THE SOONER YOU FORGET

In Bensinger’s World War II–set novel, an American pilot is captured by the Nazis and sent to a prison camp.

In 1944, Charlton “Charlie” Buckley has every reason to flee his sleepy hometown of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin: His physically abusive father William tyrannizes the family and forbids him to date the woman he loves, Sandee Gold, because she’s Jewish (“Her father’s a fancy doctor on Milwaukee Avenue. I read the write-up on him in the neighborhood directory. Goes to Temple. Big shot, Dr. Gold. A Jew kike is what he is. No doubt overcharging the sick”). Moreover, he has no future there—passed over by baseball scouts, the best he can hope to do is follow in his father’s footsteps and become a mechanic. He falls deeply in love with Sandee and proposes to her—she’s “the real McCoy,” he boasts to his fellow soldiers, an example of one of the many cliches in this sentimental novel. As soon as Charlie turns 18, he enlists in the Army Air Force Corps hoping to become a combat pilot and is deployed to Europe to operate a C-47, a dangerous role. In fact, he’s shot down on his very first mission and captured by Nazi soldiers on the outer perimeter of the Ardennes Forest. A “Catholic-baptized choir boy misidentified as an American Jewish soldier,” he is incarcerated at the Berga 2 prison camp and suffers relentless brutality, including 14-hour work shifts and starvation. The author follows Charlie’s plight in the wake of the war as well, and the trauma he carries with him, a pain only deepened by the U.S. government’s insistence he never acknowledge the existence of the camp that was the site of his torment.

Bensinger shines a light on a feature of the conflict largely neglected—the internment of captured American soldiers in German labor camps during the war. This is a fascinating topic, and the historical verisimilitude the author achieves is laudable. He also cogently explores the extraordinary antisemitism rampant in the United States at the time, including its presence within the ranks of the very military sent to crush Hitler—it was as common as it was respectable. However, the author’s literary treatment of the war is excessively melodramatic, as is his rendering of the romance between Charlie and Sandee. Consider this treacly exchange between the two: “‘I’m not letting you go, Charlton. To the army, yes, but not from me. Do you understand?’ ‘I’ll be back with my wings and take you up higher than you’ve ever been.’ ‘Kissing you does that for me, Charlie. Kiss me.’” Such insipid passages unfortunately pervade throughout the entirety of the novel, making it impossible to fully engage with the dark material presented. Especially given the superfluity of such lachrymose prose—the events themselves are heart-wrenching enough without poetic embellishment—this style comes off as emotionally manipulative, the proverbial jerking of tears. Ultimately, the captivating subject matter is overshadowed by Bensinger’s overheated writing. The author must be given his due credit for the exciting premise, but his execution is not equal to it.

An intriguing historical tale undermined by overwrought prose.