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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Apr 16, 2021  
Sneak a peak at THE TAKEAWAY MEN, a historical fiction novel, by Meryl Ain on my blog! I must say that this book looks very interesting!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2021/04/book-blitz-takeaway-men-by-meryl-ain.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
With the cloud of the Holocaust still looming over them, twin sisters Bronka and Johanna Lubinski and their parents arrive in the US from a Displaced Persons Camp. In the years after World War II, they experience the difficulties of adjusting to American culture as well as the burgeoning fear of the Cold War.

Years later, the discovery of a former Nazi hiding in their community brings the Holocaust out of the shadows. As the girls get older, they start to wonder about their parents’ pasts, and they begin to demand answers. But it soon becomes clear that those memories will be more difficult and painful to uncover than they could have anticipated.

Poignant and haunting, The Takeaway Men explores the impact of immigration, identity, prejudice, secrets, and lies on parents and children in mid-twentieth-century America.
      
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Lindsay (1779 KP) rated Boy From Berlin in Books

Aug 23, 2020  
Boy From Berlin
Boy From Berlin
Nancy McDonald | 2018 | Children, Fiction & Poetry
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Boy From Berlin is a well-written story of a family. It tells the story of a boy and his family journey from Nazi Germany. What a compelling tale. It is great for children to learn about Berlin and what happens to Jews during Hitler's time.

The way this takes us on Kafer's journey from Berlin to England. Young readers will enjoy the adventure. They will also learn about what it was like to be Jew or some escaped from Hitler. You are pulled along with Kafer and his family. I was having a hard time turning the pages. There are surprises and twists throughout the book.

This was historical fiction read but it great for any historical fan. It one that I would recommend to pick up for middle-grade children and readers. Great for young readers as well. If you are into spies and World War 2 then this is a good book to pick and read. It is based on the true story of Kafer and his family. Though there is some fiction to it.
  
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Hazel (1853 KP) rated The Storyteller in Books

May 30, 2017  
The Storyteller
The Storyteller
Jodi Picoult | 2014 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.6 (12 Ratings)
Book Rating
An Ethical Question
Jodi Picoult is the bestselling author of numerous novels, with My Sister’s Keeper being the most well known, perhaps. All of her stories are well written although it is still possible to notice improvements in the writing over the years right up until now with her latest, The Storyteller, which quite possibly could be her best yet.

Arguably, The Storyteller does not quite read as a Jodi Picoult novel is known to. This is, in part, because of the nature of the story. Most of her previous books deal with medical ethics and/or court cases, whereas this story contains neither. The Storyteller contains a combination of past and present - the main focus being on the Holocaust.

Four people narrate the novel: two in the present day and two giving an account of their experience during the Second World War. It begins with Sage Singer, a 25 year old, hermit-like woman with a disfiguring facial scar – the result of a terrible accident, one that also led to the death of her mother. For the past three years Sage has been participating in a grief group – a place where people who have lost loved ones can come together and talk about their feelings. After three years surely Sage would no longer need the help of the group? However she still attends, not because she finds it helpful, but for the opposite reason. She even says herself: “If it were helpful I wouldn’t still be coming.” It unfolds that she still blames herself for her mother’s death despite the reassurances that it was an accident and not her fault.

It is through the grief group that Sage meets an elderly man, Josef Weber. After becoming friendly and discovering that Sage comes from a Jewish family, Josef confesses to something terrible – he was a Nazi during the war. He killed people. He wants Sage to represent all the Jews he killed and forgive him. Then he wants her to help him die.

Whilst, Josef recounts his experience of being part of the Nazi party, another account is also given. Minka, Sage’s grandmother, describes the terrors she faced as an imprisoned Jew suffering fates such as the deaths of all her family and friends and her time in Auschwitz. Another element to the novel is the vampire story Minka wrote as a teenager. This is interspersed between the other chapters of the book. Unwittingly, Minka’s fictional tale reflects the alienation and destruction of the Jews. The final character is Leo who, like Sage, is narrating the present day, and trying to locate ex-Nazi members in order for them to be punished by the government.

One thing to praise Picoult for, not just in The Storyteller, but also in all her novels is the amount of in-depth research she undertakes to make her stories as accurate as possible even though they are fictional. Minka’s account was written is such a way that it was almost believable that Picoult had been there and experienced it herself. She even learnt to bake bread so that she could write from the point of view of a baker. This is pure dedication!

The Storyteller is an amazing, beautiful book, which is not purely an enjoyable read. It informs, shocks and stays with you for a long time. You will question your own morals and ability to forgive. Is anyone entirely evil? Is anyone entirely good? Perhaps we are both, so why should anyone have the right to treat others as inferior from themselves?