From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up—Kurt, a Canadian teen, is spending his senior year as an exchange student in Germany. His grandfather, Jäger, emigrated from Germany during the aftermath of World War II and refuses to talk about that part of his life. Kurt hopes to find out about his past, yet is afraid of what he might learn. The first 100 pages of the novel move slowly, and the metaphor of Kurt, a runner, running from his problems is tedious. The pace quickens when he meets Herr Brandt, the grandfather of his love interest and childhood friend of his grandfather. Herr Brandt's stories about himself and Jäger as members of Hitler Youth, as soldiers on the Eastern Front and the brutal fighting with the Russians, and remembrances of Germany in the fever of nationalistic pride preceding the war are well done and intense. Brandt, in his recollections, is a Casanova, and while the descriptions are tame, he does have several sexual encounters. Bass creates believably complex and sympathetic characters in Brandt and Jäger that, while in no way diminishing the horror of the Holocaust, makes it understandable how two naive young men could get caught up in Hitler's lies and dreams. The ending is too neat, but the book will have some appeal to fans of war novels.—Caroline Tesauro, Radford Public Library, VA
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The two nearly discrete story lines in this otherwise fine debut are perhaps less successful together than they would have been separately. On the one hand, Canadian exchange student Kurt takes up temporary residence in a Berlin suburb and finds himself contending with a particularly nasty bully (with the obligatory abusive father), developing a friendship and more with classmate Marta, and suffering recurrent nightmares about committing atrocities as a German soldier. Meanwhile, he learns that Marta’s grandfather, Wolfgang, had been his own grandfather’s best friend back during the World War II era. When he sits down with him, he hears a compelling, multichapter memoir about two strong, cocky lads who fell under Hitler’s spell, eagerly joined the Hitler Youth, and went on to lose their illusions in the bitter, desperate, hard-fought Russian campaign. Bass creates a convincing sense of the Third Reich’s soaring national spirit and tells an absorbing war story to boot. She also weaves engaging banter and familiar coming-of-age themes around a cast of multifaceted characters in two different eras. Although Bass’ versatility works against her here, readers capable of enjoying both the romantic and the military action may be drawn in. Grades 8-11. --John Peters
From the Inside Flap
WWII, family, coming of age
From the Back Cover
WWII, family, coming of age
