Book # 7
May 2
Book Title: Saints and Villains
Author: Denise Giardina
Genre: Historical Fiction
# of pages: 481
My rating of the book, F- [worst] to A
[best].: A
Short description/summary of the book:
[Amazon]
Sometimes the universe produces a man or woman whose life seems ready-made for fiction: Joan of Arc, for example, or Robert Falcon Scott; John Brown, Martin Luther King Jr., or Jesus of Nazareth. Fiction writers are attracted to larger-than-life personalities and each of the above-mentioned luminaries have indeed appeared in fictional works. Now German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer joins their ranks in Denise Giardina's novel Saints and Sinners. Bonhoeffer was born in 1906 in Breslau, Germany. As a young man, he found his vocation in the church, and his theological education took him to England, Spain, and eventually New York, where he spent a year in post-doctoral studies at Union Theological Seminary. He returned to Germany imbued with both the ideals of ecumenicalism and of the Church's responsibility to participate in social and political debate. These ideals, unfortunately, were hardly compatible with the rise of Nazism in the Germany of the '30s and '40s. Bonnhoeffer, true to his beliefs, spoke out against the Nazi regime, and participated in Germany's small Protestant resistance. He was eventually arrested for helping Jews escape to Switzerland and was hanged in the concentration camp in Flossenberg in the waning days of the war.
Denise Giardina knows the stuff of drama when she sees it, and in writing this fictionalized account of Bonhoeffer's life and death, she has drawn heavily on his own writings. Though she sticks to the facts where chronology is concerned, she does introduce three fictional characters into her protagonist's life as a means of illuminating his most private aspects. There is Elisabeth Hildebrant, Bonhoeffer's Jewish lover; Alois Bauer, his Nazi nemesis; and Fred Bishop, a black American seminarian Bonhoeffer meets during his year in New York who serves to politicize and radicalize the German theologian.
My Thoughts:
I really enjoyed this book (Why do I keep saying that? I enjoy all the books I read). I haven’t read many books about WWII, but I found it fascinating. This one was very interesting, the conspiracies, characters, spiritual dilemmas. All really interesting. It definitely does a good job to remind you that not all people are their government, does that make sense? Drives me crazy when people think that. I think the portrayal of the stormtrooper (doppelganger) was very humanizing as well, which made it more interesting since he was a little less predictable (but sometimes predictable in his unpredictableness).
I agree with a review that I read on Amazon, Bonhoeffer doesn’t really embody a hero. He seems almost weak and pathetic and really, though maybe he has the convictions to do what he wants, doesn’t really seem to play a big role in the whole ordeal of attempting to assassinate Hitler. I personally thinks it makes for an interesting story though. Sometimes it is better to read about real people, their thoughts, doubts, motivations, shortcomings, than supernatural heroes.Book # 8
May 11
Book Title: The Lovely Bones
Author: Alice Sebold
Genre: Sci-Fiction
# of pages: 328
My rating of the book, F- [worst] to A [best].: A
Short description/summary of the book: [Amazon]
When we first meet Susie Salmon, she is already in heaven. As she looks down from this strange new place, she tells us, in the fresh and spirited voice of a fourteen-year-old girl, a tale that is both haunting and full of hope. In the weeks following her death, Susie watches life on Earth continuing without her-her school friends trading rumors about her disappearance, her family holding out hope that she'll be found, her killer trying to cover his tracks. As months pass without leads, Susie sees her parents' marriage being contorted by loss, her sister hardening herself in an effort to stay strong, and her little brother trying to grasp the meaning of the word gone. And she explores the place called heaven. It looks a lot like her school playground, with the good kind of swing sets. There are counselors to help newcomers adjust and friends to room with. Everything she ever wanted appears as soon as she thinks of it-except the thing she most wants: to be back with the people she loved on Earth. With compassion, longing, and a growing understanding, Susie sees her loved ones pass through grief and begin to mend. Her father embarks on a risky quest to ensnare her killer. Her sister undertakes a feat of remarkable daring. And the boy Susie cared for moves on, only to find himself at the center of a miraculous event. The Lovely Bones is luminous and astonishing, a novel that builds out of grief the most hopeful of stories. In the hands of a brilliant new writer, this story of the worst thing a family can face is transformed into a suspenseful and even funny novel about love, memory, joy, heaven, and healing.
My Thoughts:
This was really interesting! Definitely reminded me of ‘Saving Fish from Drowning’, but only because of the perspective of a dead person watching the living. I thought this book was really interesting! It was interesting to see the different ways people coped with death, people who it affected more than you thought it would (someone she barely knew in life becoming one of her main connections to the ‘world of the living’). And the version of heaven that Sebold came up with was really interesting. I tried to explain it to someone, but it is sort of impossible to explain.
Of course, now that I read it, I really don’t have
the vaguest idea how it is going to be turned into a movie.
Currently reading :
Love in the Time of Cholera
