talk privately without being fearful of spies and  devices.  The drama weaves starting in 1933, the early days of the rise of Hitler in Germany and William Dodd has been appointed American ambassador to Germany, some speculate this was a fluke by President Roosevelt known for not paying the best of attention to his advisers.  But Dodd, a bland history professor from Chicago who longs to complete his 4 volume work on The Rise and Fall of the Old South, accepts the appointment and so journeys to Berlin with his wife and  adult  son and daughter.  Margaret Dodd, the daughter, a recent divorcee is a case study in immorality, flash, flirtation and considers the time in Berlin as a grand adventure.  Part of her activities in Berlin cascade her into various involvements and affairs with many men one after another including Rudolf Diels, first chief of the Gestapo and Boris Winogradov the Russian communist who charms and courts her, even wanting her to return to Russia with him. 

Ambassador Dodd is clearly a misfit in the ranks of the diplomats and the ambassador corps which is predominantly home to the idle rich and those who dabble while living lifestyles of the rich and famous.  Dodd is neither and alienates most of the embassy staff upon his arrival with his vow to live only on his salary, his demand for frugality and his dislike for pomp and gatherings.  He is ridiculed behind his back for walking to meetings and driving his old Chevrolet while others lavishly use chauffeurs and limousines.  His inconspicuous manner and modesty, lack of a fortune to support expenditures place him at a big disadvantage, although he never realizes nor acknowledges this.  Dodd is the weird duck in the midst and it is a wonder that he survives a few years but he believes that he is there to do his best serving as Roosevelt agreed, "a lone beacon of American freedom and hope."  Clearly he is no judge of character having spent his career in academia because he does not recognize that he has no support among the rest of the  State Department, the Consul or the politicos.  He is not  a member of what they call themselves, The Pretty Good Club, nor would he ever consider that lifestyle.  I felt sorry for him and often though, "just throw in the towel and go home to Chicago....." However,  Dodd is perceptive enough to see the dangers ahead though no one, believes him.   There is espionage and danger all around and yet Dodd remains above it, relies on his immunity or has determined he is in this for the duration.

There is a tribute to Dodd, Pg. 356...."...history....will record that in a period when the forces of tyranny were mobilizing for the extermination of liberty and democracy everywhere, when a mistaken policy of appeasement was stocking the arsenals of despotism, and when in many high social and some political circles, fascism was a fad and democracy anathema, he stood foursquare for our democratic way of life, fought the good fight and kept the faith, and when death touched him his flag was flying still...." 

We see the rise and interactions and mistrust amongst all the sinister Nazi characters Rohm, Goebbels, Goring, Hitler, Himmler.  There are some fascinating and shivering experiences with all of them.   Pg. 116 describes Diels, the Gestapo chief..."he entered....seeping in like a malevolent fog."   I was fascinated and horrified at the tactics and wondered, how could a people be so blind to the atrocities, something I ponder whenever I read about this era of history.  Bad enough that the Germans ignored it all but the isolationist attitude in the US waxed the way for Hitler to emerge and continue.   

I wondered how we came to select this book through recommendation  of Joan one of our members and then reading the acknowledgements I saw that  Mildred Fish Harnack, a friend  of Margaret's in Berlin was arrested by the Nazi's and executed at Hitler's direction.  She was the only University of Wisconsin (UW) alumna to be guillotined at Hitler's command.  Bill, Joan's spouse is an avidly devoted UW alumni and likely found this great historical read through a UW affiliation.  I am glad he did. 

I give this book a 5***** out of 5 possible.  Great subject, good writing, history and research well done.