War and Remembrance -

Herman Wouk

Back bay books

2002

1056 páginas

1d 11h 12m

ISBN-10: 0671463144

By exploring the experiences of the fictional Henry family and their extended acquaintances, Wouk manages to cover virtually every aspect of this sprawling epic struggle between good and evil. There is Victor "Pug" Henry, stoic Navy captain, his dutiful bound son Warren, a Navy flyer bound for action in the Pacific, his formerly wayward son Byron, now a submarine officer who marries the Jewish woman Natalie Jastrow in Europe. Natalie herself is trapped in Italy with her Uncle, the intellectual scholar Aaron Jastrow and her baby Louis. The Nazi vice that slowly closes on the American born Natalie is excruciating yet stunningly realistic. There is Leslie Slote, the callous foreign service officer who has an epiphany when he discovers the plans for the Final Solution and there are many many others. Wouk blends the personal stories of these characters with an expositional account of the war. He uses the device of a fictional memoir of an imprisoned German officer to prsent the war from the German perspective. It is bone-chilling reading. Finally, Wouk's stunning descriptions of Auschwitz are the most realistic and engrossing description of the Holocaust I have ever read. This book is moving, gripping and engrossing. It is also highly educational. The reader of War and Remembrance will learn a great deal about the Second World War and the War will be brought to life by this book better than any history. This novel should not be missed nor should The Winds of War.