ANNIE'S GHOSTS by Steve Luxenberg

Steve Luxenberg grew up believing his mother, Beth, was an only child. About five years before his mother's death, he learned that she had a sister who was institutionalized when they were both young children. He never spoke to her about it, but when she died in 2000, the family learned that Beth's sister, Annie, died in 1972 at the age of 53. Luxenberg wondered how it was that he and his siblings knew nothing of their aunt and why there was no evidence at all of Annie's existence -- other than the notice from the cemetery about placing flowers on the family graves, which triggered the investigation into his mother's past.

Annie's Ghosts: A Journey Into a Family Secret is the story of Luxenberg's mission to learn about Annie's life and why his mother went to such great lengths to conceal her existence. The book details each step on his journey, from the initial questions about whether it was right for him to dig up his mother's secret to a reassessment of his mother's life.

Luxenberg learns early on how difficult it is to obtain Annie's medical records, despite her being long dead and his being her next of kin, but he eventually manages to dig up some of the records and begins piecing together Annie's life. It's not an easy endeavor; Annie was institutionalized in 1940, and many of her medical records were destroyed. Also, a number of people who knew Beth and her family before her sister was institutionalized had passed away.

In Annie's Ghosts, readers go along with Luxenberg on his journey, as he presents information in the order in which he uncovers it. We learn that Annie was born with a deformed leg, which ultimately was amputated and replaced with a wooden prosthetic. She had a low IQ, was diagnosed with a form of schizophrenia, and was institutionalized without any hope of being released. But Luxenberg, in his quest for the truth, goes beyond presenting the simple details. He speaks with numerous doctors and mental health experts to find out how Annie's condition was perceived from the time of her institutionalization in 1940 to her death in 1972 and compares it to how she would have been treated today.

Along with Annie's story, he tells the history of the public mental health system, particularly in Michigan, where his family was from originally, so that readers can understand Annie's world. Although these sections of the book moved a bit slow, overall I thought the story was riveting. Luxenberg pushes to the forefront the issue of family secrets, whether they should be brought to light, and what to do with them once exposed. He expresses frustration with the fact that his mother essentially wiped Annie out of her life and did all she could to keep Annie hidden, but he wants to understand her motivations and doesn't cast judgment.

Luxenberg also tells the story of his cousin, Anna Oliwek, who knew Annie during her institutionalization. Anna, a survivor of the Nazi massacre of Jews in Radziwillow, has a fascinating story of her own (but you'll have to get your hands on a copy of Annie's Ghosts to find out for yourself).

Annie's Ghosts is an emotional story about mental illness and the limitations of the public mental health system and raises the question of how far someone would go to keep a secret from those closest to them. We all have family secrets, but Luxenberg was brave enough to sort through his. Luxenberg's more than 30 years as a journalist (he's currently an associate editor at The Washington Post) shines through in his writing, and he knows just the right questions to ask to get the information he covets. Annie's story is heartbreaking, but Luxenberg does his best to give her the voice and recognition she didn't have during her life. I highly recommend this one.

Thanks to Hyperion Books and the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program for providing me with a review copy.

DIRTY LITTLE ANGELS by Chris Tusa

"That's not something you should know, Hailey," he said, rubbing his forehead with a pale hand. His voice grew soft. "You're just a g*****n kid. You're supposed to be having fun. Doing what kids do. Not worrying about whether your stupid parents are screwing around on one another."

"I know but . . ."

"This family. I swear to God, it's like we're drowning in quicksand or something. We're up to our eyes in it, all of us. And we don't even know it."

"I know, Cyrus. But you can't protect me from everything, you know."

"This family's poisonous, Hailey. The only way you're gonna make anything of your life is to get as far away from us as you can. Just promise me you're gonna go away to college when you graduate. Please, Hailey. Just promise me that." (from Dirty Little Angels, page 83)

Dirty Little Angels is Chris Tusa's first novel, but you'd never know it. He brilliantly captures the thoughts of a 16-year-old girl, telling the story of Hailey Trosclair, who is trying so desperately to save her family. The Trosclairs live in the New Orleans slums; her mother has been ill since a miscarriage six months before the book opens, and her father has been out of work just as long. Hailey's mother comes from an affluent family who disowned her when she got married, and rather than look for work to support his family, her father spends all of his time at the poolhall and with his waitress/stripper girlfriend.

In telling Dirty Little Angels in the first person, we know Hailey's every thought, which is a scary thing with regard to this story (at least from my point of view as a mother of a young girl). Hailey's best friend, Meridian, is very promiscuous, obnoxious, and definitely not someone you'd want your daughter to be around constantly. But Hailey's parents aren't taking an active role in her life, as they are preoccupied with their marriage and financial troubles. Her older brother, Cyrus, does his best to take care of her and protect her, but he has problems of his own. He runs with a bad crowd and has a criminal record. With Hailey tagging along, he gets involved with Moses, a hoodlum with a twisted view of Christianity who plans to convert a dilapidated bank into a drive-through church. Moses is the type of guy who thinks sinners need to pay for their sins, and he is the one to handle the punishment. His involvement in Hailey and Cyrus' lives leads to their eventual downfall...and that's all I'll say about the plot.

Religion is one of the main themes in Dirty Little Angels, as Hailey prays for her family to come out okay, and these prayers go unanswered. Meanwhile, her mother has become religious and is shoving her beliefs down everyone's throats, forcing Cyrus to "get saved" after his arrests. It's interesting how Hailey is affected by both her mother's and Moses' views of religion.

Tusa is a great writer, and his talent shines through in his descriptions. I could picture the characters and the scenes clearly in my mind. Here are two of my favorite passages:

That night I dreamed of Mama's flesh creaking as the doctor unstitched the trapdoor in her stomach. Her insides looked like crushed red velvet, and the baby's skin was blue as a robin's egg. I imagined the stitches in her stomach, tiny black mouths puckering between the folds of her belly. I remember wondering where the baby's cries had gone, if they had stayed inside Mama's body after the doctors stitched the trapdoor shut. (page 1)

When we got there, the officer brought Cyrus and me into a white room with glass walls. A few minutes later, another man came in and sat down. He was an older fat man with a stubbly chin and a bald liver-spotted skull. He had tiny baby teeth that looked like someone had plugged little white Chiclets into his gums, and you could smell Old Spice seeping from his pores. His hips looked wider than they were supposed to be, like he'd had someone else's hips welded onto his skeleton, and his chest looked like Brandon Piggert's chest the summer he'd grown little midget boobs after shooting up a batch of steroids. The skin on his face was pocked, and it reminded me of the girl's face from The Exorcist. (page 64)

Tusa's characters are attention-grabbing, and I felt attached to Hailey from the start. I felt so bad about her family problems, and I cringed each time she made a really, really dumb decision. I had to remind myself that I, too, was impulsive as a teenager, though on a much less dramatic scale. With Hailey's descriptions of her sexual experiences and a few acts of violence, Dirty Little Angels is a dark, gritty novel not for the faint of heart.

My only complaint is that the ending felt rushed. Rather than tie up all the loose ends, Tusa opens up a new can of worms on the last two pages. While it wasn't a horrible ending, it left me wanting to know more about what happens to Hailey and the ramifications of the action in the last scene. Still, I enjoyed the book overall, I'd definitely recommend it, and I certainly would read more by this author in the future.

Thanks to Chris Tusa for sending me a copy of Dirty Little Angels to review.

Mailbox Monday -- July 6/July 13

My Mailbox Monday post for this week features 2 week's worth of books, as last Monday I was passed out on the couch after coming home from our July 4th camping trip. I was awake enough to open up the few packages that were waiting for me (couldn't let them sit unopened, of course), but the excitement of new books was too much for my tired bones and I conked out shortly after.

Before I show you my new books, I want to thank Marcia from The Printed Page for hosting Mailbox Monday, where bookish folk talk about the books they purchased, received for review, or otherwise obtained over the last week.

Here's what arrived in the mail:


The Murder of King Tut by James Patterson and Martin Dugard (from Miriam Parker at Hachette) I've never read non-fiction by Patterson, so I'm really looking forward to this one.



Fear the Worst by Linwood Barclay (from Random House via Shelf Awareness) The description caught my eye, and I figure if I don't like it, it sounds like something my husband will enjoy.


Lizzi & Fredl: A Perilous Journey of Love and Faith by Dr. William B. Stanford (from Kelley & Hall Book Publicity & Promotion via Bostick Communications) I can't pass up what looks to be an interesting Holocaust story about the author's parents.



The Rapture by Liz Jensen (from Random House via Shelf Awareness) This one sounded too good to pass up, and my husband is interested in reading it because he loves disaster-related books and movies.



The Saint and the Fasting Girl by Anna Richenda (from the author) I'm always looking for some good historical fiction.



A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve (from Miriam Parker at Hachette) I just couldn't refuse this one, since Shreve is among my favorite authors.



Secrets to Happiness by Sarah Dunn (a contest win from Savvy Verse & Wit)



The Moon Looked Down by Dorothy Garlock (from Anna Balasi at Hachette) Another book for the WWII reading challenge at War Through the Generations.



The Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst (from Random House for a book tour later this month) I haven't been participating in many book tours lately, but I couldn't refuse this one because it's a WWII-related book.

I received these books from Belle at Ms. Bookish from a giveaway:



The Same Sweet Girls by Cassandra King



The Sky Is Falling by Kit Pearson...another WWII-related book



Paging Aphrodite by Kim Green



Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn by Kris Radish



The Riddles of Epsilon by Christine Morton-Shaw

And I caved and went with Serena to her library's rockin' sale on Saturday, and picked these up for about $5. Most of them are WWII-related, of course.



The Wave: The Classroom Experiment That Went Too Far by Todd Strasser



Stones in Water by Donna Jo Napoli



Floating in My Mother's Palm by Ursula Hegi



Spy/Counterspy by Dusko Popov


No. 12 Kaiserhofstrasse: The Story of an Invisible Jew in Nazi Germany by Valentin Senger--I couldn't find a pic of the copy I purchased, and there wasn't much info about the book online.

So I'm going to be buried under books until further notice, but I'll enjoy every minute of it!

What books did you welcome into your home recently?

Guest Post: Bill Surie, Author of HOLLY'S INBOX

Today, I'm thrilled to welcome Bill Surie to Diary of an Eccentric. Bill is the creator and author of Holly's Inbox, so you might know him better as Holly Denham. Holly's Inbox is a quick, entertaining read, perfect for the beach or any summer getaway. (Check out my review if you haven't already.) I've enjoyed trading emails with Bill over the last couple of weeks. He's been so friendly, and his love for his family shines through in his messages. Anyway, let me stop babbling long enough to turn this blog over to Bill:

“Let me reassure you Mum. There are absolutely no similarities between you, and Holly’s mum in the book.”

I held my haze.

My sister stifled a giggle.

“Look,” I continued “I can understand you are all a little concerned…”

My family stared back at me, there was recently published copy of Holly’s Inbox on the table
between us.

“But it is just a work of fiction! I know I also have a brother who starts weird business ventures, that our Granny was involuntarily re-housed abroad, that mum is kind of meddling and I do have a quirky sister who breeds snakes in Spain… but come on, these are all unfortunate coincidences!!”

There was silence. Then they launched themselves at me.

So YES the book IS a total work of fiction and it began as a website www.hollysinbox.com.

The idea for the site came one day when we had to trawl through an ex-employee's work email account.

The woman in question was single, extremely flirtatious and had always loved us to bits. We
discovered she was married with four children, and couldn’t stand the sight of us. The life she was leading was so full of mystery, intrigue, romance (and many many lies) that it made me wonder what it would be like to read a story told in this way.

I initially wrote some emails on a simple word document, still wondering whether you could tell a story via emails (I had never heard of the book called E) I had no idea whether it would actually work. After a few weeks at the keyboard I nervously gave it to my wife to read. I was sent in the other room to wait (otherwise I tend to sit right in front of her, watching and biting my fingernails – which she says is off putting). I heard her laugh a few times and that was really all the encouragement I needed. Luckily I had a friend (Ash Alom – simply a genius web developer) who knew how we could get emails appearing in real time – and he began building a website.

We ran the site for about five months and then I realised it was going to end soon – so I emailed about 20 agents with a link to the site – asking them if they were interested. I had no idea what
I expected them to do with it, maybe make a play out of it or something I guess. They all replied saying they couldn’t see it being anything other than a website - but at last a wonderful agent (I love you Broo) said it could be made into a book.

It was published in the UK first and then translated into a few different languages, but at last – my dream has come true and it’s out in the USA with Sourcebooks!

I hope you enjoy it. I’d be interested to know if anyone can tell which characters are ‘real’ and
which are not….

Thanks, Bill, for taking time out of your busy schedule to visit my blog. And thanks for sharing the beautiful pictures of your family. I can't wait to read more about Holly, and I wish you much success!

HOLLY'S INBOX by Holly Denham (a.k.a. Bill Surie)

Subject: A first-class customer service

From: Holly
To: HEM Machines

To the manager:

Call me optimistic, but I was hoping after your past three failed attempts to remove my faulty washing machine, this time you would send me the correct amount of men, on the right day of the week, and that they might successfully extract my machine from my kitchen.

Two men arrived, on the right day, but apparently without a trolley, which my particular job 'required.'

OK, if you don't want to find your washing machine sitting outside our flat in the street, then I suggest you send the right amount of removal 'specialists' with the correct tools on the perfect day of the week. Oh, and please remind them to come in a van, because I'm guessing they'll need a van to get it home, and a map, a compass, a full tank of petrol, and maybe a flask of coffee to keep them going. Oh, and my name is Holly Denham, although undoubtedly you'll have me down as Dinham.

x Holly

(excerpt from Holly's Inbox)

When I received Holly's Inbox by Holly Denham (a.k.a. Bill Surie), I was surprised that it was more than 650 pages. I thought I'd take a peek and after reading a few of the emails, I was hooked. It took me only two days to finish the book.

Holly's Inbox tells the story of Holly Denham beginning with her first day on the job as a receptionist in a corporate bank in London. You can tell right away that Holly isn't an expert receptionist, but she's an expert at email. With all the messages sent between Holly, her best friends Jason and Aisha, the bank's other receptionist Trisha, her family, and various people in the office, you begin to wonder whether she does any actual work. I don't want to say too much about the characters because part of the fun of Holly's Inbox is getting to know them through their emails, but you're in for a treat with Holly's new-to-the-Internet granny and her brother, Charlie, who fumbles his way through the construction of a new fetish night club. Tensions arise when Holly begins dating a bank executive, and her boyfriend from her school days begins working for the company.

Holly's Inbox is a different type of chick lit, not only because it is written by a man but also because the narrative is a series of emails. The characters are better developed than you'd expect from a book comprised of emails, and Surie does a great job unfolding Holly's story and the stories of the secondary characters. Much of the book takes place inside Holly's inbox, but readers get to read a handful of messages in Trisha's inbox and Toby's (Holly's old boyfriend) inbox as well. Most of the emails are humorous and sarcastic, but the book has its more serious moments, too. While reading Holly's Inbox, part of me felt like I was spying on someone, and another part of me felt like I was communicating with old friends. When I heard the book was all emails, I wasn't sure it could be pulled off, but Surie succeeded. The ending left me wanting to know more about what happened to Holly, and they'll be a part two at some point. (Surie told me by email that a U.S. release date for the second book has not been set.)

I highly recommend Holly's Inbox for chick lit lovers and others looking for a unique, quick, and light read. Check out Holly's Inbox for excerpts from the book, and stop by Diary of an Eccentric tomorrow for a guest post by Bill Surie.

Thanks to Bill Surie and Sourcebooks for sending me a copy of Holly's Inbox for review.

I'm back...and I already need ANOTHER vacation!

We had a great time camping in Pennsylvania, aside from the one rainy day when I was wet and miserable. I really enjoyed getting away from the city, sitting by the lake and listening to nature. I wish I'd had more time to read, but each time I pulled a book out, I ended up chatting or just staring at the trees. I didn't want to go home, but we returned yesterday, and I spent the afternoon unpacking and sleeping.

I decided to go online and try to catch up this morning since I have the day off from work and noticed that NONE of the posts I scheduled to automatically post during my vacation had posted. GRRR!!! And they all show up as scheduled, and the dates and times I selected are listed. I'm pretty frustrated, but I'm going to go ahead and publish them now. ***FYI, they are showing up as being posted on the dates and times I originally scheduled.***

Anyway, look for some reviews this week, hopefully some pictures from the trip, and a two-week Mailbox Monday next week. Off to do more laundry...

FRINDLE by Andrew Clements

Today is a perfect day for a review by The Girl. She has two books to complete for summer reading, and this is the one chosen by the school. (The other is a book of her choice that must be at least 120 pages.) Since she'll be tested on the book when she starts 4th grade in the fall, I encouraged her to write a review to help her remember the story. And remembering all the kind words from my blog buddies, she agreed.

I haven't read Frindle by Andrew Clements, but according to the back cover, it's about a young boy who decides to call a pen a frindle instead of a pen. Nick becomes popular as the idea catches on in school, then across the country, all the while his teacher wants the madness to end.

Frindle
by Andrew Clements
reviewed by The Girl (age 8)

Frindle was about this boy who said why should a pen be called a pen. Why not call it a frindle? This was a slow book. There's not a lot of action, and I love action books. I liked it, but it was not my favorite. I will read it again maybe.



Well, that's all I could get out of her. At least she's honest (and painfully so at times). I'm not sure what book she plans to read for her second summer reading selection, but she's reading about 5 books right now. Stay tuned.

T4 by Ann Clare LeZotte

T4 by Ann Clare LeZotte tells the story of Paula Becker, a young German girl born deaf, in the form of free verse poems. She learns to cope with her lack of hearing and creates her own sign language. Her mother was exposed to the German measles during her pregnancy, but Paula didn't lose her hearing completely until she was about a year old. Still, she manages to enjoy her life and her surroundings.

But in 1939, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis roll out Action T4, or Tiergartenstrasse 4, named after its Berlin headquarters. The program calls for the killing of the mentally ill and disabled because they are deemed unfit to live and don't fit Hitler's vision of a "perfect" race. Paula quickly understands that the Nazi party hates her and wants her dead. Though she doesn't want to leave her family, she values her life and understands that saving herself means going into hiding. Her journey begins when Father Josef takes her from her home, and the people she meets along the way, especially the disheveled Poor Kurt, shape who she becomes after the war.

T4 is intended for middle grade readers, and The Girl and I easily finished the 105 pages of free verse in about 30 minutes. But we spent more time discussing the book and the fact that T4 was a real euthanasia program instituted during World War II, then pulled in 1941 when Germany was busy with the Russian campaign. We talked about how Paula must've felt to realize that her own country wanted her dead, how her parents must have felt about letting her go, and how horrible it is to understand that the Nazis killed many mentally ill and disabled people during the war.

The book doesn't provide any graphic details of the killings, but it clearly spells out how terrible the situation was. The simple verse is easy for children to understand, and I think it's a good book for parents to start a dialogue with their children about discrimination and the need to embrace all people, even if they are different from others.

Here's what The Girl (age 8) had to say:

T4 is a book about World War II. It's about a girl who is deaf. Hitler was killing people who were blind, deaf, or had other disabilities. The girl has to hide so she won't be killed. She has to be taken away from her family to hide. I liked the book because it tells a good story, and it's in poem form. People should read this book because they'll learn something.

******

T4 by Ann Clare LeZotte is the 14th book I've completed for the WWII reading challenge at War Through the Generations. It's The Girl's 3rd book for the challenge.



and

June Wrap Up

June was a pretty good month for me, reading-wise. I finished 9 books, bringing my total for the year to 61. I read 5 books for the WWII reading challenge at War Through the Generations, bringing my total for the challenge to 14.

Here is my June list [click the titles to read my reviews]:

Miranda's Big Mistake by Jill Mansell
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Bloody Good by Georgia Evans
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Children of the Flames by Lucette Matalon Lagnado and Sheila Cohn Dekel
Let the Shadows Fall Behind You by Kathy-Diane Leveille
The Seventh Well by Fred Wander
T4 by Ann Clare LaZotte
Holly's Inbox by Holly Denham (a.k.a Bill Surie)

I'm enjoying the mix of review copies (always looking for good new books) and books that have been languishing on my shelves. I've been keeping up with my goal of reviewing all the books I finish, and I'm well on my way to meeting my goal of 100 books for the year.

Are you all making progress on your reading goals? How many books did you read in June? Let me know in the comments!

It's Time for a Much Needed Vacation!!

My home Internet connection is finally working again, and I've spent the evening preparing blog posts for the rest of the week. That's right, I'm finally getting a vacation!!

It's time for our annual 4th of July camping trip, and we're headed to Pennsylvania on Wednesday morning. I won't be back online until Monday, but in the meantime, prepare yourselves for a couple of reviews by The Girl. This year, Serena and her husband, along with my sister-in-law, her husband, and my 9-year-old nephew, are joining us. We're going to have a blast.

Sorry I haven't been blog hopping much these days. The lack of Internet at home didn't help, but at least I'm connected again. I don't go back to work until next Wednesday, so hopefully I'll have time on Monday and Tuesday to do some catching up.

Well, I'm off to pack clothes and other camping necessities. See you all soon!!

Mailbox Monday -- June 29

It's time for another Mailbox Monday and another big thanks to Marcia from The Printed Page for hosting. Visit Marcia's site to find out what we bookish peeps added to our shelves over the last week.

Only 2 for me this time, as I'm accepting fewer books these days.



Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant (an unexpected package from Random House)



Holly's Inbox by Holly Denham (aka Bill Surie) -- This one came from the author. I've been dying to read it, so I couldn't turn it down. I just peeked into it on Friday night...and now I'm more than halfway through this 665 page book. It's addicting!

What books did you welcome into your home recently?

Too Tall Alice Giveaway for 4th Graders

Back in February, The Girl and I wrote a joint review of Too Tall Alice by Barbara Worton and Dom Rodi (illustrator). It's a great book to help kids accept themselves as they are.

I recently was informed by Barbara Worton about the "Standing Tall With Too Tall Alice" contest, in which 75 4th graders will win a signed copy of Too Tall Alice, a bookmark, and an "I'm just right for me" wristband.

All they have to do is write down 3 coolest things about being them and send their entries to the address in the official rules by August 31, 2009.

I think this is a nice way to help kids feeling good about themselves, and they can get some goodies in the process.

I'm Officially a Freelancer!

Thanks to a recommendation from my good friend Serena, I now have a freelancing gig. Check out my page, where I'll be reviewing books (no surprise there!), interviewing authors, and detailing local bookish events.

I just posted my first article about Holocaust books here. The more people who visit my page/articles, the more successful this venture will be. So spread the word, subscribe to my articles by email, and of course, feel free to leave a comment on my posts over there. I'd love to hear what you all think.

I've long been looking for new outlets for my writing, so I'm very excited. Preparing articles (plus a down Internet connection at home) is why I've been so scarce lately, but once I get my Internet back up on Monday and create a new routine, hopefully it'll be less hectic. At least the craziness involves things I love.

If any of you are interested in writing articles on Examiner.com, let me know in the comments or send me an email and I'll send you a referral form.

THE SEVENTH WELL by Fred Wander

The Seventh Well by Fred Wander is unlike any Holocaust story I've read. Wander is a survivor of about 20 concentration camps between 1938 and 1945, yet the inspiration for this novel was the death of his 10-year-old daughter years after the war. Wander's life story is fascinating, and the afterword by translator Michael Hofmann helps put things into perspective.

In The Seventh Well, an unnamed narrator talks about his experiences in several concentration camps during World War II not by focusing on his suffering, but by detailing the sufferings and previous lives of the other men in the camps. What is unique about The Seventh Well in comparison to other books I've read about the Holocaust is that Wander details the interactions between the prisoners. The Germans, called "jackboots" in the book, are always there inflicting harm, but most of the narrative is about the conversations the men have while working, how they prop up the sick and the fallen to avoid "the bullet," how they ponder their lives and the likelihood of death in the near future.

He fills his nostrils with the smell of the woods, and he looks about him, looks for the vanished traces of beauty in his life. Suddenly he is looking for a friend with whom he can share these things, and when he has found him, he intoxicates himself with his past, spread out like an oil painting before his eyes. Something in him is driven to yell out: I am human! I have known respect! he wants to cry out. I was loved, I had a home, a wife and children, friends. I have performed kindnesses and not asked for reward. I have seen marvellous things, I know the smell of old cities. I could have done anything, achieved everything, and if I didn't do or achieve, then it was only because I didn't know, I couldn't sense... (page 15)

A Jew next to me by the axle, a man I didn't know, large, bony, and stooped, his face extinguished, kept murmuring with every breath, "How much longer? How much longer? How much longer?" He kept his eyes shut, his hands, which were ripped and bloody from the axle, kept pulling the wagon, we all were pulling the wagon, the wagon was our life, the wagon was a game, whoever succeeded in getting it across the mountains had won. (page 40)

Something had sharpened my vision, allowed me to see faces otherwise than before. Disfigured faces, faces swollen with wounds, with scurf, with purulent sores, but faces that had still somehow retained some of their individual character: pride and self-respect, comfort, and a last shimmer of better days in the past. (page 82)

The chapters are not chronological, and they read like stand-alone essays. A mere three pages, the chapter titled "Bread" captured my attention. Wander, in the voice of his nameless narrator, describes the many different ways in which the prisoners eat their meager rations of bread. Some eat it frantically right when it touches their hands so that no one can steal it, while others go about dividing the loaves into unequal pieces and drawing lots. The narrator points out that some save the bread and carry it with them, but these men have little chance of survival.

Then I still have to mention the masochists, the members of a secret bread cult. They torment themselves with an illusion. They put their ration into a bag they carry with them at all times. The bread, existing outside of their bodies instead of inside, might sustain their imaginations, but it robs them of their strength. They die faster than the others. In the course of working, who knows when, usually unseen by the others, they pull out tiny scraps -- their elixir -- from their bags, and eat them. Idiots. (page 30)

The narrator provides little glimpses of his own journey from camp to camp, but the focus is always on the others. Their stories are heartbreaking, but Wander infuses the narrative with glimmers of hope. The narrator learns something from each of the men, and he carries it with him.

It's impossible for me to do this book justice. Wander's storytelling, though it jumps around, draws you in. The narrative is harsh and painful, but that's to be expected. I was blown away by The Seventh Well, by the images Wander presents; the sociological aspects of the story (the hierarchy of the inmates as Jews, political prisoners, etc.); and the fact that the prisoners recited poetry, sang opera, discussed philosophy and literature, and tried to keep their minds alive when the rest of their bodies were dying.

The Seventh Well is the kind of book you think about for hours after turning the last page. Given that the stories are based on Wander's own experiences, it left me with a different view of the concentration camps. It drives home the point that each and every person who entered the camps had a name, a face, an occupation, dreams, and passions. It was a hard book to read, but very enlightening. For more about Fred Wander, click here.

******

The Seventh Well is the 13th book I've read for the WWII reading challenge at War Through the Generations.

I Caved: The Everything Austen Challenge

So you might have heard that Stephanie of Stephanie's Written Word is hosting the Everything Austen Challenge. All you have to do to participate is commit to six Austen-themed things (such as Austen novels, Austen sequels, movies about Austen books, movies/books about Austen's life, and yes, those zombie/vampire Austen books) from July 1, 2009, to January 1, 2010. Oh, and there will be prizes!

Serena and I plan to watch a couple of movies together (Colin Firth, here I come!), and I'll throw some bookish stuff in there, too. I'm not committing to any particular book or movie right now; I'll probably play this challenge by ear.