Jere' M. Fishback

I loved this book! Mr. Fishback is a new author to me but not for long. I enjoyed his descriptive language and easy style. My family used to spend many vacations in the St. Petersburg area when I was growing up so I knew many of the spots in the book. I now live in Brevard county where Lane's and Jesse's story began. I enjoyed Jesse's mother and the way that she handled teen sex. Much of the sex took place off page which was how it should be done in a coming of age book. The emotions were all there though. I felt bad for Kevin but we make our decisions and live with them. Bravo Mr. Fishback, well done!… (plus d'informations)

This book was a tough one for me. I really liked some of the story... Jakub was an interesting character. He hadn't really pondered his sexuality much at the beginning of the book and the author did a good job of writing the way he came to terms with his interests and emotions.

Jakub and Jeff's meeting and spending the summer together was a sweet reminder of long summer days and friendship. It reminded me of my own summers away from school and life's stresses. The first part of the book was definitely the most enjoyable.

Things in Jakub's life became a lot more complex once he was back at school. He had a roommate with psychological issues not the least of which was a past sexual relationship with a family member. This part of the plot culminates in a very sad and emotional event that was written quite well.

One of the key challenges I had with this book was the writing style. It was over detailed to the point that I found myself skipping over some of the descriptions. At almost 800 pages I felt as though there was a lot of description that could be removed that would tighten up the story and help the reader to focus on the intense emotion in the plot.

There are a lot of triggers in this novel and some of it is very emotional. I would really encourage people to read the trigger warnings that NineStar Press is so great at providing in their books.… (plus d'informations)

I picked this up in the Fictionwise ebook shop when I was reading [The Book Thief]. It was listed under "young adult" so I thought I was safe with this book, but young adult is definitely the wrong listing for this book. This is very much an adult work.

Josef Jaeger lives with his mother in Bavaria, but when she dies he is shipped off to his notorious uncle, Ernst Roehm. He finds himself close to the nazi hierarchy, and he is put forward for a role in a forthcoming movie, "Quex" by Joseph Goebels. One thing leads to another and he discovers that he is a homosexual like his uncle and in love with a Jewish boy!

On the plus side, this book has some very good research behind it. The movie in question actually exists (you can see clips on youtube), and the writer has tried hard to set the story faithfully within the historical circumstances of the time. When there is talk of politics, the issues discussed are the issues of that time in 1933. The writing is also good.

But I did not like this book for several reasons. For one thing, I think the writer fails to appreciate how people actually felt about politics at that time. He makes Hitler so Charismatic that Josef practically swoons in his presence. That charisma, I suppose, is meant to show us how Hitler attracted such a large following. This despite the fact that all the major characters seem to be very friendly with Jews, and there are no signs of grass roots intolerance. The anti semitism is portrayed as Hitler's fixation alone.

We don't see any of the tensions and deep feeling that Hitler actually played off. Instead all characters just seem to express a lack of interest in politics, and in that way their hands are washed and their characters left unsullied. These are not the gritty realistic people of "The Book Thief". These are cardboard cut out people with no complicity in the rising tide of nazi-ism.

My next problem is the sexual subject matter. Thinking this was a young adult book, I was rather shocked at the very explicit and repeated sexual references and scenes. But had the book been categorised correctly as adult fiction, maybe I could have been less surprised (although I almost certainly would not have bought it).

Nevertheless Josef Jaeger just did not act like a 13 year old boy. Rather he acted in the way that some 30 something men wish they had acted as a boy. I will not mention my explicit disagreement here because it all feels rather sordid and I would have to repeat graphic images to do so, but it was deeply un-natural. Moreso was the way that everyone - including devout Jewish parents of another boy - could be so accepting of the homosexuality. "We always knew David was different" is the explanation for why they are happy for two boys (one a Jew, the other the nephew of a Nazi) to have homosexual relations in pre-war Germany - where, of course, such relations were considered immoral and illegal. The only person to have any objection is the nasty SS man at the end - and he is a cardboard cut-out hate figure. Again, the whole thing was deeply unnatural, and not a little disturbing.

A last but smaller gripe was the language of the book. The writing was very American - but I decided to let that go as merely the idiolect of the author, except for where he tried to spice it up by occasionally inserting German words like "verboten" where he was saying something was "forbidden". If he wanted a German sounding atmosphere then he needed to work much harder on all the references to dating and short pants and moms and such like. If he wanted a natural read, then use English words except for street names or other such names.

I really cannot recommend this book at all. It is not the best treatment of the period in question. It is not a book that questions attitudes or engenders tolerance because of the way it simply avoids the big issues, and the lack of depth in the characterisations. It may be enjoyed by people who like to read about faux 13 year old sexual adventures, but for me it is not a book I am proud to have read.… (plus d'informations)