Rating: 
Summary: Best in Class
Review: "Those Who Save Us" is a beautifully observed and highly compelling book about the horror and grace of human interaction in desperate circumstances, and about the legacy it can leave.I happend to read this book together with Edwidge Danticat's "The Dew Breaker." The two covered similar ground--how regular people live under a brutal regime; the question of guilt, of responsibility, of how you judge what you do to get by--and yet the two were leagues apart in terms of accomplishment, with Blum's book being the far, far better of the two. Danticat hadn't absorbed the material well enough to form it into something else that was hers alone, a story that rose above the material. She had brutal events, brutal stories--knowledge of people who did horrible things or were the brunt of those horrible things. But in her collection, they don't add up to anything. The violence seems unconnected, thrown in for effect. In contrast, the violent events in "Those Who Save Us" occur in the context of a fully imagined story, serving that story without ever eclipsing it. (Hard--though clearly not impossible--to pull off when your subject's the Holocaust.) Brutal, senseless things happen, but the story and the characters always make sense and remain coherent. Blum keeps her eye on the people, keeps the story at the level of the individual. As a result, despite some shocking events, the story seemed quiet rather than violent, the characters neither innocent nor guilty, merely human.
Rating:
Summary: IT'S ALL ABOUT CHOICES
Review: A novel filled with wonderful prose, great character developement and one of the first novels I have read in a long time in which I was actually satisfied with the ending. The story is a story of choices and well drives home the fact that our lives are completely made via a series of choices with a slight bit of chance thrown in. This is a very touching story of the holocaust, or one that at least has the holocaust as a background. This is not my usual cup of tea, but I did enjoy this work and was certainly touched by it. I would very much recommend you add this one to your collection.
Rating: 
Summary: A different perspective on WWII Germany
Review: I read this for a book club, and the whole group of us agreed it was a real page turner. It was very difficult to put down, despite the fact that the subject matter and many of the scenes are very disturbing and graphic (explicit descriptions of sex acts between two characters).
Why I liked it: By the time I was growing up in the 1980s, the subjects of World War II and the Holocaust were pretty much always taught and discussed in mass terms -- 6 million Jews perished. Unless you knew a Holocaust survivor, you almost never got a glimpse into an individual's personal struggle during that time.
In this book, you get that. And what's interesting is that it's not focused on the plight of the Jews but rather on the hardships endured by one German woman as she fights to keep herself and her child alive. It brought home the living hell that Germany was during the war, not only for Jews but for everyone -- something I'd never really thought about.
The women in my book club agreed that the story was compelling, with the character development good but not excellent.
I give it 4 stars because it was interesting reading but I can't say it was enjoyable, as I frequently found its subject matter rather uncomfortable. Maybe that's a sign that it really is a good novel, because I was so involved in it that it affected me on a deep level.
Due to the graphic nature of some content, I would not recommend this book for anyone under 18.
Rating:
Summary: A fast-paced and entertaining page-turner
Review: I'm always on the lookout for historical literary thrillers, but there are so few good ones out there. Those Who Save Us, while certainly not marketed as one, really is a historical literary thriller in every way. And it's a terrific one indeed. Jenna Blum's writing style reminds me of David Liss more than any other writer.
Those Who Save Us is a real page-turner. At the end of each chapter, Jenna Blum left me hanging and wanting (no needing) to know what's next. Yes, I cared about the characters very much -- but like a great thriller, I was also drawn into the plot in a way that I couldn't let go.
OK, so the book is about choice and the backdrop of the horrors of the holocaust are terrible indeed, but I was expecting all that. What I wasn't expecting was that the narrative would be so fast-paced. It is quite an accomplishment for an author to deal with moral issues in history and entertain the reader at the same time.
So here's my two cents for Jenna Blum's literary agent: If you haven't already, I think you should consider marketing the mass-market paperback rights in the literary thriller category. This book should have a completely different cover, different marketing, different blurbs and different cover copy to appeal to people who buy books in airports and through Amazon's "thrillers" category. This is an entertaining book! Don't hide that fact!
Rating:
Summary: Complex, exquisite exploration of humanity, guilt & survival
Review: Review of THOSE WHO SAVE US, by Jenna Blum It's been quite some time since I've read a novel that I had difficulty putting down, and I read a lot of contemporary fiction. Perhaps the toughest criticism Jenna Blum will face is that her readers will complain they couldn't get anything else done until the book was finished. Of course, the story is compelling all on its own--the German/German-American take on Nazi brutality and the whole experience of guilt and shame as survivors in their own right--BUT, there are many compelling stories and not all of them make a reader hunger for the next intelligent, unusual turn of phrase. The experience of reading such rich, vivid language--words that have the power to create a certain tangibility in place and character--is what distinguishes her novel from others I might also say are "page-turners." The prose is lush, here, palpable in a way that brought me inside each and every scene. Given her topic, readers will do a significant amount of hand-wringing until the last page is turned (crying, gasping, cringing at the brutality). There's Horst's sexual shenanigans and then the violence aimed at children (Rainer's brother's murder and Trudy's German subject with the eye patch). Within my Jewish community I know many, many Holocaust survivors, their children and also their grandchildren; while all support the idea of keeping this kind of history alive through well-researched fiction and non-fiction, some shy away from actually reading about such things (too painful, especially for those who survived the conflagration themselves or who, like my husband, listened to parents crying out in their sleep with nightmares). I would say that all should--all MUST--read it because along with the pain and suffereing Blum portrays, she offers her readers the possibility of tremendous redemption from the intergenerational guilt that surviorship engenders. An important message about guilt and redemption is at the heart of THOSE WHO SAVE US. While I don't think a parallel can ever be made between what the Jewish people and Germans such as Anna and Pfeffer suffered from the Nazis in WWII, Blum reminds us that suffering was pervasive, that there was a hefty pricetag attached to survival for all because it often involved some form of character degradation (whether one became an SS whore like Anna or a Frau Kluge type extorting valuables from the Jews and then turning her victims in anyway); from this a lifetime of torment followed. Blum captures the ugly reality of human desperation, what is oddly within the realm of the norm when the topic is war. That she has portrayed this from the German perspective elevates it to a universal quality of suffering that offers the possibility of universal expiation. Even someone as sinister as her Obersturmfuhrer in the novel can be tossed into the pot of war troubles and deprivations fomenting during this period in history that made it roil with atrocities. Of all Blum's characters, I was most drawn to Anna and her steadfast adherence to keeping her past a secret. I loved when her daughter Trudy finally understood that her mother had a right to her silence, that it was an individual "choice." While I sympathized with Trudy's quest for the truth, it was really Anna's view that grabbed me by the softest underbelly of my recent experience with losing my mother and said: Hey! I have a right to secrecy, you know! It's MY life not yours! (Do we children ever cease to be greedy beasts, however old or grown up we become?) I wish to thank Blum for Anna's reminder to let such things as a mother's private matters (her pain?) pass into the dust with her if that was her wish. History, itself, should never pass into the dust, however. This novel could easily be one of those rare historical works which will be vital reading for the generations coming up. For it is the descendents of WWII's survivor population (I include Jews AND Gentiles here) as well as everyone everywhere who will need a glaring reminder in the future of this war's particular brand of brutality. Kudos to Blum for not sanitizing the heinousness of war, and for so thoughtfully and graphically rendering fact into the most engaging fictional form. Pauline Briere
Rating:
Summary: Literature That Saves Us
Review: Review of THOSE WHO SAVE US, by Jenna Blum It's been quite some time since I've read a novel that I had difficulty putting down, and I read a lot of contemporary fiction. Perhaps the toughest criticism Jenna Blum will face is that her readers will complain they couldn't get anything else done until the book was finished. Of course, the story is compelling all on its own--the German/German-American take on Nazi brutality and the whole experience of guilt and shame as survivors in their own right--BUT, there are many compelling stories and not all of them make a reader hunger for the next intelligent, unusual turn of phrase. The experience of reading such rich, vivid language--words that have the power to create a certain tangibility in place and character--is what distinguishes her novel from others I might also say are "page-turners." The prose is lush, here, palpable in a way that brought me inside each and every scene. Given her topic, readers will do a significant amount of hand-wringing until the last page is turned (crying, gasping, cringing at the brutality). There's Horst's sexual shenanigans and then the violence aimed at children (Rainer's brother's murder and Trudy's German subject with the eye patch). Within my Jewish community I know many, many Holocaust survivors, their children and also their grandchildren; while all support the idea of keeping this kind of history alive through well-researched fiction and non-fiction, some shy away from actually reading about such things (too painful, especially for those who survived the conflagration themselves or who, like my husband, listened to parents crying out in their sleep with nightmares). I would say that all should--all MUST--read it because along with the pain and suffereing Blum portrays, she offers her readers the possibility of tremendous redemption from the intergenerational guilt that surviorship engenders. An important message about guilt and redemption is at the heart of THOSE WHO SAVE US. While I don't think a parallel can ever be made between what the Jewish people and Germans such as Anna and Pfeffer suffered from the Nazis in WWII, Blum reminds us that suffering was pervasive, that there was a hefty pricetag attached to survival for all because it often involved some form of character degradation (whether one became an SS whore like Anna or a Frau Kluge type extorting valuables from the Jews and then turning her victims in anyway); from this a lifetime of torment followed. Blum captures the ugly reality of human desperation, what is oddly within the realm of the norm when the topic is war. That she has portrayed this from the German perspective elevates it to a universal quality of suffering that offers the possibility of universal expiation. Even someone as sinister as her Obersturmfuhrer in the novel can be tossed into the pot of war troubles and deprivations fomenting during this period in history that made it roil with atrocities. Of all Blum's characters, I was most drawn to Anna and her steadfast adherence to keeping her past a secret. I loved when her daughter Trudy finally understood that her mother had a right to her silence, that it was an individual "choice." While I sympathized with Trudy's quest for the truth, it was really Anna's view that grabbed me by the softest underbelly of my recent experience with losing my mother and said: Hey! I have a right to secrecy, you know! It's MY life not yours! (Do we children ever cease to be greedy beasts, however old or grown up we become?) I wish to thank Blum for Anna's reminder to let such things as a mother's private matters (her pain?) pass into the dust with her if that was her wish. History, itself, should never pass into the dust, however. This novel could easily be one of those rare historical works which will be vital reading for the generations coming up. For it is the descendents of WWII's survivor population (I include Jews AND Gentiles here) as well as everyone everywhere who will need a glaring reminder in the future of this war's particular brand of brutality. Kudos to Blum for not sanitizing the heinousness of war, and for so thoughtfully and graphically rendering fact into the most engaging fictional form. Pauline Briere
Rating:
Summary: Heartfelt add to the Holocaust bookshelf - with a difference
Review: The difference is that this novel is told from the perspectives of both a "good German" and a survivor's child. The intertwining of the two tales is remarkable. Other strong pluses are the portrayal of life in a frozen Minnesota landscape, as well as the totally realistic explorations of the complex role which having the upper hand plays in relationships between lovers and between parent and child. A most satisfying ending is also rare these days! This is a book to own, cherish, and reread.
Rating:
Summary: Heartfelt add to the Holocaust bookshelf - with a difference
Review: The difference is that this novel is told from the perspectives of both a "good German" and a survivor's child. The intertwining of the two tales is remarkable. Other strong pluses are the portrayal of life in a frozen Minnesota landscape, as well as the totally realistic explorations of the complex role which having the upper hand plays in relationships between lovers and between parent and child. A most satisfying ending is also rare these days! This is a book to own, cherish, and reread.
Rating:
Summary: page turner
Review: There is nothing better than getting a book that grabs you in the first paragraph....this book did for me. I went from wanting
to read until my eyes couldn't read any more, to putting it down because I didn't want it to end. Absolutly wonderful book. I would highly suggest this book! ! !
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic read
Review: This is a truly terrific novel, one that weaves new definitions of victim and guilt into the familiarly horrific landscape of Nazi Germany. Alternating between Weimar, Germany in the early days of World War II and the present day mid-American panorama of Minnesota, Jenna Blum gives us a vivid, though tortuous picture of the conflicts presented to Anna as she struggles to make sense of Third Reich atrocities against the Jews, and their insensitivity to the everyday hardships of non-Jewish German civilians. As difficult a time as this is for Anna, a young woman who finds dangerous love in the person of Max, a Jewish veternarian, whom she hides from the SS in the home that she shares with her father, her situation is complicated by the discovery and incarceration of Max in the Buchenwald concentration camp, and the subsequent birth of Trudie, her daughter with Max. The devasting emotional consequences that arise from Anna's having to choose between the safety of herself and her daughter, and the acquiesance to the constant, and often brutal, advances of the Obersturmfuher of Buchenwald are detailed with frightening detail that ultimately leads Anna, many years later, to conclude that "we come to love those who save us". Equally striking is the eventual realization by Trudie, through a combination of years spent doggedly pursuing the truths of this era and plain luck, of the true nature of her monthers distant deportment over the years since their migration to America. This is a novel that reads like reality, and a "must read".
| 
