Amazon Customer A cinematic tale
Amazon Customer
A cinematic tale
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2020
Although it is a novel, Newark Minutemen is based on a true story, one the author, Leslie Barry, learned from her family. Uncle Harry was more than just a boxer in Newark in the 1930s, he was also a Newark Minuteman, a title given to a group of boxers under the leadership of the Jewish mob who partnered with the FBI between World War I and II to battle fascism in America. The terminology used by the American Nazis – Make America Great – will sound familiar to contemporary readers. The insight the main characters possess at times also sounds familiar, as if they somehow know the outcome of the war before it has even begun. Contemporary readers may find this makes it easier for them to relate to the characters.
What will no doubt come as a surprise are the details to which the American Nazi party was able to infiltrate America. More than two dozen camps trained youth in Hitler’s ideology, there was an American Führer and weapons were weaseled from the unsuspecting NRA and National Guard. Other details, although less important, are what make the world between the wars come alive. There is a penny slipped under a wobbly table leg, whiskey placed in a cat dish and a particular cologne that is shared by two characters. Of the boxers, Barry says: “There’s endless stories behind each scar on their bodies.”
The book is cinematic, with clear good and bad guys and plenty of action. This will probably make it quite appealing to a younger demographic. That the main protagonists, Yael and Krista, first appear as children also lends itself to a younger readership. But cameos by Frank Sinatra and famous mob bosses and politicians of the time will appeal to an older crowd. The love story is a West Side Story, Romeo and Juliet, set in a very different time and place. It is the characters and their very personal battle with identity that really make the tale stand out. This struggle is voiced best by Krista when she describes her family and community.
“I study them in turn – the way Axel’s shoulder twitches when he’s tense, how Fuhrer Kuhn’s forehead wrinkles when he frowns, how my father’s nose flares when he’s angry, how Heidi swipes her tongue across her lops when she’s nervous. These mannerisms are familiar. They remind me of me.” She wonders: “What am I without them? Who am I alone?”
The answer: “No one.”
A cinematic tale
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2020
Although it is a novel, Newark Minutemen is based on a true story, one the author, Leslie Barry, learned from her family. Uncle Harry was more than just a boxer in Newark in the 1930s, he was also a Newark Minuteman, a title given to a group of boxers under the leadership of the Jewish mob who partnered with the FBI between World War I and II to battle fascism in America. The terminology used by the American Nazis – Make America Great – will sound familiar to contemporary readers. The insight the main characters possess at times also sounds familiar, as if they somehow know the outcome of the war before it has even begun. Contemporary readers may find this makes it easier for them to relate to the characters.
What will no doubt come as a surprise are the details to which the American Nazi party was able to infiltrate America. More than two dozen camps trained youth in Hitler’s ideology, there was an American Führer and weapons were weaseled from the unsuspecting NRA and National Guard. Other details, although less important, are what make the world between the wars come alive. There is a penny slipped under a wobbly table leg, whiskey placed in a cat dish and a particular cologne that is shared by two characters. Of the boxers, Barry says: “There’s endless stories behind each scar on their bodies.”
The book is cinematic, with clear good and bad guys and plenty of action. This will probably make it quite appealing to a younger demographic. That the main protagonists, Yael and Krista, first appear as children also lends itself to a younger readership. But cameos by Frank Sinatra and famous mob bosses and politicians of the time will appeal to an older crowd. The love story is a West Side Story, Romeo and Juliet, set in a very different time and place. It is the characters and their very personal battle with identity that really make the tale stand out. This struggle is voiced best by Krista when she describes her family and community.
“I study them in turn – the way Axel’s shoulder twitches when he’s tense, how Fuhrer Kuhn’s forehead wrinkles when he frowns, how my father’s nose flares when he’s angry, how Heidi swipes her tongue across her lops when she’s nervous. These mannerisms are familiar. They remind me of me.” She wonders: “What am I without them? Who am I alone?”
The answer: “No one.”
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