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Loading... Those Who Save Usby Jenna Blum
 break | Oct 3, 2008 | 
Wow, what a sad story, But I could not put it down, read in 1 1/2 days. (  ) janetcoletti | Dec 2, 2009 | I usually avoid Holocaust material, but I liked the photo on the cover so much that I ended up trying 'er out for a dollar from Goodwill. I'm glad I read it but haven't much to say, other than I'm glad I didn't have to live through WWII in Europe... KaterinaBead | Dec 1, 2009 | Great book with a new perspective on the holocaust. (  ) Cailin | Nov 30, 2009 | Those Who Save Us is a powerful and heart breaking tale of the lives of everyday Germans during World War II. Alternating between past and present, we learn the story of Trudy and her mother Anna. Trudy is a college professor who is drawn into a project by a colleague chronicling the lives of ordinary Germans and their feelings about the war, Hitler and the persecution of Jews. While conducting these interviews, Trudy meets a spectrum of Germans. Some excuse their own behavior during the war by couching it in "it was a war, you did what you had to" while some relate stories of how their attempts to help their Jewish neighbors or show any sympathy was severely punished. But what was surprising was the fact that some of the German emigres still harbored intense anti-Jewish sentiments despite everything that had transpired. But while Trudy chronicles these stories she is unaware that her own mother is an encyclopedia of stories to tell of her life in Germany. Anna was the daughter of a strict and harsh father who used his only child as an unpaid housekeeper. He was a Nazi sympathizer and one who hoped to marry off his beautiful daughter to a Nazi probably hoping that this would elevate him. Unfortunately for him, his daughter falls in love with a Jewish doctor and becomes pregnant. Unfortunately for her, she decides to hide him in her house when the Nazi begin looking for him. This is successful for a while until her father somehow finds him and turns him in and he is sent to a concentration camp. Anna is justifiably horrified and runs away from home, moving in with a local baker. This book captures you with its excellent descriptions of life in Nazi Germany. The rationing of food, the fear felt by good people who worry about what their government may be doing but cannot do a thing about it. It is an interesting portrait of what happens when you are at your wits end and your salvation comes in the form of your enemy. How does one survive the choices you made in order to insure your survival and that of your child? Before you realize Anna's history, she is described as cold, distant and almost unloving. But as you read of her struggles and the realities of her life in Germany, it explains why she became who we now see. Anna's story is much more interesting than Trudy's as Trudy sometimes seems to just be going through the motions. Though you know Anna's life does not end up happy, seeing her as a young women is captivating. As she falls in love with the doctor, you want to believe that theirs will be a happy tale. Trudy though the product of her mother's silence was not a character that I really identified with. I can understand that being the child of a woman like Anna must have left many emotional scares but I could not help looking at Trudy's life and character as unfulfilled and alienated both from the other characters and the reader. I enjoyed this book and kept thinking about it long after I finished. Things are not tied up in a neat bow but the growing understanding between mother and daughter is nice to watch. There were a few iffy moments in the book like getting used to the fact that none of the dialogue has quotations. But as I kept reading, I soon forgot about that. Plot wise I found some of Trudy's relationships somewhat odd and seeming to come out of nowhere. But maybe they were thrown in to show just how dysfunctional she had become over time. (  ) TrishNYC | Oct 22, 2009 | My mother-in-law loaned this to me. I really liked it. Interesting characters set in an interesting time and place. ( ) dferb | Sep 20, 2009 | Blum explores the need for secrets and silence in this story of a silent, German mother and her professor daughter who wants to know the truth about her past. (  ) quirkylibrarian | Sep 10, 2009 | Haven't read it yet.  jbettinaw | Aug 14, 2009 | Loved this book! stockt | Aug 4, 2009 | This a beautifully written book that alternates between Trudy in the present and her mother, Anna, reliving life in Germany during WWII. Anna's experiences as a young German woman living near Buchenwald with her daughter and her life as the mistress of an SS officer are told in heart-rending detail. Many have wondered about the German people who lived near concentration camps with their unimaginable horrors. Did they know what went on in the camps? If so, why didn't they intervene? This novel sheds some light on what happened to those who knew and the lengths that Anna went to to protect Trudy and how she attempted to help the prisoners. Trudy's Jewish father was one of those prisoners, so Anna's pain at their suffering is magnified. This novel will stay with me for quite awhile. I am astounded that it is Jenna Blum's debut because of the depth of the subject and the brilliance of the writing. Wherever she is, I hope she is writing. I will be one of the first to buy whatever future books she writes. ( )1  pdebolt | Jun 28, 2009 | The beauty of this novel lies in the stark contrast between young Anna and elderly Anna. By moving back and forth in time, Blum compellingly demonstrates the power of brutality to obliterate your personality and change your life forever, even if you "survive." You want to know, why didn't Anna tell her daughter about her experiences during World War II? Why didn't she tell her husband? The answer becomes clear. She is one of the war's victims. Just like many soldiers, she suffers from lasting post-traumatic stress syndrome. Anna will not make excuses. She will not talk about the past. I absolutely loved this book. Anna has become one of my favorite fictional characters. I know that this book and Anna's story are true on many levels. ( ) krbrancolini | Jun 10, 2009 | WW2, holocaust, nazi germany, ( ) RickK | Apr 23, 2009 | I could not put this page turner down. I was immediately drawn into the two story lines that were so nicely interwoven. This powerful story deals with issues of both a personal and social nature and leaves you wondering what you would have done. There are some haunting, graphic scenes which make the book difficult to read. ( )1 shistykrannon | Mar 25, 2009 | I was disappointed in this book. Although a poignant story, the book dragged on and on. I felt like I was never going to finish it! (  ) msmith116 | Feb 19, 2009 | Gripping novel with split timeframe - a German mother's experiences in Germany during the 2nd World War, and the daughter's life in present day America. Her slow awakening to what happened in her past. ( ) snail49 | Feb 14, 2009 | This book was a read for a RL fiction group. I enjoyed it. It was about family secrets, and the events in Germany during WWII. The book has a modern thread, with a woman who is of German ancestry, but living in the USA, trying to find out the truth about her and her family's past. She is a history professor, and the death of her mother triggers her search. A search the mother suppressed when she was alive. The other thread is set in the past and chronicles the mother's life during the war and what she had to do and endure to survive. ( ) FicusFan | Dec 21, 2008 | I've read a fair number of memoirs and other non-fiction about the Holocaust and am always hesitant about reading fiction in this area. After all, the truth is haunting enough without embellishment. But occasionally a Holocaust novel will move beyond the devices of plot and illuminate some fundamental human emotions and questions that are true regardless of whether they actually happened. Arnost Lustig comes immediately to mind as one with the ability to translate his experiences through the lens of fiction and emerge with something even greater. I am reminded in particular of his Lovely Green Eyes. Blum's characters deal with issues that provoke both an emotional response and contemplation. What does it mean to love those who save us, or shame us? How do brutal experiences change a person's ability to love or even to remember love? What does it mean to protect your child at the expense of your own soul? Is it possible to find peace if you are denied any possibility of acceptance? ( )1 labfs39 | Dec 10, 2008 | This hauntingly lovely book is the best I’ve read in a long time. It’s the story of Anna, a German caught up in the firestorm of Nazi Weimar and her daughter, Trudy. Anna’s selfless acts of kindness and her accompanying shame were well executed – believable and haunting. Trudy’s own story is well marked by a life she can barely remember. This Holocaust epic told from the German point of view gave what is for me well worn – the Holocaust – a fresh slant. The characters are excellently executed and the story held my attention the entire way through – not an easy feat. The writing was beautiful and well done. I whole heartedly recommend this book and can’t wait to see what Ms. Blum comes up with next. ( ) kshaffar | Nov 20, 2008 | I loved this book! The material itself was difficult to read but the author made the difficult easy by giving the reader such endearing and in contrast, hateful characters. I found myself almost wishing for the ending of the book just to know that the main characters ended up OK. As a result, the end of the book seemed to take forever to reach but thankfully didnt wind up like I expected it to. Definately a wonderful book for anyone who doesnt expect a fluffy read, appreciates difficult material or is a WWII buff. ( )1 Trinity | Nov 3, 2008 | I like to think that my book reviews provide new insights or at least originate from me. It is a relatively easy task when writing about books of which there are no, or only a few reviews available. It is considerable harder for popular novels, such as Jenna Blum's Those Who Save Us. For example LibraryThing.com has 20 reviews and Amazon.com has 84. So instead of going the individualistic road I am going the other direction. I pick some of the questions from the official reading guide, available from the author's site and share my related impressions, on this exciting pageturner novel. 1. How would you categorize Those Who Save Us: as a war story, a love story, a mother-daughter story? One of the strengths of the book is that it is not just one of these but contains most of the above. It is definitely a war and a mother-daughter story. But I am not sure to what extent it is a love story, hence the "almost" part. Yes, there is a love story in the first few dozen pages, and the fruit of that love is Trudy. But the relationship described in the rest of the book is not love. At least not in the traditional sense. A main theme of the book, to explore what it is and how it affected the rest of Anna's life. Hint: it devoured her from the ability of true love, hence I would call it an "unlove" story instead. 2. In what ways do the characters save each other in the novel, and who saves whom? The Obersturmführer saves Anna and Trudy from starvation and possible death during the war years. On the other hand Anna saves him from loneliness. Anna and her ex-boss Mathilde saves Jews in the camp by providing food and information. Later in the US, Anna tries to save her daughter from the shadows of the past by not telling her about it. This venture is less successful though, as Trudy has to deal with unconfirmed shadows, shame and suspicions as the result of non-communication. Jack, Anna's American husband saves the mother and daughter from punishment after the war as collaborators with the Nazis. There are further "savings" prompted by and involving side characters too, which I won't have time to go into now. 3. Do you see Anna's beauty as a blessing or a curse? Always these either/or questions. Of course it is both, depending on the situation. In her life though it is more of the latter. It draws attention to her and in wartimes, which is full of ravenous soldiers it can be dangerous. 4. Why does Mathilde take this risk of feeding the Buchenwald prisoners? Because she still has a balanced moral value system. It is a bit more complex than that though as she has to weigh in the risk against the benefits when making such decisions as whether to risk her life to bring more bread or not. For her staying human was more important than staying alive. 5. Do you see the Obersturmführer as a monster or as human? Again, both. The art of being a monster, which he very much was, is compartmentalization. He did not see Jews as humans therefore he had no problem of killing and torturing them. This corrupted his petty soul and blinded his senses to the extent that he believed he was in love with Anna and the feeling was reciprocal. He was human in the sense that he needed human warmth and feeling of being part of a family, but he was a monster by not recognizing that forcing such things do not work on the long term and they are not the real thing. There are many more questions in the guide, but I also wanted to include a meaningful quote from the book itself. Here it is from page 402 Look, Rainer says. Trudy does. She sees nothing out of the ordinary: the gray-white lake, the overcast sky a darker gray above it, the dense black calligraphy of branches on the far shore. Behind them is a brilliant lemon-colored slash of light that somehow has the effect of making the afternoon seem even colder than it is. The wind rushes ceaselessly over the ice, teasing water from Trudy's eyes; her cheeks will be bright red when she and Rainer get back indoors. But this is also thrilling, like being, Trudy thinks, on the deck of a ship embarked on an Arctic expedition. A brace of geese flies overhead, returning from some warmer clime, honking. What is it I'm supposed to be looking at? Trudy asks. Rainer chuckles and puts his arms around her from behind. This is our problem, Dr. Swenson, he says into her hair. You think too much. Stop it. Don't think. Don't talk. Just look. Be. break | Oct 3, 2008 | This was one of the best written books, I have read in ages. I was immersed in the story and disappointed when it ended. ( ) heatherw7373 | Sep 24, 2008 | Not for those with sensitive sensibilities! I spent half the book rather put off by seemingly gratuitous depictions of physical and sexual violence and hackneyed love affairs cursorily written. But perhaps it's impossible to write a book about Nazi Germany that isn't over-the-top violent and I have no doubt that the events are well-researched and realistic. In the end 'Those Who Save Us' is an engaging read - with an equally engaging structure - that raises troubling questions of loyalty and morality which one hopes one might never have to face in real life. (  )1 alspray | Aug 15, 2008 | Parts of this book were hard to take - there are some fairly graphic descriptions of the atrocities that occurred in Nazi Germany, as well as a large dose of graphic sex. However, this book makes a real case for seeing at least some women as victims not only of the times but of their sex itself. What is most heartbreaking about this novel for me is the fact that there isn't any recognition of what incredibly hard choices had to be made, simply to survive. Definitely a thought provoking book. ( ) tjsjohanna | Aug 13, 2008 | Probably one of my favorite books this year. I was another who could not put it down. The subject matter was so disturbing that I had nightmares, but so thought provoking that I am still thinking about it days later. Highly recommended. ( ) phlegmmy | Aug 2, 2008 | It was a good read, but the narrative annoyed me. Her device of eliminating quotation marks and storytelling was meant to bring the reader more directly into the story. Instead, I felt more distanced. Such a powerfully emotional subject is difficult to handle. Blum did well with the most sensitive material, but I still ended feeling manipulated due to her narrative device. ( )1 bnavta | Jul 9, 2008 | Really liked it. Great story teller. I kept waiting for something horrible to happen, and things did, but nothing graphically horrific. Story of germany, and what a woman does to save herself and her daughter from hitler. She has an affair with an SS officer. She then is saved by a US officer, who marries her and moves her to MN. The story goes back and forth to the mother's story, and then her daughters story as a teacher at a university. Where she eventually learns who her actual father is. She thought he was a SS officer, when he was actually a jewish dr. 5/31/08 ( ) cindyloumn | Jun 8, 2008 | |
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1. How would you categorize Those Who Save Us: as a war story, a love story, a mother-daughter story?
One of the strengths of the book is that it is not just one of these but contains most of the above. It is definitely a war and a mother-daughter story. But I am not sure to what extent it is a love story, hence the "almost" part. Yes, there is a love story in the first few dozen pages, and the fruit of that love is Trudy. But the relationship described in the rest of the book is not love. At least not in the traditional sense. A main theme of the book, to explore what it is and how it affected the rest of Anna's life. Hint: it devoured her from the ability of true love, hence I would call it an "unlove" story instead.
2. In what ways do the characters save each other in the novel, and who saves whom?
The Obersturmführer saves Anna and Trudy from starvation and possible death during the war years. On the other hand Anna saves him from loneliness. Anna and her ex-boss Mathilde saves Jews in the camp by providing food and information. Later in the US, Anna tries to save her daughter from the shadows of the past by not telling her about it. This venture is less successful though, as Trudy has to deal with unconfirmed shadows, shame and suspicions as the result of non-communication. Jack, Anna's American husband saves the mother and daughter from punishment after the war as collaborators with the Nazis. There are further "savings" prompted by and involving side characters too, which I won't have time to go into now.
3. Do you see Anna's beauty as a blessing or a curse?
Always these either/or questions. Of course it is both, depending on the situation. In her life though it is more of the latter. It draws attention to her and in wartimes, which is full of ravenous soldiers it can be dangerous.
4. Why does Mathilde take this risk of feeding the Buchenwald prisoners?
Because she still has a balanced moral value system. It is a bit more complex than that though as she has to weigh in the risk against the benefits when making such decisions as whether to risk her life to bring more bread or not. For her staying human was more important than staying alive.
5. Do you see the Obersturmführer as a monster or as human?
Again, both. The art of being a monster, which he very much was, is compartmentalization. He did not see Jews as humans therefore he had no problem of killing and torturing them. This corrupted his petty soul and blinded his senses to the extent that he believed he was in love with Anna and the feeling was reciprocal. He was human in the sense that he needed human warmth and feeling of being part of a family, but he was a monster by not recognizing that forcing such things do not work on the long term and they are not the real thing.
There are many more questions in the guide, but I also wanted to include a meaningful quote from the book itself. Here it is from page 402
Look, Rainer says.
Trudy does. She sees nothing out of the ordinary: the gray-white lake, the overcast sky a darker gray above it, the dense black calligraphy of branches on the far shore. Behind them is a brilliant lemon-colored slash of light that somehow has the effect of making the afternoon seem even colder than it is. The wind rushes ceaselessly over the ice, teasing water from Trudy's eyes; her cheeks will be bright red when she and Rainer get back indoors. But this is also thrilling, like being, Trudy thinks, on the deck of a ship embarked on an Arctic expedition.
A brace of geese flies overhead, returning from some warmer clime, honking.
What is it I'm supposed to be looking at? Trudy asks. Rainer chuckles and puts his arms around her from behind. This is our problem, Dr. Swenson, he says into her hair. You think too much. Stop it. Don't think. Don't talk. Just look. Be.