Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi

Translated by: Stuart J. Woolf

Goodreads: Survival in Auschwitz 
Source: Purchased

Summary: Primo Levi, an Italian chemist and Jew, chronicles his year in the Auschwitz concentration camp from February 1944 until January 1945.

Review: First published in Italian as If This Is a Man (Se questo è un uomo), the book focuses less on the horrors of the Holocaust that have, perhaps, become well-known to most schoolchildren and more on the psychological implications of those horrors.  The work distinguishes itself further from the multitude of works on the same subject, however, by not solely focusing on the mentality of those who worked the concentration camps, but also on the changing nature of those imprisoned there.  As time progresses in the book, Levi’s astute observations of those around him ask an increasingly urgent question: can those who have had everything stripped away from them still be considered men?

The question is provocative.  One might expect that a Jew writing about the Holocaust would wish to convey exactly the opposite observation—that these men, women, and children were undeniably human and that the crimes committed against them were thus undeniably outrageous.  The conflict evident in Levi’s thoughts about the matter, however, only serves to underscore the nature of the atrocities committed.  When a man himself begins to question whether he is still a man, then the attempt to dehumanize a group of people is truly complete.

Despite Levi’s inner turmoil, however, the better part of the human spirit continues to break through the darkness.  A particularly moving chapter recounts Levi’s attempts to recall the words of Ulysses to his sailors in Dante’s Divine Comedy—words that encourage them to seek for knowledge and to live as men rather than as beasts (Canto XXVI of the Inferno, if you feel inclined to look it up).  His struggle to recapture the lines has an intense significance he cannot define or understand, especially as he insists throughout the narrative that no amount of skill or intelligence can save anyone in the camps–only luck spares some.  His inability to articulate the meaning of the poetry suggests that it is not the intellect of men that defines that as such, but rather the limitations of that intellect.  The ineffable experience of poetry somehow connects to the senselessness of the camps; the meaning of both proves elusive and Levi can do nothing but struggle through as best he can.  He may feel that he has failed, but sometimes nothing seems so human as failure.

Survival in Auschwitz is a haunting book that raises deep questions through deceptively simple prose.  Self-reflective, it does not content itself with heaping blame on those who perpetuated the crimes at the concentration camps, but takes a long look at the mind of the author as he was during his time in Auschwitz.  What he sees clearly perplexes and sometimes troubles him; he knows he has not descended to the bestial nature of some of the others around him, but also knows that he is never far from falling.  Survival for Levi is not so much a fight to live as it is a fight to retain a sense of his own soul and his own dignity when everything around him suggests they no longer exist.

Published: 1947

The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie

Goodreads: The Enchantress of Florence
Source: Purchased

Summary: A blonde-haired foreigner arrives in the court of the Mughal emperor Akbhar claiming he carries a secret that will kill anyone who hears it—save Akbhar himself.  His tale spans decades and continents, following the life of the princess Qara Koz, whose decision to forge her own destiny caused her name to be erased from the annals of history.  The foreigner’s tale captivates not only Akbhar, but also the entire capital—but is it true?

Review: In The Enchantress of Florence, Rushdie mixes history, legend, and fantasy to create a story breathtaking in its scope and imagination.  Although the narrative seems to build slowly at first,  each word is like an exquisite jewel woven into an increasingly intricate tapestry; readers will find themselves drowning in the depths of a story so rich, so sensual, and so luscious that the plot could stand completely still and the beauty of the world Rushdie has woven would still ensnare them.  Though the story ostensibly revolves around the titular enchantress of Florence, Rushdie is the true enchanter here.

Perhaps best classified as magical realism, the book seamlessly blends the fantastic and the factual, playing with the readers’ suspension of disbelief.  Because some of the most outrageous claims are actually rooted in history, it becomes increasingly difficult to separate fact from fiction; the readers experience the confusion of the characters as they desperately try to untangle the threads of the foreigner’s tale to discover the truth of his journey.  As his words begin to take on a reality of their own, however, the question arises: if lies can create so much beauty, is it still worth searching for the truth?

The Enchantress of Florence is a rare treasure among books, one that will make readers want to slow down to savor it, rather than rush through to discover how it ends.  It casts a spell with its unique sense of the absurd, as well as its acceptance of that absurdity as a condition of life.  Like the foreigner’s audience, readers may find themselves unwilling to break the enchantment.

Published: 2008

Waiting on Wednesday (11)

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where bloggers share books they are eagerly anticipating.

Mister Max: The Book of Lost Things

By Cynthia Voigt

Release Date: September 10, 2013

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Summary: The mysterious disappearance of Max Starling’s parents leaves the twelve-year-old struggling to maintain a low profile while also supporting himself as an actor.  The first in a trilogy.

Why I Want to Read It: A story set in the theatres of twentieth-century London promises to provide a lot of excitement.  Add a dash of mystery as well as such tantalizing key words such as “lost heirloom” and “lost love” and I’m in!  The cover is absolutely gorgeous, too.

Beau Brocade by Baroness Orczy

Goodreads: Beau Brocade
Source: Purchased

Summary: King George’s troops scour the countryside of Derbyshire for traitors after the failed rebellion led by Bonny Prince Charlie.  Falsely accused of siding with the pretender, Philip, the young Earl of Stratton, hides on the moors until his sister Lady Patience can deliver to London letters that prove his innocence.  The man who accused Philip, however, remains hot on his trail.  Only one man can help the Earl and his sister outwit their adversary, but dare they place Philip’s life in the hands of the notorious highwayman Beau Brocade?

Review: Beau Brocade should please fans of Orczy’s better-known work The Scarlet Pimpernel as it contains many of the same elements—a beautiful young aristocrat with her brother in danger, a dashing hero with a double identity, and a ruthless villain who will stop at nothing to catch his prey.  Although the plot is unlikely to catch any readers by surprise, it proceeds apace—the majority of its interest lying in the budding romance as well as the various tricks played upon the villains by the audacious Beau Brocade.  As is usual with Orczy’s books, the characters carry the story;  hating the villains is almost as fun as cheering on the protagonists.

Beau Brocade has immediate reader appeal as he functions as a slightly more questionable version of the Scarlet Pimpernel–a man who lives outside the law, but who steals from the rich only to give to the poor (and always while wearing the latest fashion).  Thus, although Orczy takes care to draw attention to his chivalry, his boyish laughter, his zest for life, and his ability to win the loyalty and love of all the poorer folk in Derbyshire, an air of mystery surrounds him; if this man is so noble, what crime in his past forces him to hide upon the moors like a common thief?  That nagging doubt plays into his relationship with Lady Patience, who finds herself attracted to his honorable qualities but fearing to lose her heart to a man who could betray her for personal gain.

If Beau Brocade is the Scarlet Pimpernal (or perhaps a better parallel can be drawn to Blakeney’s ancestor Diogenes, hero of The Laughing Cavalier), Patience obviously corresponds to the Pimpernel’s love interest, Marguerite.  Fortunately, however, she lacks that lady’s talent for falling captive to her enemies every so often so they can more easily blackmail the hero.  I admit I had high hopes for Patience.  Her brother thinks highly of her intelligence and good sense, and early on in the story she takes the initiative to discover his whereabouts and formulate a suitable plan for his recovery.  She, too, quickly discerns the identity of their hidden enemy and takes various precautions to attempt to elude his clutches.  By the end of the story, however, she finds herself unable to resist the relentless plots of her adversary and meekly places herself in the hands of the hero.  Admitting one’s weaknesses and deferring to another’s strengths indeed counts as good sense.  Even so, I wish Lady Patience had had a few more opportunities to exhibit the intelligence she clearly possesses.  She has the ability to take stock of a situation much more quickly than anyone else in the story and tries to use this to her advantage.  For some reason, however, things never work out in her favor, which leads to the sense that Beau Brocade is forever rescuing her–even though I think they would work remarkably well together as a team.

I thought the villain of the story was particularly notable, especially in light of comparisons with the Scarlet Pimpernel’s main adversary, Chauvelin.  I suspect Chauvelin can gain the sympathy of readers much more easily, especially considering the implication in various adaptations (such as the musical) that he and Marguerite were once a couple.  Chauvelin’s defining trait, after all, is merely his obsession with capturing the Scarlet Pimpernel–an understandable one considering his precarious position in the new hierarchy of the French Revolution.  As book after book progresses and Chauvelin always loses, he increasingly becomes more pitiable than threatening.  The villain of Beau Brocade, however–well, there’s a villain for you.

This villain lacks all honor, all chivalry, all trace of any finer trait.  Perversely, however, he acts always with the intention of winning the hand of the Lady Patience in marriage.  His love turned to obsession paints the picture of a truly warped mind–one so far gone that he would hurt the one he claims to love simply to possess her.  He may not be threatening physically, but he is truly terrifying psychologically.  One can almost see him tottering on the brink of madness.  Even more terrifying, he retains the ability to enlist others in his cause–solely because of his place in society.

Though I am a fan of Orczy’s Pimpernel books, Beau Brocade still surprised me with the depth of its characterization (often hidden behind seeming stereotypes), the gripping nature of its plot, and the general feel-good quality of the story overall.  If you like dashing heroes, scheming villains, and a good romance, Beau Brocade is the perfect way to spend an afternoon.

Published: 1907

Top Ten Tuesday (57)

Top Ten Tuesdays is a meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish.  This week’s topic is

Top Ten Books When You Need Something Light & Fun

1. The Paper Bag Princess by Robert N. Munsch: A princess must rescue her prince from a fearsome dragon–all while wearing nothing but a paper bag.

2. Princess Smartypants by Babette Cole: Princess Smartypants is to be married, much against her will.  She declares a series of challenges that her suitors must overcome to win her hand.

3. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery: Montgomery makes the world seem like a beautiful and magical place, and life a glorious adventure.

4. The View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg: A smart book about the power of friendship and one of my childhood favorites.

5. The Dot and the Line by Norton Juster: A line falls in love with a dot, but she has eyes only for a squiggle.

6. The Princess Test by Gail Carson Levine: A retelling of “The Princess and the Pea” in which the princesses must overcome a series of ridiculous challenges in order to be declared the bride of Prince Nicholas.

7. Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep by Gail Carson Levine: A comedic retelling of “Sleeping Beauty” in wh

8. Cinderellis and the Glass Hill by Gail Carson Levine: A retelling of “The Princess and the Glass Hill.”

9. Roverandom by J. R. R. Tolkien: A young dog offends a wizard and finds himself transformed into a toy as a result.  To find the wizard and turn himself back,  he will have to travel to the moon and under the sea.

10. Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott: Orphaned at the age of 13, Rose goes to live with her aunts and finds herself slowly drawn into a new boisterous life surrounded by seven boy cousins.

Top Ten Tuesday (56)

Top Ten Tuesdays is a meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish.  This week’s topic is

Top Ten Words/Topics That Instantly Make Me Pick Up a Book

1. Shakespeare: Literary criticism, retelling, or simply a book with a character who reads Shakespeare–I’ll look at your book if his name is somewhere on the cover.

2. the Renaissance: Historical fiction or nonfiction–everything’s fair game.  Mention the Tudors or sordid personal lives, however, and I’ll probably put the book back down.

3. Dante: Can I suggest some more historical fiction dealing with Dante?  The amount of literary criticism is staggering, but I’d love to see more stuff like Kimberley Heuston’s Dante’s Daughter.

4. Dragons: They’re fairly popular right now, but I still can’t get enough of them.

5. Bookstores and/or Books: A book about books?  Cool!

6. Fairy Tale References: I’ll look at the summary for any book that mentions it’s a retelling.

7. Science: Scientists aren’t portrayed enough in literature.  It’s common for protagonists to be aspiring writers or English professors or basically anything people who like to read tend to identify with.  Where are my chemistry heroes?  My biologists?  Mention science and I’m there.

8. Architecture: I know nothing about it, but buildings are pretty cool.  I’ll read a book about buildings.

9. Spain: So much history and it’s beautiful.

10. Italy: See #9.

Top Ten Tuesday (55)

Top Ten Tuesdays is a meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish.  This week’s topic is

Top Ten Books I Thought I’d Like MORE/LESS Than I Did

1. Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee: I had already read this and decided I didn’t like it, but then someone else opened by eyes to all the interesting themes raised by the story.

2. A Daughter of the Land by Gene Stratton-Porter: I thought this book would follow the general formula of A Girl of the Limberlost and Freckles.  It defied my expectations so, though it was good, I found myself disappointed.

3. Pollyanna Grows Up by Eleanor H. Porter: I might have liked it if I had read it when I was younger, but after years of searching for this book, I found it overly melodramatic and even cliched.

4. New Chronicles of Rebecca by Kate Douglas Wiggin: I thought another Rebecca book would show her grown up, but instead it covers the same time period as Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.

5. The Lost Prince by Frances Hodgson Burnett: The Secret Garden and  A Little Princess are classics.  I almost cannot believe the same author wrote this book.

6. The Old Man in the Corner by Baroness Orczy: The book is a series of short mysteries solved by an armchair detective.  They’re good, but they become repetitive.

7. The Emperor’s Candlesticks by Baroness Orczy: The characterization is the one strong point of this rather predictable story.

8. The Coming of the Dragon by Rebecca Barnhouse: A retelling of Beowulf seemed like the perfect book, but the intended age range didn’t make sense to me and I missed the nuances of the original poem.

9. The Magicians by Lev Grossman: Someone told me it was Narnia and Harry Potter rolled into one, but the characters are disillusioned college students and the book didn’t resonate with me.

10. The Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Barry: I didn’t find this retelling of “Cinderella” very original.

Top Ten Tuesday (54)

Top Ten Tuesdays is a meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish.  This week’s topic is

Rewind: Top Ten Books That Made Me Cry

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling

2. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

3. The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

4. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

5. The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

6. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

7. Rupert of Hentzau by Anthony Hope

8. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis

9. Unplanned by Abby Johnson

10. The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne

New Chronicles of Rebecca by Kate Douglas Wiggin

Goodreads: New Chronicles of Rebecca
Series: Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm #2

Review: New Chronicles of Rebecca defies easy categorization as it constitutes neither a sequel nor a companion book to Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.  The stories contained in it take place during the same time as many events of the first book, so that it can almost be thought of as an extension to Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.  Reader reaction to it will thus largely depend on what they expected to find in a sequel.

Personally, I always wanted to see Rebecca grow up and I looked for this book for years in hopes of discovering what sort of career she might choose or whom she might marry.  Wiggin left hints but nothing concrete, and I longed for some sort of certainty.  This book spans enough time that it suggests, once again, that Rebecca’s marital prospects lie in a certain direction, but readers never get to follow her on that journey.  I had to accept this disappointment before I could judge the book on its own merits.

Since the stories in New Chronicles fit in between those of Rebecca, the timeline can prove confusing, especially to those who have not read the first book in some time.  However, if readers feel comfortable not quite remembering who all the characters are or their actions in the past, they will find that Wiggins provides enough clues to allow them to orient themselves in a general way.  As long as they can recall that certain characters are friends, others outcasts in Riverboro society, the reading proceeds smoothly enough.

Unfortunately, I did not find the stories in this book as captivating as those in the first. The focus of the stories seems to lie on how impressionable Rebecca is—thus, we have the rather standard account of how she forms a missionary society to save souls after hearing a speaker or the story of her attempt to find a young orphan a home.  Some laughable consequences occur, but largely Rebecca seems to realize her own mistakes and clashes with her strict aunts are reduced to a minimum.  It is hard to believe these events occur at the same time as Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm—a time when a young girl struggled valiantly to make herself fit into a new society and please her relatives.

I did appreciate, however, the realism Wiggins brings to the stories.  Even though the incidents she narrates are not highly original  (a lot of them occur in L. M. Montgomery’s stories or similar works), she does not romanticize them too much.  Thus, readers can never feel assured that the orphan with a home will stay in that home.  Likewise, Rebecca’s amateur missionary society does not succeed in making churchgoers of all of Riverboro.  Such doses of reality can make hackneyed plot points more palatable to the general reader.

If such stories had comprised the entire book, I would have been pleased enough with more adventures of Rebecca’s, if not overly impressed by the execution.  However, portions of the beginning of the book are written as diary entries of Rebecca’s.  I did not find these precocious entries, with their earnest attempts to sound eloquent and profound notwithstanding the poor spelling, very amusing.  I think a lot of girls who longed to be writers have been there.  Some will empathize with Rebecca and think back fondly on their own childhoods.  Some will probably grimace in pain and a bit of embarrassment.  I was with the latter, even though I think Wiggins’s attempt to write with the voice of childhood was a bit too naïve and earnest to be convincing.

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is rightly considered a children’s classic, but New Chronicles of Rebecca lacks much that gives the first book its charm.  Relationships and personalities are considered established, so that readers never see how much the love of certain people means to a lost young girl or how desperately that young girl wants to be accepted.  Rather, Rebecca moves through Riverboro as if in her own world, going through the motions of what young girls do—play with their friends, go to school, make mistakes.  She does not seem to live on the page in the same way and even a glimpse into her diary cannot make her seem real.  After years of searching, I find myself disappointed by New Chronicles of Rebecca.

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Isabel: Taking Wing by Annie Dalton

Goodreads: Isabel: Taking Wing
Series: Girls of Many Lands: England

Summary: Isabel Campion longs to go on adventures to foreign lands like her older brother, but she knows even as a young girl that her society expects her to take care of a household.  Even so, she dares to sneak out of her house and see the objects of her dreams—a play at one of the local playhouses.  Disappointed and angry, her father punishes Isabel by sending her away from home to live with her aunt, a woman who has a reputation for being good and holy.  On the way, however, bandits ambush Isabel and her escort, leaving the girl alone in the forest.  She will to use her wits and courage to survive, but she lives in a man’s world and that means disguising her gender as she travels toward safety.

Review: I remember being very pleased when American Girl branched out into global cultures with their Girls of Many Lands series.  Along with my friends, I attempted to collect and read them all, learning in the process about different times and places.  The books are designed for older readers than the American Girl books, so that those who enjoyed Kirsten or Samantha growing up could continue to have stories about strong females trying to find their places in the world.  American Girl really emphasizes that we are all more the same than different, all searching for the same things across history.

When I found this book at a used book sale, then, I had to pick it up so I could pass it on to some other young girls looking for stories with strong role models—but not without rereading it first.  Reading a book from one’s childhood can sometimes prove disappointing if not almost traumatic.  Too often the book does not grow with the reader.  Even so, I wanted to see if these books were as cool as I remembered and, what is more important to me now, if they were as educational as they look.

I clearly did outgrow this book in the sense that the book did not provide as much of a plot as I would have assumed.  The back promises action and adventure—bandits and travelling actors, oh my!—but they make less of an appearance than I would have liked.  I understand that the author glosses over the bandit episode to make the violence less upsetting, but I longed to see more of how the actors lived and worked.  All too soon Isabel passed from their company and back into her own world.  Even there, I found less information about hawking, medicine, and the threat of the plague than I would have expected.

Young girls will readily identify with Isabel and, I have no doubt, eagerly follow her adventures.  The imaginations of children have a knack for filling in any gaps the author might have left in the plot.  As an older reader (and as someone concerned with education), however, I was disappointed by the lack of historical information.  Dalton provides enough information that readers can orient themselves in 1592 London, but more detail would have really brought the world to life.  Mentioning Will Shakespeare as an up-and-coming playwright just is not enough.  Hopefully, however, Isabel: Taking Wing can whet the appetites of readers so that they continue to learn about the magic and the drama of Renaissance England.

Published: 2002