Book Review: In Sunlight and In Shadow by Mark Helprin

 

I just finished reading Mark Helprin's In Sunlight and In Shadow, a chunky book of 700 pages. A love story, a war story, a story of wealth, a story of New York after WWII.  

"Of the widest scope – from the air over Sicily to the heat-and-color-saturated Sacramento Valley; the Bay of Biscay to the sea off Maine; the steel mills of Gary, Indiana to the beaches of Amagansett; London in the blitz; the invasion of Normandy; and a single shell gliding across an American lake in August; from the luminous houses of the wealthy to the pounding of the boards beneath a Broadway chorus line – this is yet, first, and foremost a love story, but also a hymn to New York of the period when one great age elided into the other that we call our own. Rich in language and classical allusion, it is true to the mottoes at its outset: the Dantean “Amor mi mosse, che me fa parlare,” “Love moved me, and made me speak,” and to the lines of Lucretius that describe Catherine’s extraordinary representation of the powers, beauties, and graces of womanhood – “Nothing comes forth into the shores of light, or is glad or lovely without you.”

I am so mad right now. No happily ever after. No riding into the sunset. No walking hand in hand with the love of his life for the rest of his life. Harry chose and he chose wrong. It reminded me of the Suitable Boy in which the girl chose the wrong boy and I wanted to throw the book across the room.

I invested in the story, in the characters, in the setting, in the words so elegant and lengthy. I loved the descriptions, the discussions, the points to ponder. Then got thrown under the bus. I ranted and raved to my husband who reminded of a horrible book he bought me once that was supposedly a love story but told the history of every single character and every single place as it was introduced and even included the history of golf. An inside joke us since hubby is very verbose. Why explain it simply when you can tell the history of golf. And the dang book had it. But I read it because he bought it for me.

But I defended In Sunlight and In Shadow because I loved the writing. I loved A Winter’s Tale. I loved The Soldier of the Great War. I was sure I’d love ISaiS.  

Call it arrogance, ignorance, ego, sacrifice, a miscarriage of justice, pride, or whatever, but when Harry refuses to accept any assistance whatsoever in saving his business and decides to take on the mafia problem himself, he became a selfish fool. He let the mafia drive his business into the ground. He wasn’t a stupid man, yet he was. He made his choice and choose that over Catherine. Yeah for Catherine finally getting what she wanted and realizing she'd been seen, she'd been heard, and she could have a great singing career,  but she would have to do it without Harry. 

** for failing to live up to my expectations. 

James M's review of Inside Hitler's Bunker & Der Untergang (book/movie review)

Welcome back, friends. This time we are diving... into history, traveling back to the final months of a dark time in our world's history. We're turning back the clock to 1945 as World War II in Europe was ending in chaos. 

This is my review of Inside Hitler's Bunker by Joachim Fest, which details the final days of the Third Reich as the Soviet army besieged the German city of Berlin.  Plus the movie that was based on it along with many other accounts by those who knew the infamous Adolf Hitler.

We got INSIDE HITLER'S BUNKER back in 2015 and read the entire book from start to finish with me taking down notes as I went.  it detailed everything that  happened during those chaotic final weeks as the Soviets took Berlin and as Hitler met his fate down in that bunker with his close allies. It covers the start of the Battle of Berlin a couple days before Hitler's birthday, then talks about what happened during the last ten days from his birthday up to his death with Eva Braun.

Joachim Fest took his time writing this book and letting us know it is important to learn history in order to avoid repeating it. We all heard the tales many times. The tales of how Hitler met his end and where he was when he died. While what happened down in the Fuerherbunker was NEVER seen on camera, he made one last public appearance that was caught on camera; his birthday and a single photo of him taken outside the bunker before his death.

Nothing is left out and ignored. All the events that unfolded above the bunker in Berlin and everything that everyone around Hitler did is very explicitly addressed.

The final days of the war cannot and must not be ignored.  War is hell as the saying goes and the chaos engulfing Berlin is very-well described. This is a very informative book if you are curious about the final days of the Nazi regime and those final hours in the life of history's most infamous dictator who's legacy has haunted us for decades.

Joachim is an incredible historian and author. His work is a must read for historians. I actually wrote a report on INSIDE HITLER'S BUNKER for school in the weeks after we read it. The report is tucked away somewhere in a binder full of school-related reports I've done over the years.

INSIDE HITLER'S BUNKER gets a ten out of ten. It's well-written and was fun to read. So, what about the movie which was somewhat based on this book? Well, I'll tell you.

Released in 2004 and ONLY done in German, Der Untergang stars the late Bruno Ganz as Adolf Hitler. It is told from the perspective of Traudl Junge and many others and depicts the Battle of Berlin, the events unfolding above and within the bunker during the final days of Hitler's life. It is a very well done war movie.  I've seen it four times so far and will most likely watch it again.  

If you wish to see it, go ahead. But just a warning before you do, DOWNFALL (which is what DER UNTERGANG is also called) is R-rated. It is violent and very scary.   Well,  what would you expect, since it's about the events in Berlin in 1945. This film was well-received and very successful. 

it has also spawned quite a few internet memes. How you ask?

Adolf Hitler has become an internet meme thanks to this German-speaking movie. If it weren't for DOWNFALL, we wouldn't have the Hitler Rant Parodies going on right now. Der Untergang parodies are everywhere, everywhere I say. And its thanks to the movie we got SONIC'S SPACE ADVENTURES AGAINST HITLER by AVIDSONICFAN (which I reviewed ages ago).

Der Untergang and the book that inspired it are both good, well put-together and everyone should give them a shot. Just be forewarned, the content is disturbing. DER UNTERGANG and DOWNFALL gets a ten out of ten. 

Now, I say farewell to you all as we return to the modern day and prepare to take our minds off the war and any other dark history events. Stay safe in the world as long as you don't stumble into a time machine that will take you back to any dangerous times, times such as WWII during any point in the conflict.

See you later!

-James M

Book Review: The Boy on the Wooden Box - Leon Leyson

Leon's parents adopted a saying that he used to repeat often when the German's started to take over Poland - "If this is the worst that happens," taking each day one day at a time, dealing with each issue as it came along.  Quietly uttered when faced with losing their freedoms, their jobs, their homes, being forced into the Ghetto, then a work camp.  I chose to read The Boy on the Wooden box with James to give him a look at what life was like for the Polish Jews whose lives were turned upside down by the war.   How they had to scrape and scrounge for food, sharing even the tiniest bit with each other. How they managed to hold onto their humanity in the face of evil.  Leon, his brother, and his father worked for Schindler in his factory so he got to know them and was nice to them when the other Germans treated them badly.  When they were taken away and put into the labor camp, Schindler worked to build his munitions factory as quickly as possible and put them on his list of the workers needed who were necessary because they were already trained. He  managed to save the majority of Leon's family.  The memoir is heart wrenching as well as a tribute to perseverance, life and love during the most horrendous of experiences.    

Synopsis:  Even in the darkest of times—especially in the darkest of times—there is room for strength and bravery. A remarkable memoir from Leon Leyson, one of the youngest children to survive the Holocaust on Oskar Schindler’s list.

Leon Leyson (born Leib Lezjon) was only ten years old when the Nazis invaded Poland and his family was forced to relocate to the Krakow ghetto. With incredible luck, perseverance, and grit, Leyson was able to survive the sadism of the Nazis, including that of the demonic Amon Goeth, commandant of Plaszow, the concentration camp outside Krakow. Ultimately, it was the generosity and cunning of one man, a man named Oskar Schindler, who saved Leon Leyson’s life, and the lives of his mother, his father, and two of his four siblings, by adding their names to his list of workers in his factory—a list that became world renowned: Schindler’s List.

This, the only memoir published by a former Schindler’s List child, perfectly captures the innocence of a small boy who goes through the unthinkable. Most notable is the lack of rancor, the lack of venom, and the abundance of dignity in Mr. Leyson’s telling. The Boy on the Wooden Box is a legacy of hope, a memoir unlike anything you’ve ever read. (less)