December Booknotes

 

“In winter she curls up around a good book and dreams away the cold.” – Ben Aaronovitch

Fiction: Historical Fiction

Daniel Half Human: And the Good Nazi by David Chotjewitz, translator Doris Orgel (from German)

"Why do the Nazis get so much pleasure torturing us?”

“Maybe the question should be why do people generally get pleasure torturing others?"

This not a story about concentration and killing camp victims. Daniel Half Human: And the Good Nazi explores the social and political conditions families experienced before the mass deportations and murders. Many people think, "Why didn't they just leave?" Daniel’s story thoroughly examines how and why people didn't or couldn’t leave. 

The book begins with Daniel, who escaped Nazi Germany, driving through his demolished German hometown in a United States Army jeep. He is serving as a translator after World War II. As he drives around, he recalls his experiences living there as a teenager… 

Initially Daniel lived a normal life as a teenage boy. Then Hitler was elected.  Hitler’s supporters praised him because he was going to make the country great again after their defeat in World War I - which they blamed on the Jews. Daniel was raised as an “Aryan” unaware that his mother was Jewish. As the Nazi’s increasingly persecuted Jews, Daniel’s mother finally told him that she is Jewish. Daniel is a half-Jew, and in the eyes of the Nazis, Half-Human.

“A pestilence has broken out, a terrible disease, and no one has noticed. It has infected everyone, and now it’s an epidemic.”

Daniel did not accept his Jewish ancestry and dreamt of joining the Hitler Youth with his best friend, Armin. Because Daniel was “Half-Human” he was excluded from the Hitler Youth, sports, and, eventually, from attending school. Meanwhile, Armin, the “Good Nazi” became a member of the SS. For a short time, the family was safe because Daniel’s father was a well-known, “Aryan” lawyer. Then one night Armin and the SS entered the family’s apartment… 

“I’m just doing my job here; everything else is no concern of mine.”

The book ends in 1945, when Daniel, now in the U.S. Army, is interviewing captured German soldiers. If soldiers answer “No.” to the questions about being members of the Nazi party and the SS, they are freed and provided with a small stipend of cash. Daniel overhears a soldier being interviewed at a table nearby and instantly recognizes the voice. It’s Armin, his former best friend – the “Good Nazi” …

Through Daniel’s remembrances we are shown how Germany transitioned from a civilized nation to a catastrophe for the Jewish people and millions around the world. The subtle escalation of events coupled with Daniel and Armin’s storyline helps to explain how a situation so horrific could progress. Hate and fear create an environment in which fascism flourishes - anytime, anywhere. 

Fiction: Mystery

Death at the Sanatorium by Ragnar Jónasson, translator Victoria Cribb (from Icelandic)

NOTE: Last month I read the second book (The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer) in this trilogy not realizing there was a first book! So, this month I read the first book in the Helgi trilogy.

Publisher’s Description: “1983 At a former sanatorium in the north of Iceland, now a hospital ward, an old nurse, Yrsa, is found murdered. Detective Hulda Hermannsdottir and her boss, Sverrir, are sent to investigate her death. There, they discover five chief physicians, two junior nurses, a young doctor, and the caretaker, who is arrested following false testimony from one of the nurses, but subsequently released. Less than a week after the murder, the chief physician is also found dead, having apparently fallen from a balcony. Sverrir, rules his death as suicide and assumes that he was guilty of the murder as well. The case is closed. 2012 Almost thirty years later, Helgi Reykdal, a young police officer, has been studying criminology in the UK, but decides to return to Iceland when he is offered a job at the Reykjavik police department—the job which detective Hulda Hermannsdottir is about to retire from. He is also a collector of golden age detective stories and is writing his thesis on the 1983 murders in the north. As Helgi delves deeper into the past, and starts his new job, he decides to try to meet with the original suspects. But soon he finds silence and suspicion at every turn, as he tries to finally solve the mystery from years before.”

There is a lot of misdirection in this book, as well as subtle clues. I thought details were interesting but inconsequential, then they ended up being a turning point in the whole case. Like The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer, the ending is a cliffhanger!

Nonfiction: Philosophy, Spirituality

Everyday Dharma: 8 Essential Practices for Finding Success and Joy in Everything You Do by Suneel Gupta

I found this book while browsing the shelves at my local public library and I am so glad I did! Gupta explains that we are conditioned to believe in "arrival fallacy" - a belief that once we achieve the next step, whether that's a promotion, more money, buying a house etc., we will be happy. However, once the moment arrives, the happiness is short-lived and soon we find ourselves chasing the next moment. Over time it leads to burn-out, and stress coupled with the realization that outer success alone (wealth, job, social standing) rarely leads to inner success (happiness, fulfillment, well-being). Why? Because we are not living our dharma. 

Dharma is a multifaceted concept from Indian religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism) meaning duty, cosmic law, righteousness, or the path to truth. It signifies living in harmony with the universe's natural order, fulfilling one's inherent purpose, and adhering to moral principles.

Gupta then explains eight elements of “everyday” dharma:

Sukha – Uncovering your essence. There may be societal expectations, judgement, or other people's priorities keeping you from who YOU really are. Your sukha never leaves you – through the way you express it can change over time. 

Bhakti – Full-hearted devotion. Bhakti is less about devotion of time, and more about devotion of heart. We tend to focus too much on the number of hours we spend on a task and not enough on the QUALITY we bring to each hour. 

Prana – Energy over time. Rather than letting energy seep out throughout the day, pool your prana, and then unleash energy the precise moment your dharma needs it most. Scheduling mindset versus scheduling time. 

Upekha – Comfort in discomfort. To practice upekkha is to be unwavering or to stay neutral in the face of the fluctuations of worldly fortune. This reminds me of Viktor Frankl’s observations on his life in Nazi concentration camps: “The experiences of camp life show that man does have a choice of action … Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress.”

Leela – High play. Leela can also be translated as “divine play.” In other words, play, sport, or enjoyable pastimes are part of your divine plan – your dharma. Take time for leela. 

Seva – Forget yourself to find yourself. The road to your dharma will appear when you turn your attention from serving yourself to serving others. As President Truman said, “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”

Tula – Letting go and taking charge. Balancing and maintaining harmony by releasing control, accepting people and situations as they are, and finding personal peace. 

Kriya – Action leads to courage. Without deliberate action, your dharma slips from hope to regret. Even if you can't see exactly what is ahead, take the first step. Instead of living with a map, live with a compass realizing you may need to take detours or create a new route. It is always better to fail at your own dharma than to succeed at someone else’s.

Each chapter is filled with real-life examples of “regular” people and famous people who have successfully found their dharma. Also included are some practical tips to help you live your dharma. One of the most touching quotes for me was this: "the meaning of life is to find your gift; the purpose of life is to give it away!"

Audiobook Nonfiction: True Crime

Guilty Creatures: Sex, God, and Murder in Tallahassee, Florida by Mikita Brottman

Publisher’s Description: “On the face of it, Denise Williams and Brian Winchester had the perfect, quintessentially Southern lives. The two were hardworking devout Baptists and together, with their respective spouses, formed a tight-knit friendship that seemed unbreakable. That is, until December 16, 2000, when Denise’s husband Mike disappeared while duck hunting on Lake Seminole on the border of Georgia and Florida.

After no body was found, it was assumed that he had drowned and was consumed by alligators in a tragic accident. But things took an unexpected turn when Brian divorced his wife and married Denise. Their surprising marriage was far from happy and in 2018, he confessed to police he killed Mike with Denise’s help nearly two decades earlier.”

The whole story is in the title and summary description, so there's not a whole lot of surprises in reading the book. Guilty Creatures is scandalous with a lot of finger pointing, he said/she said, and betrayal. It's a moral lesson most people learn early in life - adultery and killing are wrong. Just get a divorce!!!

Fiction: Realistic Fiction

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

NOTE: Initially, everyone seemed to praise “Nineteen Minutes,” a 2007 bestseller about a school shooting but now it tops a list compiled by PEN America of the books most banned in schools. It is banned in the Florida counties of Hernando, Marion, Polk, and Volusia. Of course I had to read it!

Peter Houghton would hardly be considered a typical seventeen-year-old teenager. Because one morning, he loaded his backpack with four guns, went to school and killed nine students and a teacher. The title refers to the astonishingly brief period that Houghton took to complete his brutal spree. Nineteen Minutes examines the genesis of that event and the people affected by it from every conceivable perspective - families, victims, survivors, witnesses, parents, friends, police, and the law.

Picoult expertly examines a myriad of issues - teenage angst; "in" crowds; drug use; bullying; teen sexuality; peer pressure; privacy; parenting - and creates a gripping fictionalized version of a tragic event that is difficult to put down. At the end of this astonishing tale, I predict many readers will feel sympathy for the convicted mass murderer while many will not.  Picoult's amazing ability to present an issue from a wide variety of perspectives without herself being judgmental will at least give readers an understanding as to how such a horrific tragedy might come to pass! Highly recommended.

Fiction: Military Fiction, Historical Fiction, War

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

“Vietnam was full of strange stories, some improbable, some well beyond that, but the stories that will last forever are those that swirl back and forth across the border between trivia and bedlam, and the mad and the mundane.”

The Things They Carried is a collection of linked short stories that provide a powerful portrayal of the experiences of American soldiers during the Vietnam War. The narrative is structured around the physical and emotional burdens carried by the soldiers, both tangible and intangible. The title story, “The Things They Carried,” serves as a foundation for exploring the weight of war, both literally and metaphorically.

“He would have explained to his father that none of these decorations was for uncommon valor. They were for common valor. The routine, daily stuff – just enduring – but that was worth something wasn’t it? Yes, it was. Worth plenty.”

The stories are characterized by a haunting realism that captures the complexity of the soldiers' emotions, relationships, and the moral ambiguities of war. O’Brien explores themes of death, trauma, and the enduring effects of war on the individuals who participate in it. 

“When a man died, there had to be blame … You could blame the war. You could blame the idiots who made the war …You could blame the enemy … You could blame the people who were too lazy to read a newspaper, who were bored by the daily body counts, who switched channels at the mention of politics.”

This book is a contemplation on storytelling as well as the impact of war on the human psyche. O’Brien draws on his own experiences as a soldier in Vietnam to objectify his experiences and then carries them forward by inventing incidents to explain and clarify “the things they carried.” The nature of memory, the ethical dimensions of war, and the ways in which literature can illuminate human experience are fully evident in The Things They Carried. Excellent!