Bittersweet, occasional amusing childhood recollections; a kaleidoscope of events as seen and experienced through a child's eyes in post WWII Germany in a US military occupied zone: about brothers, childhood friends and neighbors; first love and other observations and experiences, and much hurt and pain and a strong desire to grow up fast and escape an unhappy environment.
Assessment:
Plot/Idea: Strong themes of how war impacts families, the importance of peace, and the protective influence of education form the basis of this striking memoir. McCarthy's stories are memorable and will resonate with readers.
Prose: Simply written but powerful, McCarthy’s memoir speaks of a yearning for independence and peace, the prose painting a parallel setting inside her life as a young girl as well as the war torn area in which she lived. McCarthy’s descriptive words probe the oppression she feels from her father, and her uncertainty as to why her mother stayed married to him, as she explores her family dynamics in an almost curious, quizzical voice.
Originality: McCarthy's World War II memoir stands out for its treatment of the time period after the war, heavily focused on the toll it exerted on children, families, and education.
Character/Execution: Characters are the backbone of McCarthy's writing, particularly her father—who she portrays as driving her mother to a nervous breakdown—and her mother, who McCarthy recalls doing little to protect her children from the family's dysfunction. Still, the main characters are appealing in their own right, and McCarthy's search for independence and solace, much of which she discovers through reading and education, is inspiring.
Blurb: Well-executed memoir depicting life in a post-WWII war torn city.
Date Submitted: October 01, 2024
