Those Who Save Us

Jenna Blum

ISBN# 978-0156031660

I really liked this story. It was nothing like what I thought this story would be about. I was interested from the get go thinking it would be about Germans hiding Jews during the war. I was a far cry from this story line. However it intrigued me. As I read the story I thought often of the question, 'What would I do?' I think this question is what really hooked me into the story every flip of the page I heard the question ringing in my ears. I think it is easier said than done to look back at history and say 'I would have never....' This story challenged my thinking on the the Germans during the war. It gave me a personal look into the depths of their guilt and shame. I was frustrated most of the story that the mother in modern times refused to talk about the past saying again and again in the story, "The past is dead, and better it remain so." One time reminding me that wounds heal better when not picked at but left alone. I was very frustrated with that because I had an ache inside me to know the truth. Knowing the truth helped me to understand why some of the Germans did what they did, and I am not so much talking about what they did to the Jews directly but more so how a whole nation stood by and watched it happen. Evan as I say that I think there is no excuse, ever, but read the story....I was totally intrigued. I still am, I feel like even as I write this my mind is tumbling over a ton of questions and thoughts. Bravo Jenna Blum, you've captivated me, put me under Hitler's spell for a moment and really I don't feel quite the same as when I first picked up this book. I highly reccomend this book. It isn't as heavy as it sounds. At the core of the book its about a mother and a daughter's deep love for each other played out as each one confronts the past. I think putting war torn Germany and all that entails aside the story about a mother's past and moving forward raising her daughter is an every day story. How often do mother's pass on their past hurts and regrets to their daughters? How often does a mother not truly show the depth of her love to her daughter because the depth of her pain often feels far more real. There are parallels to mother's and daughter's everywhere. I guess that is why I really loved this story because at the heart of it all were real live human emotions captured for us by this author in tiny black and white print. Brilliant, intriguing and captivating.