Book Review: The Luck of the Weissensteiners by Christoph Fischer

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Book review, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, Historical fiction, history, holocaust, jewish history, Jews, review, slovakia, world war II

Book Review: The Luck of the Weissensteiners by Christoph Fischer Posted on April 15, 2016 by grandmapeachy

Source: Book Review: The Luck of the Weissensteiners by Christoph Fischer

Such a fantastic review – I had to re-blog this on my “Historical Saturdays”.

Thanks grandmapeachy.

Posted on April 15, 2016by grandmapeachy

After reading a blurb and some reviews of The Luck of the Weissensteiners by Christoph Fischer I decided to select it for the April book of the month for the Goodreads Trail Mix Readers group.

The story begins in the early 1930’s when people still remember WWI and referred to it as “the Great War.” The setting is in Bratislava Slovakia.  The story follows two families, one Jewish the other German Catholic through the rise of anti-semitism leading into WWII and the aftermath. There is a lot of political background in the book used to not only further the plot but to help the reader understand the mindset of the characters. The historical accuracy was enlightening and made for an enjoyable read.

The author used third person narrative which allowed the narrator to explain historical and current events taking place while advancing the plot and character development. I found the perspective of the ordinary man refreshing. The feelings and thoughts of the common people during the expansion of Hitler’s Reich helped me to understand the beliefs and fears of the people. Decisions made by the characters were based on what they believed would happen and often those beliefs were unfounded. It was unbelievable to them that Hitler would be allowed to continue unstopped; surely the rest of Europe would stop his advances. When he successfully invaded these countries they were shocked and began to fear for their own future. The suspicions people held of their neighbors and friends, the loss of personal freedoms and control over ones own life created characters with whom I could easily empathize. I could see in my mind’s eye the horrors that the characters saw, I could feel the sadness, fear, humiliation, suspicion, disappointment, anger and myriad other emotions of the people in the story. The characters were real people with real lives that were interrupted and irreversibly changed.

Over all this book has an excellent plot and I did not feel that it was just another WWII story. The characters came to life as I lived with them through the history of what happened in Europe at the time. An excellent read for any history buff especially those who have a keen interest in WWII.  The subject matter was handled expertly and is appropriate for teens as well as adults. I look forward to reading more in this series.

Happy Reading!

Grandma Peachy

Links:

http://www.amazon.com/Luck-Weissensteiners-Three-Nations-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00AFQC4QC

https://writerchristophfischer.wordpress.com/

https://www.facebook.com/WriterChristophFischer

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6590171.Christoph_Fischer

 

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“Hope to See you Soon,” by Revital Horowitz

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Book review, friendship, identity, Israel, review, Revital Horowitz, Seatte

“Hope to See you Soon,” by Revital Horowitz is the beautiful and bittersweet chronicle of a long distance friendship. It depicts with great sensitivity how the different life experiences form the two friends and their relationship with each other.

Set predominantly in Israel and Seattle we get to see a multitude of experiences, perspectives and thoughts. We also get to see a wide range of times and places: From Israel in 1982, military training, kibbutz life, London, Bath to life in contemporary Seattle and Israel.
Seeing Israel from the inside and the outside, identity questions and loyalty – there is a lot that the author explores in her characters.
Being an immigrant myself, I can relate very well to the challenges and experiences described.

The way the story is told can at times be a little challenging as letters alternate with narratives and the author uses time lapses, too. Once I settled into this style of story-telling I found the benefits of it however very rewarding. It allows us better to feel contrast and it highlight thoughts out of a sequential order, something very important in reflective work such as this.

“Hope to See You Soon” has been a captivating read, rich, sentimental and atmospheric, sad and fascinating. A marvellous novel.

The Book on Amazon US and Amazon UK

Link to my interview with Revital and review of “The Daughters of Iraq”

Biography

I was born and raised in Israel. As the oldest child of a family of three, I was the one who would daydream, I was the one who read like a bookworm, and I was the one who was so influenced by books, that I could act as if I were the main character in the book of real life for weeks…My father owned a small appliance shop and my mom was a stay-at-home mom. Both my parents immigrated to Israel from Iraq in 1950, but met twelve years later and married. As a kid, I remember writing poetry and some short stories. I had a journal I wrote in almost every day since I was nine years old, and up to the time I met my husband, but never imagined that one day I would become a published author in more than one language, and in so many countries, and even continents.I come from a very creative family. Three out of six of my uncles and aunt are published poets, and four of my cousins are well known musicians in Israel, so I don’t really understand why I never thought of myself as a writer (probably because I just did not have the guts…).

In Israel, after I graduated from high school I went to the army. I volunteered for special service with an army unit based in Kibbutz Eilot, located next to the Red Sea port city of Eilat. In that unit I worked in the kibbutz at the laundry, with kids ages three and ten (and loved it!), and even in the kitchen and dining room. It was an experience I will never forget, and influenced me, since this was the first time in my life that I was actually independent and away from my family.

After army service of two and a half years I went to Tel Aviv University, where I studied Hebrew Literature and Geography. I loved studying, and this is the reason I hold two Master degrees in both subjects, and a teaching certificate. During my studies I met my husband-to-be, and we moved to London for a year.

The year we spent in London was quite a shock for me. As an Israeli, I was always following the news, checking to see if any catastrophe happened, living life on a very fast track. While in London, I learned that the “hot subject” was usually the cold weather and the rain. After a year we moved back to Israel and I went back to school. A year later we married and after another year I became a very proud mom to a beautiful boy. I was the happiest woman on earth when that happened. I felt that I achieved the most important thing in life – I gave life.

Two years passed and we moved to Washington State. I love this area very much, but as an Israeli, I never got used to the cold weather, so three years (and another boy) later, we moved back to Israel, this time for about three and a half years, and then with a third son returned to the US. During our stay in Israel earned a second degree in Hebrew Literature, where I focused on Women Studies. I remember taking a class that had a discussion on Jewish women in Arab countries. I remember how upset I was to learn about these women were forgotten, weak, and had lives that lacked meaning, while I knew how powerful the women in my family were back then in Iraq. I remember speaking about this with my aunt, and her suggesting that I can write the story of the women in our family.

Am I a writer? I wasn’t very sure, but decided it was worth taking the risk. I started investigating, and taped my aunt, and decided to try and write a novel that would be based on my family’s story. That would be my best chance to reach as many readers as possible, I thought. A character came to my mind, and she was based on a neighbor I once had, who used to be a very good friend of my mom. She was also a mix of my mom and aunts. But where is she located, I wondered, and what was she doing? In my imagination she was living in a small town, and she was for sure proudly cooking I thought, Iraqi dishes. You see, in our Iraqi Jewish family a mom feeds everyone. My mom is still the same way, and food has a central role in our life.

Then came the second character, the sister of this woman whom I named Farina. She was the family intellectual, and was writing the family story because she was sick with cancer. She wanted to leave it for her children to learn later in life about their roots and origin. I named her Violet, since in Iraq they used English names because the British had ruled for many years.

The third main character was Violet’s daughter, Noa, a student in her twenties, trying to find her happiness and herself.

Writing this book took five years. Another boy was added to our family, and the book was first published in Israel. As we moved back and forth, my dream was to publish in English too, which I did.

I am now a mother of four boys, married to same husband for twenty years, writing more poetry, running a blog in “Haaretz”, an Israeli newspaper, and working for the last three years on a second novel.

Paul Cude: “Bentwhistle the Dragon in A Threat from the Past”

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Book review, Dragons, Fantasy, fiction, interview, writer

A Dragon Treat for Halloween – Meet BENTWHISTLE THE DRAGON by Paul Cude on my blog today

http://www.christophfischerbooks.com/paul-cude-bentwhistle-the-dragon-in-a-threat-from-the-past/

“Bentwhistle the Dragon in A Threat from the Past” by Paul Cude is using a highly original idea and makes it the centre of a very entertaining adventure story for young adults and those young at hearts. In times of “Eragon” and “The Hobbit” many of us older adults love a good dragon story just as well as the younger ones and I am sure most people who pick up this book will appreciate Cude’s excellent effort in that regard.

Most of the story however is surprisingly set in present day and not in the distant past. The dragons are not enemies of us humans but are actually here to protect us, a tradition that goes a long way back into their past. Using this inventive set up Cude tells us with much love for detail about the world and communities of dragons, their habitat, tunnels under the sea and much more which I found very enjoyable.
Myths and legends in the dragon world their good and bad members, their habits, their sports and their views on the human world add flesh to the action part of the story.

Cude has taken the simple idea and given it a lot of thought and imaginative detail, it is obvious what a labour of love writing this book must have been and it certainly has paid off.
Highly recommended, a great and fun-filled read.

Amber Lea Easton: “Free Fall”

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Book review, inspirational, interview, memoir, suicide, surviving death of a spouse, writer

I saw a feature on “Free Fall” by Amber Lea Easton on a writer’s blog [Lucy Pireel] and I was immediately drawn in by the subject: surviving your husband’s suicide.
The book is truly amazing. Easton opened my eyes to the tragedy and its manifold implications that this period in her life held for her and her children.
The book is written in raw honesty but does a splendid job at sticking to the author’s side of the experience. Without portraying herself as a victim or accusing those around her who did or could not help, Easton describes her experience soberly and in a way that broke my heart.
Maybe the book was written in parts as a catharsis but it will serve perfectly for other ‘suicide survivors’ to learn that they are not alone, that their worst experiences have happened to others, too, and that – like Easton – they will come out at the other end, that this will pass too.
I cannot recommend this book strongly enough. From the moment Easton finds her husband, to the humiliating and insensitive behaviour of the emergency and police services on the scene, to family and friends unable to provide appropriate help to dealing with the long term consequences of bereavement this book is an emotional tour de force that will stay with me for a long time.
A remarkable woman, an inspiring book, outstandingly told and indispensable on the self-help / inspirational publishing market. Tragic, raw, without make-up but with a message of hope and encouragement for others.
Unlike the author says in the foreword, this book is certainly not just for people with such a bereavement and/ or their friends. It is a good read for anyone. If the book taught me something it is to be more aware of how such a drama may feel. I’d like to thank the author for opening up and sharing her story for the rest of us to learn from it.

For an interview with the author please follow this link

Ben Manning: “The Vril Codex”

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author, Ben Manning, Book review, Fantasy, history, interview, Nazi power, Vril Codex

Vril is a force which to its believers can heal or destroy.’ For famous journalist Jane Wilkinson, a peaceful architectural assignment in Berlin is a chance for some much needed relaxation. Until she notices that something very sinister is happening… she is touched by an occult evil more terrifying than anything she has ever known. An evil that will engulf her and reach out remorselessly to her husband Bob who is literally haunted as he tries to discover her fate and what lies beneath the ancient legend of the VRIL CODEX’
Part romance, part conspiracy thriller, involving Nazi’s, and the mysterious cults of the “Thule Society,” and the “Devils Bible.” Supernatural forces and conspiracies combine, leading Bob and his companions into danger and a confrontation with the ancient Vril power’.

For an interview with Ben follow this link

http://www.christophfischerbooks.com/ben-manning-the-vril-codex/

“The Vril Codex” by Ben Manning is an unsual and to me a highly original read.
While the main protagonist is a widower and tries to overcome his grief with a work trip to Berlin, the plot edges into paranormal area and sheds light on some supernatural cult around Hitler and his hardcore followers.
I have read quite a few stories and articles about it, all handled as rumours, but their existence is so persistent that the plot – speculative conspiracy as it may be – sounds very plausible to me.
The book is well written and held my interest throughout.
The most pleasant aspects of the book are that the characters are so real and believable, more dimensional and that the storyline is far from flat, as I find so often with books in the genre.
I found it a compelling and fascinating read.

NEW RELEASE: “A MENU OF DEATH” BY LUCY PIREEL

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author, Book review, Lucy Pireel, short stories

“A Menu of Death” by Lucy Pireel is a selection of very strong short stories, all written with a raw, edgy and bloody pen. Ranging from harsh reality to fantasy territory they provoke, open your mind, change your perspective, entertain and take you to the edge of your seat. They can be gory and violent yet also thoughtful and insightful; they are most certainly unpredictable and therefore a truly compelling read. Excellently written, tightly edited and brilliantly compiled into a varied yet homogenous collection the pages just flick through your fingers.
I’d find it hard to choose a favourite story or tell you much about the stories without giving vital clues away. I loved however one story about Karma, one about an abusive husband and one about a brutal killer, all of which turned out completely different from what I expected them to become and were extremely rewarding and a pleasure to read. There is a bite to these stories and a sharp mind behind them.
I came across the author via a tweet about her previous book, “Red Gone Bad” which was also an excellent reading experience and I am pleased that this new book is in no way second. Pireel is a fascinating emerging talent, an uncompromising wordsmith with plots that stimulate your adrenaline and your brain.

Here is a link to an interview with Lucy earlier this year:

https://writerchristophfischer.wordpress.com/2013/08/13/red-gone-bad-by-lucy-pireel/