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Desperate to escape the Eastern front, Peter Faber, an ordinary German soldier, marries Katharina Spinell, a woman he has never met; it is a marriage of convenience that promises 'honeymoon' leave for him and a pension for her should he die on the front. With ten days' leave secured, Peter visits his new wife in Berlin; both are surprised by the attraction that develops between them.
When Peter returns to the horror of the front, it is only the dream of Katharina that sustains him as he approaches Stalingrad. Back in Berlin, Katharina, goaded on by her desperate and delusional parents, ruthlessly works her way into the Nazi party hierarchy, wedding herself, her young husband and their unborn child to the regime. But when the tide of war turns and Berlin falls, Peter and Katharina, ordinary people stained with their small share of an extraordinary guilt, find their simple dream of family increasingly hard to hold on to.
When Peter returns to the horror of the front, it is only the dream of Katharina that sustains him as he approaches Stalingrad. Back in Berlin, Katharina, goaded on by her desperate and delusional parents, ruthlessly works her way into the Nazi party hierarchy, wedding herself, her young husband and their unborn child to the regime. But when the tide of war turns and Berlin falls, Peter and Katharina, ordinary people stained with their small share of an extraordinary guilt, find their simple dream of family increasingly hard to hold on to.
My thoughts:
This book felt realistic, I did not know what to expect after their first meeting when they fell in love. But after that things fell apart and real life began.
War is hell, people are animals. Rape, murder, senseless violence. It's not pretty, no country's soldiers are angels.
And with that I will begin. Katharina and Peter meet through a catalog. He gets to come back from the front, marry and have a honeymoon and making babies for the glorious empire. They do like each other and survive by thinking of each other. But, then life happens.
Peter is marching through a cold and bitter Russia. Hunger, the cold, lice and then Stalingrad. But he was indoctrinated before he left Berlin and it takes a long long time before he for a moment doubt that they are something else than canon fodder and why the hell they want Russia for.
Katharina is left in Berlin and she does have it better as her father helps someone with contacts. But she will have her own hell at the end. When hunger comes, when doubts emerges and when the Russians descend.
Conclusion:
War is hell, people are animals. Rape, murder, senseless violence. It's not pretty, no country's soldiers are angels.
And with that I will begin. Katharina and Peter meet through a catalog. He gets to come back from the front, marry and have a honeymoon and making babies for the glorious empire. They do like each other and survive by thinking of each other. But, then life happens.
Peter is marching through a cold and bitter Russia. Hunger, the cold, lice and then Stalingrad. But he was indoctrinated before he left Berlin and it takes a long long time before he for a moment doubt that they are something else than canon fodder and why the hell they want Russia for.
Katharina is left in Berlin and she does have it better as her father helps someone with contacts. But she will have her own hell at the end. When hunger comes, when doubts emerges and when the Russians descend.
Conclusion:
It was a good book. It makes you feel cold and hungry and you will feel the lice crawling everywhere.
Hardcover, 304 pages
Expected publication: February 6th 2014 by Atlantic Books
Fiction
For Review
Wow....this sounds really good. A different perspective and I like it.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a dark, intense read with war bearing down on them the way it is. Though I don't need a book to make me imagine a Russian winter, I kind of feel like we're having one of our own here in Ohio! Maybe not QUITE as cold as Russia, but still ;-)
ReplyDeleteThis sounds so good!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds good and I like the cover.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a powerful read
ReplyDeleteI love that cover, and it sounds like it fits the book's style well.
ReplyDeleteI love the grit & finding a bride thru a catalog, very archaic but it fits the theme
ReplyDeleteWow... I started reading the description and thought this is not something I would pick up, but they way you describe it I think it's a great story. I generally tend to stay away from war time stories, but seriously - wow.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if this is my type of book or not but your description and review make me think I'd like it.
ReplyDeleteSoooooo not my kind of read. And the cover? ;)
ReplyDeleteI have to take another bath. That last line! Now they are crawling all over me! Thanks B! :p LOL
ReplyDeleteThis sounds good, and I love when it is realistic and you care about the characters.
ReplyDeleteHaha, it will make you cold and hungry and feel the lice? Well, SOLD.
ReplyDeleteYou should not feel creepy crawly while reading a book lol
ReplyDeleteThis sounds so sad for them. I hope it worked out.
Eww lice! Well it doesn't sound like a comfortable read, but I'm definitely curious about it now. :-)
ReplyDeletesometimes it's even more difficult when it feels realistic mainly with murders and all
ReplyDeleteThe cover has me curious. I always feel cold reading books about WWI or II.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds right up my alley, but really don't want to feel the lice lol.
ReplyDeleteGreat review Linda, I will add this one to my wishlist.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to feel lice crawling everywhere but this sounds very good.
ReplyDeletewow love how you described that, even if it was icky lol
ReplyDeleteThis one sounds very interesting. It is nice to break away from fantasy and read some realistic fiction from time to time.
ReplyDelete