If you’re interested in Germany post-WW II, you may want to read The Slow March of Light by Heather B. Moore. This book begins in Utah in December 1959. Our main character, Bob, is drafted into the army. After basic training, he heads to West Germany.
Germany Post World War II
This was a well-written story. It follows two characters, Bob, who was drafted into the military, and Luisa, who lives in West Germany. As the Berlin Wall went up in 1961, both were fighting against East Germany in their own ways. Bob’s story is based on a true story. The author interviewed Bob Inama for his part in the book. Luisa’s story was inspired by the stories of people living in West Germany during this period who were helping those living on the other side of the Berlin Wall.
Why I Read This Book
This book was offered as an option for our next book club meeting. It sounded interesting, and I decided to vote for it, deciding that even if it didn’t win the vote, I was going to read it anyway.
As someone who lived in West Germany (and later unified Germany) in the 1980s and early 1990s, it was interesting to read about the difference between these two countries 20-30 years earlier. This story was the experiences of the people of Germany as the Berlin Wall went up. My experiences are of the Berlin Wall coming down (although I was quite young, so I can’t say that I remember the small details).
Reader Warnings
This book does start out a little slowly. That’s necessary to build the story. Keep reading if you think the beginning is a little slow. The real action of the story happens about 40% of the way through the story.
The book was as clean as a book can be that involves the mistreatment of prisoners. There’s no swearing or sexual content. The violence is behind-the-scenes. You know what happened, but you don’t have to experience the graphic details.
My One Complaint
My only real complaint with this book is that I wish that there were more details about Bob’s time as a prisoner. I don’t need to know the details of the torture, but I’d like to understand what really carried him through the experience and what made him think that he could trust the one guard more than the others. After reading the book, I read several articles online about Bob Inama in a few publications, including Deseret News. There’s definitely more to the story than is portrayed in the book. Of course, some of that Bob wasn’t ready to share. From the articles, though, it appears that Bob shared his testimony with at least one of the guards, and I would have liked to have seen that portrayed more in the book.
Still, this is a 4.5-star book. It’s worth reading. This is an interesting time in German history, which isn’t often portrayed in books, movies, or television shows. The author was lucky to be able to interview Bob Inama in time. He died soon after that.
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