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93rd out of 2,670 books
—
7,375 voters
Those Who Save Us
by
Jenna Blum (Goodreads Author)
For fifty years, Anna Schlemmer has refused to talk about her life in Germany during World War II. Her daughter, Trudy, was only three when she and her mother were liberated by an American soldier and went to live with him in Minnesota. Trudy's sole evidence of the past is an old photograph: a family portrait showing Anna, Trudy, and a Nazi officer, the Obersturmfuhrer of...more
Paperback, 479 pages
Published
May 2nd 2005
by Harcourt Books
(first published January 1st 2004)
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This is one of those books that make you go, "Wow." And I did go, "Wow," when I put it down. Blum takes an enormous risk writing from the German perspective of the Holocaust, but it's a much needed risk. It's amazing how people still frown down on all Germans involved in the Holocaust, how persecuted and hated they became once WWII was over.
Please don't get me wrong, I'm not defending the actions of the German's who openly participated in this senseless genocide. And there is of course that even...more
Please don't get me wrong, I'm not defending the actions of the German's who openly participated in this senseless genocide. And there is of course that even...more
Ugh. What a terrible and yet compelling book. It's the oddest thing. I swung back and forth between giving it one star and giving it four. I chose one because overall it was terribly clunky and awkward. I felt as though the story was in the hands of an amateur who botched up too much to make the overall experience enjoyable. Or, as if the struggle to write was too obvious: here are only a few of my complaints:
* Mixed metaphors
"The arctic are is like shards of glass in the lungs; it shakes Trudy...more
* Mixed metaphors
"The arctic are is like shards of glass in the lungs; it shakes Trudy...more
59 likes · like · see review
I was drawn to this book because of the subject matter, having understood that for many women (Jews and Germans both) staying alive really meant doing whatever it took to survive the dangers of wartime in Germany. A riveting story -- and I'm sure that the themes of love and survival were all too common during the war. Be prepared to read some harrowing, brutal passages although if you have read any other graphic accounts of the Holocaust (ficiton or nonfiction) this may not be shocking. I also e...more
20 likes · like · see review
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Quite engrossing. A definite page turner and one that I felt I couldn't put down & would stay up to the wee-hours reading. :-)
The imagery was unreal as well. Everything that was described, I could picture/envision. This book was a difficult topic, but the style of writing was easy to comprehend.
So many WWII books deal with stories and tragedies of the Jews (as they should); however, this book, told the story of the sacrifices and occurrences of what everyday...more
The imagery was unreal as well. Everything that was described, I could picture/envision. This book was a difficult topic, but the style of writing was easy to comprehend.
So many WWII books deal with stories and tragedies of the Jews (as they should); however, this book, told the story of the sacrifices and occurrences of what everyday...more
18 likes · like · see review
Jun 07, 2009
MaryTank
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Yes
Recommended to MaryTank by:
Pauline
Well written, fast read. I have often wondered how and why the German people accepted what was happening during WWII? This book describes how many, if not most, were just trying to survive during difficult times. However others truly believed in what was happening which is called patriotism regardless the right or wrong of it.
Contrary to my book club I do not believe Anna fell in love with the Oberstrumfuhrer. I believe she was a victim of the trauma caused by her dependency on him for survival...more
Contrary to my book club I do not believe Anna fell in love with the Oberstrumfuhrer. I believe she was a victim of the trauma caused by her dependency on him for survival...more
16 likes · like · see review
Those Who Save Us, written by Jenna Blum, is an historical fiction novel set in Germany during World War II. Anna is an eighteen year old girl who falls in love with a Jewish doctor and finds the courage to finally stand up to her domineering father, a Nazi sympathizer and altogether unkind man, and hide her lover in her own home. When her father turns him over to the Gestapo, Anna leaves and lives and works with a woman who works with the Resistance Movement. Anna, pregnant and alone, is ultima...more
10 likes · like · see review
I found all the characters in this book to be tiresome and two-dimensional, often behaving unrealistically.
Like Trudy, the woman who dresses as if she's in mourning for 50 years because she thinks she has a Nazi father.
Or Max, the kindest and quietest soul, except when with no warning he pounces on the 19 year old Anna for rough sex without seeking consent, impregnating her with no regard to how her tyrannical Nazi father will react.
And then Anna all but forgets about Max once she begins seeing...more
Like Trudy, the woman who dresses as if she's in mourning for 50 years because she thinks she has a Nazi father.
Or Max, the kindest and quietest soul, except when with no warning he pounces on the 19 year old Anna for rough sex without seeking consent, impregnating her with no regard to how her tyrannical Nazi father will react.
And then Anna all but forgets about Max once she begins seeing...more
10 likes · like · see review
Jan 31, 2011
Barbara
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Maria, Kelly
Recommended to Barbara by:
Rose and Elizabeth
Shelves:
holocaust-ww-2
While visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, one encounters many horrifying exhibits. There is an huge atrium, with a ceiling which seems endlessly tall. Around this room, covering all of the wall surfaces, there are photographs. There are happy families posing for group photos, babies with their toothless grins, little girls with pigtails, boys flying kites, sober individual shots for graduations, little men at their Bar Mitzvahs,loving couples gazing into eachother's eyes - all peopl...more
16 likes · like · see review
This was a very well written book about Nazi Germany told from the perspective of non-Jews who survived the war. I had never really considered what was happening to the non-Jews in Germany during that time, so in this regard I found it to be very educational. The book is told from the points of view of Anna, a mother, and Trudy, her very young daughter who both endured more than is imaginable a the hands of the Nazis. Anna's story is revealed in flashbacks while Trudy's is told in the present da...more
How good was this book? So good I want to tell everyone about it, which in turn caused me to remember I joined this site but never posted on it because I hadn't been motivated until now.
Anna is a young woman living in 1940s Germany who becomes involved in a relationship with a Jewish doctor -- you can guess without me having to say anything the far-reaching consequences this will have, and it sets into motion all that follows.
Fifty years later her daughter Trudy, a professor of German history at...more
Anna is a young woman living in 1940s Germany who becomes involved in a relationship with a Jewish doctor -- you can guess without me having to say anything the far-reaching consequences this will have, and it sets into motion all that follows.
Fifty years later her daughter Trudy, a professor of German history at...more
16 likes · like · see review
This book was phenomenal. I couldn't put it down! It is an amazing blend of the German/Jewish experience during WWII, at least from an outsider's point of view, which is how the book is set up. Trudy, the main character, is a peripheral part of the experience in that she was only 3 when she left Germany, and yet she is so integral to the telling of her mother's story, which is also her story. She grew up thinking she was something other that who she is and her mother is trying to protect her and...more
Wow! This book kept me up at night, thinking about the topics it explores. While on the surface it is about German people's experiences during WWII, it is about so much more, including the psychological effects of abuse and humiliation. My favorite line comes near the end when Anna's husband asks her if she loved the SS officer. She recognizes how we "come to love those who save us, or rather those who shame us." That's a pretty intense concept.
My only complaint is that the character of Trudy is...more
My only complaint is that the character of Trudy is...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
7 likes · like · see review
A real page turner. Excellent writing style full of description, narrative, imagery. Author made you care about the main character and all she endured during her days in WWII Germany living as a non Jew. Brutal, sad times. Confirms that one must do what one mjust do to survive.
Good Read !
Good Read !
4 likes · like · see review
This book was phenomenal! It tells the story of 2 women, a mother and daughter, and their relationship. Trudy, a professor at a university, is conducting research into the role of German women in Nazi Germany. Her mother's health is failing and she is put into a nursing home for a time. Trudy tries to understand her mother, Anna, but her mother refuses to talk to her. There is a second story line throughout that tells of the mother's life when she was in her early twenties,living in Weimar, Germ...more
Totally and completely engrossing.
My second time through Jenna Blum's historical novel of the Holocaust. It's the story of Anna, born in Weimar near the Buchenwald concentration camp, who falls in love with a Jewish doctor and bears his child after he is taken to the camp. One of the camp's commanders, the Obersturmfuhrer, takes her "under his wing," providing food and "education" for her daughter Trudy, as well as rendering Anna his prisoner for sexual "pleasure." Although Horst is an amoral monster, Anna is nonetheless somewha...more
No way was this an enjoyable book! It was excruciatingly difficult....but the end was beautiful, and that saved the book for me. Before choosing this book I read through reviews. One friend says in her review that the main character, Anna, a gentile German, was both naïve and uninformed when the story opens. I certainly agree. This detracts. Putting it another way, several of the characters behave unconvincingly. Their actions are construed. Three examples follow in the spoiler.
(view spoiler)...more
(view spoiler)...more
13 likes · like · see review
Nov 08, 2008
Emily
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
History buffs, book club readers
Recommended to Emily by:
book club
Very engaging story, I highly recommend this book.
Usually I'm not a fan of following two "complementary" story lines because one always ends up being more interesting and rarely are they both equally important to the story. This book has neither of those problems. The two story lines in Those Who Save Us are beautifully intertwined, neither story would be complete without the other and both stories are equally weighted, so you always want more from both women.
The content itself is hard to read...more
Usually I'm not a fan of following two "complementary" story lines because one always ends up being more interesting and rarely are they both equally important to the story. This book has neither of those problems. The two story lines in Those Who Save Us are beautifully intertwined, neither story would be complete without the other and both stories are equally weighted, so you always want more from both women.
The content itself is hard to read...more
1 like · like · see review
Oct 03, 2008
Andrea
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
People interested in the social history of WWII and the holocaust
Shelves:
read-historical-fiction
A great book - one of the best books that I have read in a while! It's a fascinating story (I found I couldn't put it down), a sad story, a heroic story of surviving in WWII Germany as a civilian although a bit unbelievable. Still, it was a story that I wanted to believe in and I'm sure there are untold stories out there that may never be told.
Blum does a good job of portraying life for German civilians while still being incredibly aware and sympathetic to the treatment of Jews in Germany and of...more
Blum does a good job of portraying life for German civilians while still being incredibly aware and sympathetic to the treatment of Jews in Germany and of...more
Sep 11, 2009
Elysabeth
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommended to Elysabeth by:
Paula Friedman, Judy Reichman
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
2 likes · like · see review
This book was well-written and interesting, if a bit intense. Another holocaust-from-the-perspective-of-resistant-Germans, a la "The Book Thief," but less lighthearted.
The story alternates between two stories. One is of Anna, a young 1940s German woman with an illegitimate child (fathered by a Jew she loves, who was captured during her pregnancy). Anna becomes active in the German resistance and is caught sneaking food to Buchenwald prisoners, an offense punishable by death. As a result, she is...more
The story alternates between two stories. One is of Anna, a young 1940s German woman with an illegitimate child (fathered by a Jew she loves, who was captured during her pregnancy). Anna becomes active in the German resistance and is caught sneaking food to Buchenwald prisoners, an offense punishable by death. As a result, she is...more
Mar 09, 2008
Carrie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Historical Fiction Readers
Shelves:
all-time-favorites
Rating: 4.10
Well, after my recent trip to the heart of Deutchland, I am a bit overwhelmed with the desire to read WWII accounts. It is amazing to me that the scope of human emotion, tragedy and courage was felt on such a grand scale by all that lived during that time.... and in many cases, are the grey generation of today. I sat down this morning, and moved rarely... until i had finished the book in one sitting.
This book of fiction is written by a former producer for Steven Speilberg's Shoa Foun...more
Well, after my recent trip to the heart of Deutchland, I am a bit overwhelmed with the desire to read WWII accounts. It is amazing to me that the scope of human emotion, tragedy and courage was felt on such a grand scale by all that lived during that time.... and in many cases, are the grey generation of today. I sat down this morning, and moved rarely... until i had finished the book in one sitting.
This book of fiction is written by a former producer for Steven Speilberg's Shoa Foun...more
Those Who Save Us is the story of an Aryan German girl (probably 18 or 19 years old)named Anna who fell in love with a Jewish doctor around 1939. She hid him in her father's house when things started to get scary for the Jews. Her father found out and turned him in to the Gestapo. At this point in time, she was already 4 months pregnant. The Jewish doctor was part of the Resistance Movement, as was a female baker in town. The girl left her father's home and became the baker's apprentice. Eventua...more
This book was essentially about a mother and a daughter and the events that made them who they are.
*** Spoilers ahead***
Anna was a teen when she met Max and fell in love. Unfortunately she was a daughter of an SS sympathizer and he was a jewish doctor. Although she tries to run away with him, it was not meant to be. She got pregnant and save herself and her daughter she ends up with a high ranking SS officer as his mistress.
Trudy, her daughter, does not know any of this. She grows up thinking...more
*** Spoilers ahead***
Anna was a teen when she met Max and fell in love. Unfortunately she was a daughter of an SS sympathizer and he was a jewish doctor. Although she tries to run away with him, it was not meant to be. She got pregnant and save herself and her daughter she ends up with a high ranking SS officer as his mistress.
Trudy, her daughter, does not know any of this. She grows up thinking...more
1 like · like · see review
Wow! This book will stay with me for a long time. The story angle is unique and the writing was beautiful. There have been many books written about the Holocaust, but I don’t think that many have been written from the viewpoint of a German woman who lived through WWII as the enemy. Not as a Nazi, but as a German citizen who had to cope with the knowledge, or lack of knowledge, of all that was happening around her.
The author takes you back and forth between Anna’s story during the war and Trudy’...more
The author takes you back and forth between Anna’s story during the war and Trudy’...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This is now one of my top favs. I just finished it, and I feel like I am still "in" it. Such a good story of how we can go through our lives not understanding what reality has been for another. And also, how we keep secrets for so many reasons, when if we could only speak we could release ourselves, and people we love... Wonderful book. Wonderfully told.
4 likes · like · see review
This hauntingly lovely book is the best I’ve read in a long time.
It’s the story of Anna, a German caught up in the firestorm of Nazi Weimar and her daughter, Trudy. Anna’s selfless acts of kindness and her accompanying shame were well executed – believable and haunting.
Trudy’s own story is well marked by a life she can barely remember.
This Holocaust epic told from the German point of view gave what is for me well worn – the Holocaust – a fresh slant.
The characters are excellently executed and t...more
It’s the story of Anna, a German caught up in the firestorm of Nazi Weimar and her daughter, Trudy. Anna’s selfless acts of kindness and her accompanying shame were well executed – believable and haunting.
Trudy’s own story is well marked by a life she can barely remember.
This Holocaust epic told from the German point of view gave what is for me well worn – the Holocaust – a fresh slant.
The characters are excellently executed and t...more
Anna survives during WWII in Germany by doing what she needs to do in order to live and provide food for her young daughter, Trudy. After the war they move to America with a soldier and she tries to forget. Trudy grows up and tries to find out the truth about her memories of an SS officer. Anna still won't open up even after being faced with a survivor that can tell stories of the amazing things that Anna did to save lives. Instead, Anna can't get past the guilt of her association with the offic...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pfeffer | 1 | 32 | Oct 30, 2012 11:02am | |
| Do you feel Anna should have told Trudy about her past? | 10 | 146 | Oct 27, 2012 06:11am | |
| From Florida to N...: Those Who Save Us...SPOILER | 1 | 20 | Sep 24, 2012 06:33am |
Author of the New York Times bestseller THOSE WHO SAVE US (Harcourt, 2004) and THE STORMCHASERS (Dutton, May 2010).
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“Life is so often unfair and painful and love is hard to find and you have to take it whenever and wherever you can get it, no matter how brief it is or how it ends.”
—
38 people liked it
“How could she tell him that we come to love those who save us?”
—
28 people liked it
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Mar 24, 2011 01:03pm
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