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Saints and Villains
Sometimes the universe produces a man or woman whose life seems ready-made for fiction: Joan of Arc, for example, or Robert Falcon Scott; John Brown, Martin Luther King Jr., or Jesus of Nazareth. Fiction writers are attracted to larger-than-life personalities and each of the above-mentioned luminaries have indeed appeared in fictional works. Now German theologian Dietri...more
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This is probably one of my very favorites of all times. I was first introduced to Denise Giardina through an Appalachian studies class, and learned of her Appalachian writings. This is a completely different genre, but she does an excellent job of developing an theologic figure into a three dimensional human being. I felt like I could relate, on some level to his struggles to continue to believe. Plus, it made me curious to learn more about the historical Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I've read it t...more
I entered the fictionalization of the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer with some trepidation, since he is one of my heroes. But Denise Giardina did a fine job with this, evoking the evolution the German pastor went through and his eventual decision to join in a plot to assassinate Hitler, which he paid for with his life. Very well done.
This is my all time favorite book about the plight of the jewish people in world war II and Dietrich Bonhoeffer's (Chrisian theologian and martyr)effort to help overturn the Nazi regime which cost him his life. Written as historical fiction, but the main story line is based on fact.
It's odd to read a novel about a historical person in this century. I kept puzzling while I was reading whether, for example, his girlfriend was fictional or real, since I'd never heard of her. She's fictional but she fills a useful function in a novel. I recommend reading the author's note at the end first, if this sort of incongruence is going to bother you.
I read this book because the book club I belong to in town was reading it and I was dismissive of the idea that I might learn...more
I read this book because the book club I belong to in town was reading it and I was dismissive of the idea that I might learn...more
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Oh dear me, I am very glad I read this book. It was actually very different from what I expected. I think the aspect of the book that was most different from my expectations was also the one that I most appreciated, and that was how un-heroic Bonhoeffer's story was. Throughout so much of the book it was hard to believe both for me as a reader and it seemed Bonhoeffer as a character that any of the things he was able to do could have actually been a threat to Hitler's life. In away the very ...more
I learned of how much anti-semitism we Americans had during and after WW2...I first learned of the boat of German Jews we refused to let dock in the US, and instead sent the whole shipload back to Germany, where most all of the 300? people aboard died in concentration camps anyway.
Presbyterian minister Dietrich Bonhoeffer studies in England, Spain, and eventually New York. He returned to Germany with the Church's responsibility to participate in social and political debate. These id...more
Presbyterian minister Dietrich Bonhoeffer studies in England, Spain, and eventually New York. He returned to Germany with the Church's responsibility to participate in social and political debate. These id...more
I could not put this book down. It's historical fiction, so I'm sure some of what Giardina writes about is sensationalized for the reader, but the atrocities of war and the Nazi regime are just astonishing. It was interesting to read about the environment in Germany after World War I which allowed the rise of someone as evil as Hitler. Reading about all the pain and suffering was hard, but getting to learn about Dietrich Bonhoeffer made it more compelling. His struggle with right and wrong, theo...more
Denise Giardina introduces the reader to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He is introduced as a common citizen but, becomes a German hero of the Second World War. The story is riveting. Everything is so easily introduced to the reader that, when the reality of the German situation in WWII comes to light, it seems like a terrible misunderstanding. Giardina is so easy with her prose, so genuine that I sometimes ignored the underlying reality until, like Bonhoeffer, it was too late. I researched Bonhoeffe...more
Denise Giardina has offered an imaginative but well-researched take on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Saints and Villains is a novel that goes into Bonhoeffer's thoughts, struggles, and experiences, starting with childhood, including his time in the seminary in New York. His interactions with T.S. Eliot and George Bell, Bishop of Chichester, are fascinating -- wish I could have eavesdropped on those conversations. I cheated here: I listened to it on audio. But this is historical fiction at its...more
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I'm currently fascinated with Dietrich Bonhoeffer and have also just finished the Metaxes biography—a much better book. What I didn't like about this novelization of Bonhoeffer's life is that he comes off as a person who was pushed along by events rather than someone acting out of moral conviction. The very point of Bonhoeffer's writings — and his death — was that he acted out of his Christian moral convictions. Giardina did not do him justice.
A very well written book about Dietrich Bonhoeffer's experiences leading up to and during WWII. Although fiction, I felt as though Bonhoeffer's character was true to the published works of his that I have read. I appreciated his struggle as a pastor between what he thought was right and what he thought he must do. Hovering between faith and doubt, this remarkable man was truly human.
OK, a novel about Dietrich Bonhoeffer might not be everybody's idea of a good time, but I thought presented a viable fictionalization of his life and character growth. The author created another major character, a Nazi commandant, whose life intersects with Bonhoeffer's at various points. I thought it succeeded both as fiction and as ... hmmm .... historical rumination.
Surprised by how much I liked this book. While I have admired many quotes from Bonhoeffer I did not know the story of his life. Some may be annoyed by the fiction surrounding the history, but I have also found historical fiction a great way to bring history alive. A hard book to put down even though such a heavy story. I own it if anyone wants to borrow.
Is this the best book I have ever read about WW2? Maybe so. A perfect blend of fact and fiction. Fiction can help teach. I read sonewhere here on GoodReads a comment that the reader disliked non-fiction because it was so boring. OMG I believe the total opposite. There is no way that authors can dream up what life really throws at us. Emotionally, this is not an easy read, but it is impossible to put down. You can go on because the author writes of the true to life mixture of horror and beauty. I...more
I've wanted to read this for a long time. Even though it's fiction, I am interested in stories about courage in the face of danger. Dietrich Bonhaeffer modeled an admirable reaction to the Nazis.
It took awhile,but i finished this book. Maybe knowing how it would end slowed me down. He made some hard choices.
I liked the characters, some real,some not, but I now feel the need to read a non fictional account of Bonhaeffer's life. It cannot be soon, however, because ...more
It took awhile,but i finished this book. Maybe knowing how it would end slowed me down. He made some hard choices.
I liked the characters, some real,some not, but I now feel the need to read a non fictional account of Bonhaeffer's life. It cannot be soon, however, because ...more
I like Giardina's other novels better. I enjoyed the first part of this very much, but it really bogged down for me when Dietrich moved back to Germany and the Nazis began their rise to power. I really didn't like Dietrich (which I feel awful saying) and spent a lot of the time wondering "Wait, did this really happen? Is this person real?" since this is a fictionalized account of his life.
An excellent novel based on the life of Deitrich Bonhoeffer. It's a well-told, powerful story, true to the complexity of the situation & sensitive to theological nuance. One of my all-time favorites.
One small persons attempts to resist Nazi insanity.
Another novel about Bonhoeffer.
Brillant historical novel. Giardina's masterpiece.
Very very good. I am captivated.
Rachel
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Appalachian studies readers; theology readers; Marxist readers
This book, too, is about the murders of hundreds of men by Union Carbide in West Virginia in the 1930s. It combines that historical narrative with another, fictionalized narrative about the real-life theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In the novel, Bonhoeffer travels to West Virginia (he is in the US to attend Union Seminary) and witnesses the tunnel diggers' deaths. Then he returns to Germany and must come to terms with the murder of Jews in the Holocaust.
Is it fiction? Is it biography? it's both. A fictionalized history of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor in Germany during WWII, committed to nonviolence and yet hung for his role in a plot to assassinate Hitler. I have read Bonhoeffer's texts and seen movies: nothing was as vivid as this book. It was tremendously stimulating to be asking myself constantly - is this real? is this true? is this fact? what's the difference?
Paints a full, fascinating (and fictionalized) picture of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Somehow I didn't find it as compelling as I had hoped; maybe my expectations were too high? Or maybe the fictionalization is what didn't quite work for me, as I found myself occasionally distracted by wondering which people and details were factual. Though that's not a fault of the book, but of my reading preferences.
NO
Great man in bad time. I found the writer got bogged down and wished she concentrated on the important aspects of his life. Kinda disappointing.
This is a fictionalized account of Dietrich Bonheoffer’s life, a priest in WWII
Germany who was involved in several failed plots to kill Hitler. Much of the novel
was based in truth, much of it invented. Very intriguing.
Germany who was involved in several failed plots to kill Hitler. Much of the novel
was based in truth, much of it invented. Very intriguing.
Story from birth to end of life of a theologian living through WWII, the choices he made about how to respond to the Nazi regime. I really enjoyed the book, but the print was tiny and put me to sleep quickly at night.
Novel on Dietrich Bonhoffer an internally tortured "pastor" during Hitler's rise to power in Germany. His activities and struggles with the times are agonizing and the year in prison ending it all was a sad relief.
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Often labelled an Appalachian writer, or a historical novelist, Denise Giardina describes herself as a theological writer, exploring fundamental issues of faith and belief through literary characters.
Born and raised in the West Virginia coalfields, Giardina is an ordained Episcopal Church deacon, a community activist and a former candidate for the WV state governorship.
Her ...more
More about Denise Giardina...
Born and raised in the West Virginia coalfields, Giardina is an ordained Episcopal Church deacon, a community activist and a former candidate for the WV state governorship.
Her ...more
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“And what more can God do,' he asks, 'then to take on flesh and suffer every humiliation and every fear and every pain that humanity suffers? What more without destroying human freedom?”
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2 people liked it
“How was God supposed to stop it? You're a free man, Alois. There are no invisible strings connecting you to God, directing your every move.'
But if God is all-powerful, God could intervene. God could find a way.'
And because God didn't intervene, it was all right.'
Yes.'
Too bad you don't believe in God, then. You've lost your excuse.'
Bauer blinked. He looked away. 'Perhaps I do believe in God,' he said.
Oh yes,' Dietrich said. 'God makes a convenient scapegoat. Or people always think God is absent when things are going bad for them. Things go better and God is back. Well, I want to live in the world as if there were no God. That is the only way God can truly be with any of us.”
—
1 person liked it
More quotes…
But if God is all-powerful, God could intervene. God could find a way.'
And because God didn't intervene, it was all right.'
Yes.'
Too bad you don't believe in God, then. You've lost your excuse.'
Bauer blinked. He looked away. 'Perhaps I do believe in God,' he said.
Oh yes,' Dietrich said. 'God makes a convenient scapegoat. Or people always think God is absent when things are going bad for them. Things go better and God is back. Well, I want to live in the world as if there were no God. That is the only way God can truly be with any of us.”
