STRAW TO MAKE BRICK

by Alan Marcus ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 9, 1947

This has echoes of Haines' Command Decision and of Hersey's Bell for Adano and yet it is very distinctly a book in its own right. The analogies are certain to be made, and will, probably, provide the best springboard for distribution... There is challenge here, even in the deliberate dramatizing of the confusion that attends the operation of AMG in Germany, specifically in its early days of groping towards procedure in denazification, establishing skeleton of government, finding Anti-Nazis with whom to cooperate, attempting to sustain the regulations relating to black market, fraternization, and so on. There's a thread of romance, with an unhappy, bitter ending; but chiefly it is the story of an American Jaw, hating Germans, en masse, and twisting everything to the pattern of his hate; of his C.O., who- with much of Joppolo's humanity, manages to temper the Corporal's violence; of a Captain, jealous of his authority, who brings the flimsy structure down about their heads; and of the German girl who almost succeeds in persuading Gordon that even in Germany there were shades and distinctions. Their individual stories are set against the tangled web of politics and falsities and ingrained twists of German temperament; the American GI emerges with none too savory a reputation. There's bald language -- sharp realism -- crudities. The tender skinned may dislike it. But the story makes its mark. And deserves to be read.

Pub Date: Feb. 9, 1947

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown-Atlantic Monthly Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1947

Categories: FICTION