In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

"But history will record that in a period when the forces of tyranny were mobilizing for the extermination of liberty and democracy everywhere, when a mistaken policy of 'appeasement' was stocking the arsenals of despotism, and when in many high social, and some political, circles, fascism was a fad and democracy anathema, he [Dodd] stood foursquare for our democratic way of life, fought the good fight and kept the faith, and when death touched him his flag was flying still."
                 -Claude Bowers, friend of William Dodd and ambassador to Spain and Chile

I selected this book for our Page Turners book club because it was a library book bundle (multiple copies). Also I had read another book by Erik Larsen---The Devil in the White City---that was a real page-turner. This one, not so much, though I am glad I read it. I will rate it a 4.

This nonfiction book examines William Dodd's experiences as the first ambassador to Germany after Hitler began his rise to power. His family accompanies him---wife Mattie, son Bill and daughter Martha, whose romantic escapades add much color to the story. The reader sees the events mostly through Dodd's and Martha's eyes, due to so many written records they left behind.

Larson seems to have thoroughly researched this subject as evidenced by almost 60 pages of notes, bibliography and credits. My knowledge of WWII is sketchy, at best, limited mostly to the Holocaust. I had much to learn from the reading of this book---especially about the early days of the Third Reich. The book confirmed my opinion of Hitler as evil but I never realized his reign of terror included his fellow Nazis, even friends. He reminded me of an animal that eats its young!

The subtitle of In the Garden of Beasts---Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin---was somewhat puzzling. I didn't see that much love and only half the family was featured. You can bet there was terror aplenty!

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When Page Turners met to discuss the book our average rating was 3.7 with individual marks between 5 and 2. The discussion was lively, using questions from LitLovers, a favorite website. Several members agreed that Dodd, though disrespected among many in the U.S. State Department, and not well-prepared for what he faced, was a principled man. We found his frugality refreshing in light of the unjustified spending we see among politicians today. Our group thought the roles of Mattie and Bill were subjugated but realized they weren't the ones who described their experiences in writing. By using so much primary source material from Ambassador Dodd and Martha, the book offered emotional connection often lacking in nonfiction texts.

The question about why Dodd's and others' warnings about Hitler fell on indifferent ears and whether it was due to "purposeful ignorance or sheer disbelief," we thought the answer might be "yes" to both. We were reminded that the U.S. wanted loan repayment from Germany and, after WWI, was desperate to stay out of any future European conflicts. Certainly these were factors in the lack of attention by the State Department.

I think our whole group was impressed with Larson's research and most of us felt we learned much we didn't know about Hitler's early days, so it was a worthwhile read. However, we are more than ready for something light! July's book: Bossypants by Tina Fey. It should be great for some laughs.

I would love to read any comments you have about this book or others!

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

"Now for me, it's different. Because I am a time traveler, I jump around a lot from one time to another. So it's like if you started the tape and played it for a while, but then you said Oh I want to hear that song again, so you played that song and then you went back to where you left off but you wound the tape too far ahead so you rewound it again but you still got it too far ahead. You see?"
          -Henry, explaining to Clare

Are you confused by my opening quote? Prepare to stay that way throughout the reading of this novel! It is like a "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" of a story! It just about gave me a headache trying to keep track of the "jumping around" in time. My last book was The Tiger's Wife, a strange saga to say the least. I begin to wonder if I am punishing myself with two weird ones in a row. Time to look for a good old murder mystery!

The Time Traveler's Wife is essentially the unconventional love story of Henry DeTamble, a librarian and Clare Abshire, an artist. They first meet when Clare is VERY young. The difference in their ages is puzzling because most of the time Henry is 8 years older but at certain points the age gap is 7, 11, 23, even 30 years! Thank goodness the author begins each chapter with the date and ages. The story is told alternately from his and her points of view, an interesting technique. The two end up getting married (obvious from the title) and Clare spends a great deal of her life waiting for Henry to return from his travels. It is extremely odd when Henry goes back in time and literally interacts with his younger self. He literally meets himself coming and going! When he jumps to the future and returns, he knows what is going to happen---both a blessing and a curse, for example he knows on New Year's Eve, 1999, that there will be no Y2K disaster but he also knows when he will die.  I found it rather humorous when Henry tells Clare "My whole life is one long deja vu."

It was surprising that when Henry vanished into another time, his clothes stayed behind! Then when he reappeared, he was naked and had to beg, borrow or steal clothes. I found it almost believable when Dr. Kendrick has Henry's DNA analyzed and locates a gene for CDP---chrono-displaced person---and then begins research on mice to explore the implications and possible drugs for Henry.

I am rating this book a 2. It was a page-turner but mostly because I wanted to be done with it! At 500+ pages it was tedious along with being challenging, as I've already indicated. The book cover has a medallion that indicates the novel was adapted to a "major motion picture." I can't help but wonder what the movie would be like!

I would love to read your comments!