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Germany, 1939. Two children watch as their parents become immersed in the puzzling mechanisms of power. Sieglinde lives in the affluent ignorance of middle-class Berlin, her father a censor who excises prohibited words ("promise", "love", "mercy") from books. Erich is an only child living a lush rural life near Leipzig, tending beehives, aware that he is shadowed by strange, unanswered questions. Drawn together as Germany's hope for a glorious future begins to collapse, the children find temporary refuge in an abandoned theater amid the rubble of Berlin. Outside, white bedsheets hang from windows; all over the city people are talking of surrender. The days Sieglinde and Erich spend together will shape the rest of their lives. Watching over them is the wish child, the enigmatic narrator of their story. He sees what they see, he feels what they feel, yet his is a voice that comes from deep inside the ruins of a nation's dream.… (more)
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The mysterious omniscient narrator gives the narrative a fable-like tone. Showing exquisite control, Chidgey slowly reveals clues about this “wish child” as the story progresses. He seems to blindly accept Nazi dogma concerning Germany’s inherent superiority but readily admits that politics is not his focus. ‘Let me say that I was not in the world long enough to understand it well, so can give you only impressions …’ These impressions are parallel stories of two children who come of age during the war.
Sieglinde Heilmann has a comfortable middle-class life in Berlin. Her parents listen and obey the government. As a bright and sensitive girl, Sieglinde struggles to understand especially as her world tragically collapses around her.
Erich Kröning is an only child living on a rural farm near Leipzig. His life revolves around learning beekeeping. His father is away at the Eastern front while his mother tends the farm with the help of Polish workers. While never explicitly stating it, these workers are clearly POW’s, possibly Jews. Despite being a child with a perfect “German face,” Eric’s exposure to the Poles begins to raise doubts about his own shadowy past.
The plot represents an extended flashback from 1995. Sieglinde is now elderly and the Berlin wall is no more. She works as a “puzzler.” These specialists were tasked to restore documents that were shredded by the Stasi. Chidgey provides this as a stunning rebuke of her father’s work removing words from documents for the Nazis, while Sieglinde works to reconstruct them for the victors.
Sieglinde and Eric meet by chance in a destroyed Berlin during the closing days of the war. They join forces to survive in the rubble of a bombed-out theater. Following a traumatic incident, the children become separated and lose track of each other. Their predictable reunion seems to be the only flaw in this otherwise well-constructed plot.
The narrative is innovative in several ways. The controlled revelation of the identity of the book’s narrator provides a unique perspective compared to the plethora of more conventional novels set in WW2. The switching between rural and urban experiences shows daily life in Germany during the time of the Nazis. People are compliant with the regime while turning a blind eye to the atrocities that are right there to be seen. The periodic cameo appearances of hausfraus Müller and Miller are particularly effective at showing attitudes on the home front in a darkly humorous way. Also the masterful use of metaphors captures the sense of the times while keeping the activities of the Wehrmacht at a distance: industrious bees for the obedient populous; paper silhouettes for the things that were being lost and destroyed and especially the excision of words from documents followed by their rebuilding from scraps to represent how history is manipulated to hide the truth but eventually emerges.
Anyway this was also an audiobook so I thought it would be easy to listen to.
The story starts in 1939 Berlin and follows two children, Erich and Sieglinde, who live very different lives. The story blends in other family members and characters and tells a story that I never considered before. The World War II as told from the viewpoints of everyday German citizens. It covers the hardships they suffer and the hopes they have that Germany will win the war and the Fuhrer will deliver what he has promised. And the ultimate loss of the war and the sufferings and hardships of a war torn city. Eric and Sieglinde are brought together and help each other cope with tragedy, Then they are parted again and face an uncertain future. All the while parts of the story are narrated by a third child, the "wish child" of the title who sees all and hears all that happens, without being known and whose identity remains clouded until the end.
This story was wonderful, sad, humorous, thought provoking, tragic and joyful. The narration on this audiobook, I believe, helped make the story even more enjoyable. Simon Vance has a wonderful award winning delivery that brings the story to life.
I highly recommend this book and wholeheartedly endorse it.
There is so much to be learned in this book about how a country can be swept up in the promise of greatness and follow a maniacal leader (sound familiar USA?). And the writing is amazing with much left to the reader's interpretation. This would be a perfect book club selection!
I'm afraid I cannot be more detailed in my description, because frankly, I could not make it past the third disk in the audiobook. The story was disjointed and