The Rising Tide by Jeff Shaara is the account of the war in North Africa and Sicily. The novel is told through the multiple perspectives of people who were there, including a tank gunner, a paratrooper, Eisenhower, Patton, and Rommel. Balancing these perspectives is a fair amount of narrative about the events happening surrounding these individuals, so the reader always has a good understanding of the larger picture.
This is one of the reasons why I like historical fiction: you learn something about history while you as a reader, experience it through the characters' eyes. The shock, then fear of the tank gunner who scores a direct hit on the turret of a massive German Tiger tank, that just keeps coming, and his subsequent race to escape. Afterwards, Shaara provides the reader with a narrative about the fullscope of the disaster at Kasserine Pass. This balance is what makes the story so engaging. Listening to the audiobook, my son would always say, "yes!" whenever we switched into the paratrooper or tank gunner's perspective, and lamented when we switched to Eisenhower's perspective or long bit of narrative, while I found all parts equally intriguing.
However, I found that this novel and Shaara's sequel, The Steel Wave, and even Pressfield's novel, Killing Rommel, only have Rommell's fictional view representing the German perspective of the battles and German command structure. In all three, Rommel constantly rails against the German high command, making them look inept. That may be true, but we don't read about anyone else's perspective to counterbalance or support his view. My son said he was voting for Rommel, because everyone was against him.
The Rising Tide and its reading by Paul Michael is a very engaging novel of the battle for North Africa and Sicily that I highly recommend.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Book Review: Killing Rommel
Having a fascination with military history, I have always enjoyed WWII books and movies. Recently, I watched Patton and am currently listening to the audiobook, The Rising Tide by Jeff Shaara. What got me started on my current WWII kick was listening to the audiobook version of Steven Pressfield's Killing Rommel.
Mr. Pressfield has us follow a british soldier who is a member of the Long Range Desert Group. This was a group who helped scout out the enemy formations in Africa and conduct raids behind enemy lines. This soldiers patrol's particular mission is, as the book's title suggest, to kill Rommel. As Mr. Pressfield has done in so many of his books, he is able to convey the daily hardship the lowly infantry man or shield carrier or Macedonian foot soldier must endure. In this case, surviving in the deserts of Africa. The images Pressfield created in my mind of the desert and what the men had to go through to reach their objectives I still remember a month after reading the book.
The letters to his wife were the only parts that caused the book to drag in parts. Not necessarily the first one, but the multiple stops. It's interesting because in The Rising Tide, there are stops when other individuals talk about home and letters, but I didn't feel the same level of disruption. There was also one part in Killing Rommel that seemed quite unbelievable.
Killing Rommel is a good book that I recommend to anyone interested in the North African campaigns of WWII.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Movie Review: The Hunger Games
At what age should children be allowed to see the movie, The Hungers Games?
Short answer:
It makes a huge world of difference if your child has read the book. If they have, it probably means your child is at least in third grade (almost 4th now). I would say that child should be fine. If they haven’t read the book, I would have reservations for anyone under 10 watching the movie because so much is explained in the book that would help guide a child’s understanding of the movie. When I asked my son if he thought it would be alright for his friends to watch, he said, “Sure. They play Call of Duty and Resident Evil.” (My son does not play Resident Evil.) I asked about the girls in his 5th grade class. He said maybe, it depends on who read the book.
In the end, you know your child best. For my children:
I would not let my 8 year-old second grader who has not read the book watch The Hunger Games. My 10-year old, yes. Mind you, I am not a parent who lets my sons watch every PG-13 movie. I still won’t let them watch The Dark Night, which I found infinitely darker and more disturbing than The Hunger Games. But at the same time, I took my older son to see the first Transformer’s movie when he was 6. I did not let him my younger son see a Transformer’s movie in the theater until he was 8 due to his mindset.
For a more in depth review of The Hunger Games and why I said what I said above read on:
(The long answer.)
There are three things to think about to determine if it’s appropriate for your child.
First, I think it is imperative that anyone who goes to watch the movie reads the book first. When trying to compress the book into a two-hour-and-twenty-minute movie, a lot needs to be cut. And with the book as detailed and layered as it is, many of the nuances will be lost on the audience who hasn’t read the book. For example, when Katniss tells Prim to mind her goat at a particularly moving scene so she can sell its milk for money, you will have no idea what she is talking about since this is the only mention of the goat in the entire movie. Or why is Haymitch a drunk? Or why doesn’t Katniss turn a cold shoulder to Peeta in the beginning? In the book, this is all explained very well.
Second, even having read the book there are subtleties only older children will understand. I was surprised that my 10 ½ year old completely misinterpreted two key scenes at the end of the movie. I give an example of one these at the end of this post, with warnings that it’s a spoiler alert.
Finally, the violence. Yes, it is kids killing kids. You can’t get around that. However, the director did a good job of making most of it brief, while still impressing on you the cruelness of it all. There were three fight images that are a little tough to watch knowing your child is sitting next to you, but my son didn’t seem distraught. And there is one scary “boo” moment, that did make my son jump, but you know exactly when that is going to happen.
***Spoiler alert***
When she shots Kato at the end to end his torment, he didn’t understand that it was an act of mercy. He thought Katniss killed him only because she could. Obvious too an adult, but not so obvious to a child.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed the movie and thought it was an excellent adaption of the book.
Short answer:
It makes a huge world of difference if your child has read the book. If they have, it probably means your child is at least in third grade (almost 4th now). I would say that child should be fine. If they haven’t read the book, I would have reservations for anyone under 10 watching the movie because so much is explained in the book that would help guide a child’s understanding of the movie. When I asked my son if he thought it would be alright for his friends to watch, he said, “Sure. They play Call of Duty and Resident Evil.” (My son does not play Resident Evil.) I asked about the girls in his 5th grade class. He said maybe, it depends on who read the book.
In the end, you know your child best. For my children:
I would not let my 8 year-old second grader who has not read the book watch The Hunger Games. My 10-year old, yes. Mind you, I am not a parent who lets my sons watch every PG-13 movie. I still won’t let them watch The Dark Night, which I found infinitely darker and more disturbing than The Hunger Games. But at the same time, I took my older son to see the first Transformer’s movie when he was 6. I did not let him my younger son see a Transformer’s movie in the theater until he was 8 due to his mindset.
For a more in depth review of The Hunger Games and why I said what I said above read on:
(The long answer.)
There are three things to think about to determine if it’s appropriate for your child.
First, I think it is imperative that anyone who goes to watch the movie reads the book first. When trying to compress the book into a two-hour-and-twenty-minute movie, a lot needs to be cut. And with the book as detailed and layered as it is, many of the nuances will be lost on the audience who hasn’t read the book. For example, when Katniss tells Prim to mind her goat at a particularly moving scene so she can sell its milk for money, you will have no idea what she is talking about since this is the only mention of the goat in the entire movie. Or why is Haymitch a drunk? Or why doesn’t Katniss turn a cold shoulder to Peeta in the beginning? In the book, this is all explained very well.
Second, even having read the book there are subtleties only older children will understand. I was surprised that my 10 ½ year old completely misinterpreted two key scenes at the end of the movie. I give an example of one these at the end of this post, with warnings that it’s a spoiler alert.
Finally, the violence. Yes, it is kids killing kids. You can’t get around that. However, the director did a good job of making most of it brief, while still impressing on you the cruelness of it all. There were three fight images that are a little tough to watch knowing your child is sitting next to you, but my son didn’t seem distraught. And there is one scary “boo” moment, that did make my son jump, but you know exactly when that is going to happen.
***Spoiler alert***
When she shots Kato at the end to end his torment, he didn’t understand that it was an act of mercy. He thought Katniss killed him only because she could. Obvious too an adult, but not so obvious to a child.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed the movie and thought it was an excellent adaption of the book.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Book Review: The Big Burn
I found the The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America by Timothy Egan to be a fascinating book about a defining moment in America.
It discussed the founding of the U.S. Forest Service, and how it became the institution it is today and how the fire changed it's original mission.
We follow Teddy Roosevelt and the first Chief of the United States Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot, and their fight to protect what was left of America's forest for future generations to enjoy against the railroad and timber barons and the hordes of settlers flowing into former Indian lands for scrupulous and unscrupulous purposes.
Egan's profiles not only of national figures, but also of settlers, timber barons, gold miners, black soldiers, and rangers really brought about a well-rounded story showing just how diverse a people were living in the American West at the turn of the century.
The first half of the book deals primarily with Roosevelt and Pinchot's relationship and the setting up of the U.S. Forest Service, but the second half really kept the pages turning with the first sparks of the big fire and the stories of heroism, bravery, and death. Egan's descriptions put me right on the hills with the men protecting the towns and each other.
I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in American history.
It discussed the founding of the U.S. Forest Service, and how it became the institution it is today and how the fire changed it's original mission.
We follow Teddy Roosevelt and the first Chief of the United States Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot, and their fight to protect what was left of America's forest for future generations to enjoy against the railroad and timber barons and the hordes of settlers flowing into former Indian lands for scrupulous and unscrupulous purposes.
Egan's profiles not only of national figures, but also of settlers, timber barons, gold miners, black soldiers, and rangers really brought about a well-rounded story showing just how diverse a people were living in the American West at the turn of the century.
The first half of the book deals primarily with Roosevelt and Pinchot's relationship and the setting up of the U.S. Forest Service, but the second half really kept the pages turning with the first sparks of the big fire and the stories of heroism, bravery, and death. Egan's descriptions put me right on the hills with the men protecting the towns and each other.
I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in American history.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Book Review: The Faithful Spy
The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson is a nice quick read for those who like spy novels.
What I especially enjoyed was the protagonist's time in Afghanistan and Berenson's ability to create a very high tension level. I found the character's mental state transitioning back from Afghan life to U.S. life also very well done.
The book had a well-developed bad guy with a good plan that kept the reader guessing until the end.
The secondary characters were fine, but didn't really move me one way or the other.
My main criticism is that when the protagonist was in the U.S., why wouldn't he just pick up the phone and call for help or call in a tip.
That being said, it is a decent read.
What I especially enjoyed was the protagonist's time in Afghanistan and Berenson's ability to create a very high tension level. I found the character's mental state transitioning back from Afghan life to U.S. life also very well done.
The book had a well-developed bad guy with a good plan that kept the reader guessing until the end.
The secondary characters were fine, but didn't really move me one way or the other.
My main criticism is that when the protagonist was in the U.S., why wouldn't he just pick up the phone and call for help or call in a tip.
That being said, it is a decent read.
Monday, January 9, 2012
My Favorite Books of 2011
It's that time to list my favorite books of the previous year. Here we go:
1. Catching Fire (Part two of the Hunger Games trilogy.)
2. A Game of Thrones
3.A Clast of Kings
4. Storm of Swords
5. The Faithful Spy
6. The Peloponnesian War
Please read my reviews on the first four books.
1. Catching Fire (Part two of the Hunger Games trilogy.)
2. A Game of Thrones
3.A Clast of Kings
4. Storm of Swords
5. The Faithful Spy
6. The Peloponnesian War
Please read my reviews on the first four books.
Book Review: Under the Eagle
In 43 A.D., Rome launched it’s largest invasion of Britain consisting of roughly40,000 men. This is the setting of Simon Scarrow’s, Under The Eagle. Two legionnaires, a centurion and raw recruit, are our protagonists that will lead us into Britian.
I liked how Mr. Scarrow wove in his historical details without interrupting the flow of the novel. It lets the reader know that Mr. Scarrow knows his subject.
I also enjoyed the mystery that plays thoughout the novel. However, I think one of the reveals came too early. Also I think the ending could have been smoother. The resolution of the mystery and final action scene compete for the reader’s attention and suddenly the reader is unsure which event is the most important.
I enjoyed the novel and look forward to the second one, principally because I like the character of the centurion and have faith that Mr. Scarrow will be able to continue relaying the history of the invasion of Britain in an entertaining manner.
I liked how Mr. Scarrow wove in his historical details without interrupting the flow of the novel. It lets the reader know that Mr. Scarrow knows his subject.
I also enjoyed the mystery that plays thoughout the novel. However, I think one of the reveals came too early. Also I think the ending could have been smoother. The resolution of the mystery and final action scene compete for the reader’s attention and suddenly the reader is unsure which event is the most important.
I enjoyed the novel and look forward to the second one, principally because I like the character of the centurion and have faith that Mr. Scarrow will be able to continue relaying the history of the invasion of Britain in an entertaining manner.
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