The Living and the Lost: not just another WWII story!

The Living and the Lost by Ellen Feldman is the story of love, survival and forgiveness. Meike “Millie” Mosbach and her brother, David, managed to escape to the United States just before the Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, leaving their parents and little sister in Berlin. Once in America, Millie attends Bryn Mawr and David enlists in the army and trains in intelligence. Now they are both back in Berlin, haunted by the ghosts of the life they knew and the devastation from the war. They are hoping against hope that they will find their family. Millie works for the army in the office responsible for rooting out the most dedicated Nazis from publishing. She is consumed with anger at her former country and its citizens. David works trying to help displaced people rebuild while operating secret nighttime activities. Living and working in war-torn Berlin, a latter day Wild West, where danger seems to be around every corner. Millie must come to terms with a decision she made as a girl in a moment of panic. Will she discover what happened to her parents and little sister? Will she be able to come to terms with her life now?  

I read Ms. Feldman’s Paris Never Leaves You last year and I grabbed the chance to read her newest book. The Living and the Lost is a different type of story as she deals with the occupation after the war as many World War II stories tend to focus on the war itself and leaves the aftermath as an afterthought. As I read, I was torn. It is very emotionally, in depth, touching on topics that many of us don’t think about. As the story progressed, I couldn’t help but find connections to the events of the world today and I found myself asking what would I do if I were Millie? The Living and the Lost is not a book to be read lightly. It deals with heavy topics and I had to put it down a few times in order to process what I just read. However, the desire to find out what happens kept drawing me back. I like that the story ended with no clear cut answers as to the whys as life doesn’t always give us answers to our satisfaction. I enjoyed that Ms. Feldman tackled the events in the aftermath of the war and the tensions and prejudices that were present. I recommend The Living and the Lost. 

The Living and the Lost is available in hardcover, paperback, eBook, and audiobook

The Stolen Marriage: the twists and turns of a sudden detour in life's plan

The Stolen Marriage by Diane Chamberlain is the story of Teresa “Tess” DeMello and how one night’s mistakes leads her life on a different plan than the one she had planned. The story opens in June 1944 where Tess is married to Henry and his mother, Ruth, his sister, Lucy, and most of the town of Hickory dislike her. Lucy asks her for a favor, suspicious but wanting to connect with her sister-in-law, Tess agrees. It ends in a horrific event where the reader is left wondering their fate as the story rewinds to August 1943. Tess is a nursing student and engaged to Vincent Russo, a childhood sweetheart and doctor. While Vincent is in Chicago helping with a polio epidemic, Tess and her best friend, Gina, take a trip to Washington DC. There Tess meets Henry Kraft, a businessman from Hickory, North Carolina. After dinner with too many drinks, the two have a sex which leads to a pregnancy and a dilemma for Tess. She finds Henry and he suggests marriage. She agrees, leaving everyone behind with a false story for her sudden marriage. Once in Hickory, she is met with hostility and strange events. Once a polio epidemic occurs in Hickory, Tess is able to throw herself into helping the sick while she discovers her husband has terrible secrets. Will she be able to leave her marriage and this town?

The Stolen Marriage is a fast paced story with the backbone of a real life polio epidemic in Hickory, North Carolina and the amazing efforts the community took to help the sick. The story was wonderful with heartache and tears. There was one chapter that had me in tears. I was able to read this book in a few hours as I could not put it down. There were twists and turns, questions that I asked myself as I read. I highly recommend The Stolen Marriage. It is a story of secrets, betrayals, prejudices and the power of forgiveness.

The Stolen Marriage

will be available October 3, 2017

in hardcover and eBook

The snowball effect of stereotypes to discrimination

Racism and discrimination has been a part of America since the first landing of colonists in the New World. Many people don’t believe this but there have been many racial discrimination across different ethnic and nationality groups in America’s history. The English colonists past judgment on anyone who wasn’t English. Thomas Driver of the Huffington Post wrote, “Racism is so ingrained in the American experience that no one who has grown up here is free of it.” It’s true. We may think of ourselves as not being racist but people will be shocked on how a simple little thought like stereotypes lead to prejudices which leads to racism which leads to discrimination. 

Stereotypes are beliefs that unfairly places all people in a certain group with a particular characteristics. For instance, “all Mexicans are lazy,” “Asian women are bad drivers” and “all Middle Easterners hate Americans” are a few. Not all stereotypes are negative, some are place a positive light on certain groups but still place unfair generalizations to all members. For instance, “all Asians are smart,” “all African-Americans can play basketball,” and “the French are romantics.” We all can think of people who do not fit these descriptions but they would be lumped in with these stereotypes because they happen to fit a certain ethnic group.

Prejudices are unfair feelings of dislike for a person or group because of race, sex, religion, sexual orientation, etc. This dislike is often unreasonable or illogical. How can stereotypes lead to prejudices? Think for a moment that you hold to the belief that all Mexicans are lazy and you, therefore, think that the Mexican family that lives down the street are lazy and mooching off the government for their needs. You think they are dirty because their yard may not be as pristine as yours? Do you really know that? Would it change your mind to learn that that family’s patriarch workers three jobs in order to provide for his wife and kids. The matriarch cleans every day to keep her house in order? Would it change your mind? Maybe, maybe not. If prejudices are firmly held regardless of evidence to the contrary, it will often lead to racism.

Racism is the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially characteristics to distinguish as inferior to another race. Same scenario, because you believe that the Mexican family is lazy and government moochers, you believe that you are superior to all Mexicans because you aren’t lazy and don’t have any form of government assistance. Because you believe that all Mexicans are lazy, you will probably treat all Mexicans you will met as if they don’t deserve to be in your neighborhood or even in your country. Never realizing the hardships they left to come here and how hard they work to stay in this country. You may even assume that that Mexican family are here illegally, never realizing that that family’s ancestors have been here since colonial America.

  

Racist beliefs can lead to discrimination. Discrimination is the treatment of a person or particular group of people differently, in a way that is worse than the way people are usually treated. For example, you are walking by the family’s house and you decide to allow your dog to do his business in their yard and you wouldn’t think to do it to the house next door. Why? Because the house isn’t occupied by those “dirty Mexicans.” Would you want people to treat you differently simply because you belong in a certain group? I know I wouldn’t. I want to be treated as any human with dignity and kindness. I give the same smile and hello to the Muslim woman in a hijab as I do a Christian who wears the cross or a Jew who wears the Star of David.

In conclusion, I am very aware of the stereotypes and prejudices around me and I try very hard to avoid giving them any credence. I also get upset when my husband uses them, even as a joke, because I would like my children to be part of the first generation to be free of stereotypes and prejudices. Although they will probably learn them on their own, I want them to know that everyone doesn’t fit in the same box. There are always exceptions to the rule, that one outlier which doesn’t fit the pattern and it is wrong to assume that everyone of a certain group is the same. It will take a little work but it can be done.