The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

Another 5 ***** novel by another previously unfamiliar, to me, author, Sarah Blake, paperback published 2010, 361 pages with supplemental Reader's Guide making it  very suitable for book clubs.  A great tale that opens with the question, "What would you think of a post mistress who chose not to deliver the mail?"  An interesting thought,  how could that happen, so I was ready for Iris James, the  postmaster as she reminded people, "there is no postmistress classification." The tale is set in Cape Cod area of New England in the 1940's  prior to the United States entering World War II.  It is a  historical fictional account of two strong women,  Iris, the town's postmaster and across the ocean, Frannie Bard, a  reporter whose purpose in life is to get at the truth and who is trying to get the US to pay attention to what is happening to the Jews in Germany and the  dreadful bombings of London. from where she reports.  Their lives intersect as Frannie is broadcast back to the states and most follow her.  Besides these two women, there are multiple interesting characters, Harry Vale,   a New Englander,  who becomes Iris' fiancee and self appointed  to keep a coastal watch for German Uboats, Dr Will Fitch who seeks penance by going to London to administer to the people after a patient dies accidentally but he blames himself.  He leaves behind his  wife Emma, whom he does not know is pregnant.  Emma is a needy sort of woman, a clinger,  who comes to know her own strength.  Otto, the town mystery, the one the people suspect to be a Kraut spy.     Rich characters, lives crossed, great writing,  tragedy from the war sprinkled with mystery as to what will happen.  .

As the author comments,  "  It is the story that lies around the edges of the photographs...it's about the lies we tell others to protect them...and about the lies we tell ourselves in order not to acknowledge what we can't bear....and what in the end do we do?"  This novels  weaves around that  concept.  

 Page 3, "Never mind, I.. am old...tired of the terrible clarity of the young..... all of you are young these days."

Page 49:  "  Large and handsome ......Mrs Cripps  stood like a striped tent without an occasion, studying the scene..."

Page 86..."gone to fat, her mother's body, hung like too many coats thrown over a hangar."

Page 245."War was coming....everyone said it, though ......Outside the windows here gulls and swallows divided an undivided sky......if there was a psychology of summer people, it was this: .. Alert and bright they trooped into the post office with letters and cards, wanting to get the work of their vacation out of the way in the morning.""

General Ike by John S D Eisenhower

Published in 2003,  236 pages including three speeches in the Appendix and 41 pages of index and notes by chapter, "General Ike" by his son is a readable, historical series of essays explaining Ike's training, background and character development but primarily his WWII years and  interactions with so many heroes of our time, General Douglas MacArthur, Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, General George "blood and guts"  Patton, General George C Marshall, Field Marshall Sir Bernard Law Montgomery and others who were so influential in his early military career.  There is a chapter dedicated to nearly each one of these.  The writing is excellent, not repetitive as could have been since the time span covered often overlaps.  Initially I was  slightly intimidated by the military maps in the front of the book showing the campaigns of the war and the Allies strategies and  the references to military terms, abbreviations, acronyms, ranks and structure and the like but it is a book I am fortunate to have read.  This was discarded by our local library when they did some shelf purging so I acquired it for $1.   I remember President Eisenhower and the "I Like Ike" slogans; it is the first presidential campaign that I recall as a child.  This book makes the characters real  and does not disguise foibles and issues between the characters.  The author, John S D Eisenhower, is the eldest son, a West Point Grad,  retired Brigadier General,  a historian and by the inside  cover looks exactly like his famous father. He explains for ease of readership his use of "Ike" although he admits to never calling him anything but "Dad."  It is a revealing portrait of history with much information confirmed in other historical accounts and with the addition of Ike only tid bits.  

On page 39, I laughed at Ike's adoption of the "Beer Barrel Polka" a popular tune in the  1940's which Ike enjoyed, his declaring it the official song of the 15th  He so designated it Infantry of the Army at Ft. Ord, CA.  "Military morale is often built on things that seem trivial to a civilian."    So that when there was a marching review of his division the band would suspend whatever march it had been playing and swing into the "polka" until the last man in the regiment passed by, then the band would revert  back to standard military marches.   It was said that the men of the 15th refused to march to any other tune.   I never knew that.

George Patton and Ike had a long history and acquaintance prior to WWII.  There are multiple examples of Patton's outbursts and arrogance and Ike's tolerance.  Pg 61...  "..the type of annoyance Ike  was willing to undergo  in order to save this man for what he was best at, fighting."  in another reference to  Patton.  On pg. 73.."I think that Ike treasured George's memory as a bit of nostalgia for simpler times, a simpler Army.....speaking as President in 1957....he referred to George Patton's old sergeant, who was so disgusted with the men in his squad that he declared them "not even fittin' to be civilians."  Now that's funny too.     On Pg 76 we learn that Ike always tended to worked off stress and concern by making vegetable soup,   like "Lucy Manette's father in Dicken' Tale of Two Cities.  "Perhaps going through an established ritual allowed him to pull his thoughts together." 

There are many touching passages including the eulogy which Ike delivered at Churchill's burial and his "intangibles of freedom:"  in his June 12, 1945 address to the Guildhall in London  slightly one month past the end of the European phase of WWII.   When the European operations ended in 1945, Ike would  still have nearly 25 more years of public service ahead.  This  book  merely mentions here and there  some incidents of Ike's presidency instead it is a heartfelt tribute to his character and his ability to persevere.

 I would keep this book on my library shelf but instead am sending it along to a retired military friend who has not read it and who will enjoy it even more than I did.  It is a great read about the history of our time and how Ike, the consummate soldier led and administered a  coalition of troops and how his character developed as it was destined to be amidst and along with some of the greatest men.   I give this 4 ****. 

Over Here, Over There by Maxene Andrews and Bill Gilbert

The most interesting thing about this 260 pages book  published in 1993 is the cover jacket shown to the left and the photos inside.  "Over Here, Over" There proves that it only takes money to publish a book but not everyone is a writer.  I skimmed this because after  30 pages of reading it was so boring I did not want to waste my eyeballs.  I am usually attracted to any memoir of this era and thought surely this might have interesting experiences about the Andrews sister, the  well known musical trio of World War II.  Maxine could  have shared interesting experiences but instead this is merely the musings or ramblings of a person who does not know what to say. The jacket claims this is the story of the  sisters--Maxene, Patty and La Verne who immortalized the songs of the late 1930"s and the 1940's, and the experiences of other USO entertainers.   I can  see why it was discarded by our local library to our book sale. She mentions their songs and even includes the words to some.  She rambles about how these sisters from Cincinnati ,Ohio and Minneapolis, Minnesota were driven to performances by their Daddy in the 1939 auto during times of gas rationing. She mentions other entertainers  with the USO.  But there is no there here or there.  Very boring  and most disappointing.  I give it 1 *, for the photos.