THE HOUSE WITHOUT A ROOF

by Joel Sayre ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 22, 1948

With a simplicity that is not without subtlety, an irony of indirection, these are minor incidents of the war in Germany as they were experienced and endured by the Hofmanns, Fritz and Hedi and Hedi's daughter, Lilo, who lived in a house without a roof in Berlin. Sayre came to know them after the surrender in 1945, and these are the day to day details they remembered; Lilo's learning, at 8, all that anyone need ever know about racism; her mother's status as a ""mongrel"" since she was part Jewish; their personal encounter with the grotesque Dr. Ley; Hofmann's refusal to join the SS, his induced jaundice and simulated insanity in a sanitarium over a period of months; of the stay in Alsace, and again the relentless repercussions of war in the suicide of Lilo's friend, the servant girl at the inn where they were staying; the British grand slam bombings; finally, surrender. No big guns, but counterpoint of civilian life in muted, affecting terms. Parts of this will appear in the New Yorker where parts of his earlier book, Persian Gulf Command appeared.

Pub Date: Oct. 22, 1948

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Farrar, Straus

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1948

Categories: NONFICTION