From the Bookshelf of Mostly Sapphic…

Aimée & Jaguar: A Love Story, Berlin 1943

Erica Fischer,

Edna McCown (Translator)

Start date: October 1, 2012

Finish date: October 31, 2012

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Aug 18, 2022 Malola rated it it was amazing

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So the criticism about the format not being the best is not off the mark.
I can understand why some people didn't appreciate it, but as for me I think it worked for the most part. (Albeit a bit unorganised and all over the place with the several distracting voices sometimes overlapping, sometimes not.)

Also, I can agree to a point with the fact that at the beginning Mrs. Wust was presented in an unclear (read: deflationary) fashion. She seems (to me) to be have been at least slightly sympathetic t So the criticism about the format not being the best is not off the mark.
I can understand why some people didn't appreciate it, but as for me I think it worked for the most part. (Albeit a bit unorganised and all over the place with the several distracting voices sometimes overlapping, sometimes not.)

Also, I can agree to a point with the fact that at the beginning Mrs. Wust was presented in an unclear (read: deflationary) fashion. She seems (to me) to be have been at least slightly sympathetic to the Nazi sentiment. It mostly seems (again, to me) that for her, she had mostly a "it's not my problem, I don't want to get involved in that" attitude because it didn't affect her directly (there's a moral exhortation to be made there, of course)... that is, until she met Miss Schragenheim.
How she really thought about Nazism is hard tell for sure, since memory fails us constantly and at least two others did mention that she had a Hitler portrait (which was required at the time*).
But, wouldn't that show how meaningful, powerful and life changing love can be, if it makes a person change their views on others, their biases, their flighty attitudes and risk wellbeing because of it?

Of course, during such dire circumstances, nobody could deny that the one who had the most to lose was Miss Schragenheim (view spoiler), however I don't think War went without destroying every life it touched, which includes Mrs Wust's. The deshumanisation of war implies a cost for everyone in it. Time passed and one can see that, as a mother and a survivor, Mrs. Wust had to swallow hard and accept many things she didn't like. Every survivor did.

Though I've watched the film, I'm quite sure that anyone who hasn't will know the ending beforehand... The fatality of the whole ordeal seems inevitable... and unbearable... and it's quite pervasive throughout the book. It's almost as if you can taste it. I had to stop reading a couple of times. It became overwhelming. It forced me to think, to be grateful not to live in the middle of a war... were civilians are being decimated by the thousands... and to celebrate the fact that I still have my loved ones healthy and alive... and complete and with me... and to remind me to be compassionate towards others who may not have that privilege.

If anything, the book ends up being such a compelling love story. It shows that true love is a force that gives us meaning... it gives us reasons to be good... and then, to be better, to hope again and to make ourselves vulnerable. Mrs. Wust's reticence to share her story... so incredibly sacred for her (almost as if not sharing it keeps it pristine... untainted... completely "hers"), I believe makes sense in a world so full of hatred and homophobia where unkind words and actions are said and done constantly, sometimes with horrible consequences for the person. The silence put on her story might have been what kept it pure and, in a way, preserved intact until she was able to share it with others.
Youngsters must appreciate and celebrate the bravery of people like her and Miss Schragenheim. Stories like this made public is what allowed the rest of us to be free and pursue happiness for ourselves even when we still have a long way to go.

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*It was so weird and enlightening to read some of the crazier laws set by the Nazis on a whim. ...more

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