Abilene - Book review

 

Abilene

By Dare Delano

Genre: Fiction

 

“We are all going off to battle and we have no idea what we are in for” – Chapter 34

Len is a 12-year-old kid who longs to know the identity of her father as her mother Coralee refuses to tell her and neither does any in her mother's family or anyone in the small town of Abilene. Why are they all being so secretive in Texas? Len wonders if her parents broke up because her mom became pregnant with her. In her search for her father, we are also introduced to her grandmother Lorelai, her aunt Jean and Len friend’s mother Doris. Will Len find her father ?

Does really getting to know the identity of your dad that important? Does it even matter if your father is not around when you have a loving family of women to take care of you? In this so-called patriarchal world does it even matter who the father is when women are independent and can take care of themselves and their loved ones? This is the larger question the book deals with. Sure, there are good men but do women need men to live their lives all the time? When Len says, “I am enough”, you realize the strength of the human female.

I don’t think I have ever read a book that punches you in the gut and wants you to save the characters from disappointment, emotional and physical abuse like this one. The novel has multiple POV (Points of View) of women in different age groups. However, it is a relatively smooth read.

Initially, I thought the story was about Len but then with so many women telling their stories, it is hard not to recognize many women in our lives and society as Dare Delano narrates the story of one family. To think this is a debut novel surprised me as the author carefully captures the emotions of women in her novel. While I guessed how it would end, the twists and turns keeps you going at a pace that makes it a must read for all women.

 

To buy the book, go to Amazon 

Book review : Black Fox One

 

Black Fox One
by
Elyse Hoffman
Genre : Fiction


Ava and Jonas are teenage sweethearts and friends. They truly believe Hitler is the right candidate and will do good for Germany. One fine day, Ava and her entire family disappears and no one in the neighbourhood knows what happened to them. Distraught, Jonas joins the SS and while trying to uncover the Black Fox network of gentiles and Jews who help the Jews escape the holocaust, he catches many and send them to their deaths. Jonas believes in the cause as he searches for Ava who feels he lost because of the Jews. He is given the nickname Fox Hunter by Reinhard Heydrich.

Jonas is given a mission - he has to hunt and capture Black Fox One who will be executed when they open the Fox Farm which will house most of the Black Foxes. Will he capture Black Fox One or will he get captured and killed? Will he find Ava finally or will Ava find him?  Read the book to find out.

What I liked about the book is though the Black Fox network didn't exist, Reinhard Heydrich did and he was nicknamed as the "Man with the Iron Heart" by none other than Hitler. Most people know about Goebbels, Himmler and Hitler but don't know much about Reinhard Heydrich or Alfred Rosenberg because their area of operation was Eastern Europe. The author uses these people in her books to shed more light on what actually happened like how a ship filled with Jews were turned away by both USA and Canada and were forced to return to Europe. While the UK took some of them in, the rest died. This happens in most genocide situations worldwide like the Sri Lankan genocide of Tamils in 2009 when a boat full of Tamils escaped but Australian govt.  refused to let them in and most of them died in international waters. All were democratic nations who refused help.

The book is fast paced and shows how normal, decent people can quickly turn against a people following a minority religion in a democratic country when right wing hate filled leaders are elected. The propaganda machine of the right wing makes it such that you are patriotic or anti-national. The quick dehumanizing of the "other" leads to majority of people unleashing violence on a scale that is unimaginable. That this is now happening worldwide across nations makes this book almost contemporary non-fiction.

If you wish to buy the book, go here ➤  Amazon

Book Review : The Vengeance of Samuel Val by Elyse Hoffman

The Vengeance Of Samuel Val
by
Elyse Hoffman
110 Pages, Project 613 Publishing

Khruvina is a tiny, backwater village in Belarus, Soviet Union. Young Samuel Val lives there with his parents and sisters and hopes to become the Rabbi of Khruvina when he grows up. Instead he finds himself the only survivor as his village is burned to the ground by Germans headed by Viktor Naden aka the beast of Belarus, under orders from Reinhard Heydrich. Heydrich was described by Hitler as the "Man with the iron heart."  Sam is shot and left for dead but survives and joins the Black Fox underground network which frees Jews and puts them up in safe houses. When Sam is on a mission to bring back a fellow Jew namely Amos, they accidentally end up in a safe house run by Naden's wife and daughter. Will he have his revenge or will he spare them because the German wife and daughter of Naden are helping the  Jews escape?

From Belarus to Germany, Hoffman spins a tale of horror, inhumanity with flickers of humanity and extreme sadness thrown in between. One cannot think it is just a fiction based on the Holocaust of the past as you see this is being repeated again and again in the genocides across the world making you wonder what is wrong  with human nature that fascism is taking such a strong hold on mankind nowadays. Is ignorance or love an excuse to forgive a barbarian? There is a wonderful debate in the story about redemption and repentance.

The writing style is crisp and the pace is fast. This book reminded me of the recent horror in Manipur, India and we do not know yet all of the stories as it is still ongoing and everyone is aware of the ethnic cleansing.  While synagogues and churches have been destroyed, numerous villages have been burnt leaving many homeless and as internal refugees in India. That Hoffman's story is still valid as genocide is still happening in Asia, makes this book all the more important.

If you wish to buy it, go here  Amazon      - available from Sept 1, 2023 but you can pre-order it now.

The Viking -Gael Saga - book review

 The Viking Gael Saga
by J.T.T.Ryder                                                                                                                    Genre: Historical fiction

Asgeir and his brother Odd lose a duel to Ulf and his son Rolf.  While Odd gets killed, Asgeir is now a deckhand on Ulf's ship and is even unable to attend the funeral of Odd. What adventures will he face when he goes a'viking or works as a pirate on Ulf's ship?  Will he survive the ordeal and return home to his mother with his honor intact? This is the first part of the book which gives the background to the Denmark, Norwary and Finland history through the novel and also the meaning and origin of the words in English like Wednesday, Thursday, troll, etc.

The writing is good but since the author is an archeologist and also has a sequel to this one we are yet to get to the Gael part of it as Asgeir is half Irish and half Norse though he grows up in Norway. It also explains why there are certain laws in Scandinavia today that is a result of past history.  Since the story is set in 870 AD, it is more of the pirate and honor history.

It is an interesting strange tale, the likes of which I have never read as the plot keeps twisting and holds the reader's attention. This is eyeopener of a story and the original pirates were the Norse. I've always wondered why the Vikings came all the way down to South India and ended up building the Tranquebar fort. This book made me understand a bit of pirate history and also why so many pirates were one eyed! It was surprising to learn that the Norse had slavery of their own apart from the heathen gods.

If you would like to buy this book, go here to Amazon