Jennifer Ott

Time of Useful Consciousness by Jennifer Ott is an exciting novel of post-World War II Germany. The title is an interesting term in aviation that provides a powerful metaphor for describing the very difficult social/economic conditions of the time period in Deutschland.

Louisa Unger is a pilot, rare in a man’s specialty area. Successful in her flight training, Louisa becomes involved inadvertently in an airborne smuggling operation and is arrested and confined to an American Military prison. Louisa is interrogated, and she tells the story of Germans trying to reconstruct their country and deal with the guilt of the War-time atrocities of the Nazi regime.

Louisa’s account of the year preceding her capture involves descriptions of flying, personal relationships, post-War hardships, and difficult conflict resolutions. Time of Useful Consciousness (TUC) is the amount of time an individual is able to perform flying duties efficiently in an environment of inadequate oxygen supply. The aftermath of war waged within a country is a shortage of adequate resources to rebuild its culture on a grand scale. There is also a decreased supply of personal resilience to reconnect with family and develop new loving relationships in an atmosphere low on moral identity. Some of Ott’s characters, like Louisa, react positively in the TUC physical/social environment and others negatively making for an exciting narrative. I give the novel 4 stars for its unique and interesting historical perspective.

I was given a copy of the novel by the author for an honest review.… (plus d'informations)

Louisa Unger is a pilot in post-World War II Germany. She has been captured and now lingers in an American Military prison. However, Louisa is not being held for the murder of a fellow German, which she is clearly guilty of, but for transporting goods. To get out, Louisa must begin telling the U.S. Colonel, who also happens to be her mother's lover, the names of the people involved in the giving and receiving of goods that she has transported. Louisa weaves a tale of the past year of her life to the Colonel, telling him everything without giving away any of the details until she finds out that another life will be at stake.

This was a very interesting story about an even more interesting time in history. I was intrigued by Louisa, a female pilot, but the story ended up being so much more. I didn't really know much about Germany after the War, so learning about the conditions that the Germans had to face was eye-opening along with the Black Market Trade. Louisa's character grew throughout the story, she went from being a scared, naive girl to a brave, confident woman. Most of all though, this story is about the intricate relationships that people make. Some interesting relationships are Louisa and her brother Freddy, who Louisa obviously cares for deeply, but Freddy seems to be more self absorbed; Louisa and Freddy's relationship with their deceased father, a Luftwaffe pilot, both Louisa a Freddy fell into his profession and Louisa's relationship with Kris, a former reconnaissance pilot who now transports goods for Freddy, who Louisa fell hard and fast for. Overall, an insightful story about love, trust and relationships in a difficult time.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.… (plus d'informations)