I got this book from Danna, a fellow teacher, a week or two before school started, and with everything that has been going on, I just didn't have the time or the emotional and intellectual sense to delve into a book about a mother and daughter in Germany during WWII. I'm very glad that I didn't try to force this book until I was ready to read it. This story starts with a young girl whose mother passed away and her irritable and erratic father makes strict and demanding look sweet. It is also told about 40 years later from the daughter's point of view as she is researching German, non-Jewish people to get their thoughts on what happened in Germany during that time, what they saw but didn't tell, etc.
This is an amazing book. It was written for adults, there is a great deal of sex, as was standard during this time that the German soldiers would use their power to manipulate women into doing what they wanted for protection, and often more importantly, food. I love Anna's whole story, seeing all the events leading up to the discovery of why she is how she is and Trudie's realization that life isn't always how one believes it to be.
I highly recommend this book to those who aren't offended by sex and some language. I felt it to be very real, an emotional roller coaster of a book, but in the end, heartwarming and redeeming.
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Another fantastic read (also from Dana) - but also for adults in spite of the story - Is The True Story of Hansel and Gretel. It is about the escape of two Polish-Jewish children(a double wammy) whose stepmother gave them the names Hansel and Gretel in an attempt to make them sound more German. It is wrapped in the metaphor of the children's tale. I couldn't put it down and am still haunted by it four years later.
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