Skeletons at the Feast
by Chris Bohjalian
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Book Summary Information
Author: Chris BohjalianEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-05-06
ISBN: 0307394956
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Crown
Book Reviews of Skeletons at the Feast
Book Review: "A self-loathing would be her companion and cause her to walk with a distracted, disconsolate gaze."
Summary: 4 Stars
Expertly interlocking all of the blood and anarchy of the 2nd World War with the very personal experiences of his main protagonists, Chris Bohjalian has written a hellish account of the brutalities inflicted on both Jews and Germans and anyone else who unwittingly gets caught up in the chaos of the battlefield. Although somewhat of a departure for Bohjalian who has spent much of his writing career dealing with social issues on the home front, here he brings to life with an almost cinematic furor, the waning months of the Nazi empire even as he hones in on one German family who have become unintentionally swept up in the tide of history.
The aristocratic Emmerichs have lived a privileged life on their estate in East Prussia, always resenting the fact that their land was succeeded to the Poles. Hitler had certainly changed this, with the family matriarch Irmgard "Mutti" venerating Germany's new leader for liberating them from Polish governance. But now with the Reich threatening to collapse around them and with the Russians, considered the juggarnaught of barbarians, advancing from the East, this family is forced to flea, embarking on a desperate trek across the whole of the Reich in order to reach the presumed safety of the British or the American lines.
Patriarch Rolf Emmerich and eldest son Helmut leave to join the Germans, even as Helmet is too young and brash to understand for certain that he might die if he joins the fight against the Russians. Staying behind to make the trek is the eighteen-year-old Anna who together with Mutti and the younger brother Leo is left in the care of the twenty-year old POW, a giant Scotsman, by the name of Callum Finella, sent to the Emmerich family estate from the prison camp just outside of Thorn to help with the harvest.
Although Rolf and Helmut disapprove of Callum's affair with the naïve young Anna, they hope that the Scottish Paratrooper will be their goodwill ambassador, their currency and their proof that they're not "your run of the mill Nazis." As Anna, Mutti Leo and Callum embark on their dangerous march, ducking and weaving as they hear the shriek of yet another approaching Soviet shell, their travail is tempered by the lovely Mutti, a sweet lady with fortitude and courage who shoulders much of the emotional burden of their plight.
Meanwhile, the war effort goes on, and even with the Russians approaching, the killing in the concentration camps moves ahead at full steam along with the accompanying evacuations from the Jewish enclaves in the towns deep in Eastern Poland. The young Jew Uri Singer is deported for a concentration camp, spending nearly three days in a cattle car before he escapes. Determined to find his sister, he hurls himself along with a slop bucket out the door on one balmy night when the opportunity suddenly presents itself.
Perhaps the most heart-wrenching story in this tale of survival is the two young French Jewish girls, Cecilia and her friend Jeanne. Considered to be expendable slave labor they are marched from their concentration camp, desperately trying to avoid a certain death, all the while struggling to find a memory they could share that no one would associate with want and sadness and loss. Along with the other girls, they spend much of their lives on the edge, terrified of the German guards who could at any moment fire a shot into the back of anyone's skull because a prisoner could no longer stand.
Metaphorically all these characters are like skeletons heading towards their feast, trapped in their battle for survival even as the pace of death never seems to slow. Author Chris Bohjalian gives us a real sense of all the death and destruction, the sounds of screams and the missiles and the diving airplanes, while also giving us a truly cinematic picture of the rivers of refugees heading West, old people young children and crippled soldiers, surging forward with all of their household possessions in ramshackle carts.
Each character carries his or her share of burdens: Callum who accompanies the Emmerichs always fears he will simply be shot on the spot as an escaped POW; Uri is determined to act out one final repayment for the deaths he had witnessed in the cattle car and the myriad afflictions and indignities he had endured for about as long as he could remember; and Anna is torn between what is wrong, the reality that her Callum is a prisoner, and that she's violating her family's trust by inviting him into her house - and her bed.
This novel is a blinding testimony to all the cruelty and barbarism during these years, but what makes this story so unique is its haunting perspective of telling the story from the distinctively German point of view, embedding the War deep within the lives of the Emmerichs and making them as equally compassionate. My only problem with this book is that Bohjalian tends to "telegraph" a bit too much in the middle section, consequently the constant switching back and forth between events from Anna and Callum, to Uri and then to Cecilia slows the pace a bit and comes across as a bit contrived. The author, however is always relentless in his refusal to shy away from the carnage committed by the both Nazis and the Soviets.
Although most of the major players in this drama end up exhausted by their experiences, they are also often grateful for the small acts of kindness amidst all of this stunning atrocity. In the end, this tale shows that war can really bring forth the courage of people and their impossible goodness, and we see this repeated over and over again as this powerful novel moves towards its inevitable conclusion in a world that seems to have gone mad. Mike Leonard May 08.
Summary of Skeletons at the Feast
In January 1945, in the waning months of World War II, a small group of people begin the longest journey of their lives: an attempt to cross the remnants of the Third Reich, from Warsaw to the Rhine if necessary, to reach the British and American lines.Among the group is eighteen-year-old Anna Emmerich, the daughter of Prussian aristocrats. There is her lover, Callum Finella, a twenty-year-old Scottish prisoner of war who was brought from the stalag to her family?s farm as forced labor. And there is a twenty-six-year-old Wehrmacht corporal, who the pair know as Manfred?who is, in reality, Uri Singer, a Jew from Germany who managed to escape a train bound for Auschwitz.
As they work their way west, they encounter a countryside ravaged by war. Their flight will test both Anna?s and Callum?s love, as well as their friendship with Manfred?assuming any of them even survive.
Perhaps not since The English Patient has a novel so deftly captured both the power and poignancy of romance and the terror and tragedy of war. Skillfully portraying the flesh and blood of history, Chris Bohjalian has crafted a rich tapestry that puts a face on one of the twentieth century?s greatest tragedies?while creating, perhaps, a masterpiece that will haunt readers for generations.
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