Saturday, May 21, 2011

Almost Dead

By Assaf Gavron

Gavron, an Israeli writer, writes in a raw and engaging style as he explores the stress of life in Israel from multiple perspectives. The story is told by two different alternating narrator, which could make a story seem disjointed. However, in this book the tactic works beautifully. The two separate stories are woven together seamlessly as the relationship between the two characters is slowly uncovered. Part of the success of the book is the author's writing style, which is driven by strong characters with a lot going on internally. This personal exploration is what enables the two narrators to keep you engaged, with curiosity driving the reader to move forward and understand what happened to these two men. Because of this close relationship you build with the characters you care about what happens to each of them.

Book 27

The Good Man

Edward Jae-Suk Lee

This book is about a Korean war vet who struggles with his past as he is trying to reconcile himself with the present.

Book 26

Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and its Aftermath

By Michael Norman and Elizabeth M. Norman

This is the story of the beginning of the Pacific front of WWII in the Philippines and  ultimately the story of the Bataan march highlighted through the drawings and personal story of Ben Steele. Drawing from many interviews and stories woven together well to tell this gruesome tale. Interestingly, thought it also tells the story of Ben and his experience and survival it also details that of Homma a Japanese General who is tried in a war crimes trial after the war. This is an excellent, insightful, heart breaking story of death and survival in the chaotic beginning of a war which resulted in the torture, starvation and suffering of tens of thousands of US and Filipino troops.

Book 25

Two books to follow up on by Elizabeth Norman:
"The Story of Fifty Military Nurses Who Served in Vietnam"
"We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of American Nurses Trapped on Bataan by the Japanese"

The Lampshade: A Holocaust Detective Story from Buchenwald to New Orleans

By Mark Jacobson

It is difficult to adequately describe the impact this book had on me. Through the process of uncovering the history of an object, a grim object from Nazi concentration camps, the author takes you on an exploration of human cruelty, hatred and injustice. The exploration starts in Nazi Germany and spans countries, time and space - with players that include neo-Nazis, New Orleans coroner post-Katrina, a charismatic Holocaust denier, just to name a few.

"The protective boundary between the inside and out, the skin is the largest organ and the most personal, the palette of individuality and free will. Without the skin, the rest of the body becomes a dripping pile of anonymous spare parts. Without the skin, the soul is nothing but a vaporous presence on the hunt for a new host." Pg 99

"These people claimed to be innocent [people who lived around Buchenwald] but I knew they weren't. I knew that because I knew them. They said they were crying because they didn't know. But that was a lie. They were crying because they did know. They were hoping their tears would absolve them, as if someone would pat them on the head and say, don't worry, it's going to be all right. But they had the wrong guy for that. The trains ran to Buchenwald every day. People from Weimar worked at the Gustloff factory next to the camp. Guards lived in the town. So don't say you didn't know, because you did. You knew." Pg 164 - Albert Rosenberg, one of the first Americans in Buchanwald tasked with chronicling what took place there and documenting stories, objects and facts

After finding out that Buchanwald was used by the Russians for a killing field post-WWII the historian of Buchenwald is turned inside out. "I realized I would have to o back to t
Publish Post
he beginning again. To check everything again. To check and recheck . . . " Pg 219

Books to read:
"Literature or Life" by Jorge Semprun (Remember Rosenburg)

Book 24

The Darkest Summer: Pusan and Inchon 1950 The Battles that Saved South Korea - and the Marines - From Extinction

 By Bill Sloan


I was particularly interested in this book because my Grandpa Carlsen was a chaplain in the Korean War and ministered to marines who had been in the Chosin Reservoir. Although this book did not focus on that part of the Korean War, it was fascinating to learn about the rocky start to this war and how many WWII veterans who thought their service to the country had been complete had to turn around and head back into war. It was very interesting to learn about the politics of the time which were trying to get rid of the marines altogether. For anyone interested in war history this is a great book about the brutal Korean war.

Book 23