Bear, interesting discussion w/ the MiL. It’s hard to understand the trials and deprivations of a time you didn’t live through, and good to get an insight into those who did. I can only imagine what it was like to be a German immigrant in England during the war–she probably went through worse than being spat on.

I had a ton of extra material for this review that I edited out to keep myself on track with my main point. I’m interested to get your takes on some of the lingering questions and issues the book left me with. I’ll draft up a list of discussion questions, and after you’ve read it, we can revisit the topic. There’s just so many trails you could pick to follow through the narrative, so many perspectives you can choose to view through, so many interesting twists to Claudia’s path. For a slim novel, it’s deceptively deep.

Eloquently put!

No, I have not seen the Ladies in Lavender, but will make it a point to see if I can get my hands on it.

This book, and it’s subsequent review, sparked a conversation with my mother-in-law last evening about experiences during, and more importantly to her after The Wwar. It perfectly illustrates your point, Countess, as she said “The War changed everything. I had to move far from home to find work, so that I could send money to my mother and family. Suddenly I was in a country where I did not speak the language (England), and people would spit at me if they heard my accented attempts at English. Some part of my heart hardened to survive the War, but for me it was worse after it was all over. I had to change my country, my language, and my way of thinking about life.”

Listening to you talk about the ways in which war shapes people–particularly war as it was–got me thinking about the two sisters in the movie Ladies in Lavender. Has anyone her seen it? I remember at the time being so moved by how each one was affected so differently by the devastation of WWI and what the loss of an entire generation of men meant for the people who were left behind.

And I love the juxtaposition of the equally potent forces of language and war. Two unstoppable forces for change. Each one holding so much power to shape and to alter. War, with its wild destruction, and language, which is, after all, the oldest magic.

I think any book that inspires such strong feelings is worth reading, and characters that you are not meant to like are all the more fascinating–particularly if the author can manage to provide them with depth and layers.

Well-written review. Very inspiring. Looking forward to reading the book.

My first cynical reaction was if Claudia were wasting away in a London hospital, then she would have every reason to be bitter and a bit self-absorbed. UK Health politics aside, she sounds like a fascinating character.

It is true, that these children of war are profoundly changed people. I see it every day with mum. When you are swept up into the chaos of war some softer pieces of our souls become sharpened, and capable of easily- even casually- wounding. That is how I have come to understand the juxtaposition of my favourites Germans. This review has invited me to think what would a Michelle, untouched by the hunger, death, and scarcity of war been like? Who is that woman behind the glass? What does she have to teach me about the woman I know?

I also love her feelings on language, and after reading them clearly thought of “Snowcrash”, and the many ways that language is archeaology.