A blithe wartime comedy.
In Ziebell’s (Gorky, Russia; First Man In, 2017, etc.) lighthearted novel, a skilled World War II waist gunner, when not in combat, spins tales of his family and youth.
Boe Klein is 18 years old when the U.S. government drafts him into the Army in 1942. He leaves his Tennessee home for boot camp and, later, gunnery training camp. He’s an adept marksman, having honed his ability under the tutelage of his father. Boe soon begins regular combat missions aboard a B-24 bomber in “an unnamed country.” As a waist gunner who has to defend his plane against enemy fire, he quickly earns the respect of officers and fellow airmen alike. He also gets a nickname, Click-Click, derived from his response to a bomber captain’s gunner roll call. Click-Click is, moreover, a frequent storyteller, describing how he once witnessed an aunt and uncle’s rather unusual feud and recounting tales like that of his grandfather’s “planting” chickens to grow more of them when the older man was a boy. His adventures continue in the Army, even during downtime or a furlough. In one instance, his assisting 1st Lt. Jean M. Klin leads to a dinner invitation, to which Click-Click can only respond after learning what RSVP means. Ziebell, who’s previously written nonfiction, pens a surprisingly upbeat war story. While the combat missions are unmistakably dangerous, the narrative concentrates on humorous moments. For example, one soldier reacts to a traumatic near-death experience by speaking backward, which is apparently subconscious. Combat is likewise the only indication of violence, which the novel tones down with a faceless, nameless “enemy” that never explicitly dies. Ziebell’s straightforward prose prompts a number of genuinely funny scenes and a few suspenseful ones, too, as when Click-Click undergoes a top-secret mission. However, the protagonist’s potential romance with neighbor Cutie (whom readers hardly see) is underdeveloped. Wilding’s black-and-white artwork rounds out the book: simple, bold-lined renderings primarily of the story’s most amusing bits, such as an exploding can of spaghetti.
A blithe wartime comedy.Pub Date: June 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-973665-66-3
Page Count: 154
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A satisfyingly streamlined World War II thriller.
During the Nazi occupation of Paris, an architect devises ingenious hiding places for Jews.
In architect Belfoure’s fiction debut, the architectural and historical details are closely rendered, while the characters are mostly sketchy stereotypes. Depraved Gestapo colonel Schlegal and his torturer lackeys and thuggish henchmen see their main goal as tracking down every last Jew in Paris who has not already been deported to a concentration camp. Meanwhile, Lucien, an opportunistic architect whose opportunities have evaporated since 1940, when the Germans marched into Paris, is desperate for a job—so desperate that when industrialist Manet calls upon him to devise a hiding place for a wealthy Jewish friend, he accepts, since Manet can also offer him a commission to design a factory. While performing his factory assignment (the facility will turn out armaments for the Reich), Lucien meets kindred spirit Herzog, a Wehrmacht officer with a keen appreciation of architectural engineering, who views capturing Jews as an ill-advised distraction from winning the war for Germany. The friendship makes Lucien’s collaboration with the German war effort almost palatable—the money isn’t that good. Bigger payouts come as Manet persuades a reluctant Lucien to keep designing hideouts. His inventive cubbyholes—a seamless door in an ornamental column, a staircase section with an undetectable opening, even a kitchen floor drain—all help Jews evade the ever-tightening net of Schlegal and his crew. However, the pressure on Lucien is mounting. A seemingly foolproof fireplace contained a disastrous fatal flaw. His closest associates—apprentice Alain and mistress Adele—prove to have connections to the Gestapo, and, at Manet’s urging, Lucien has adopted a Jewish orphan, Pierre. The Resistance has taken him for short drives to warn him about the postwar consequences of collaboration, and his wife, Celeste, has left in disgust. Belfoure wastes no time prettying up his strictly workmanlike prose. As the tension increases, the most salient virtue of this effort—the expertly structured plot—emerges.
A satisfyingly streamlined World War II thriller.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-8431-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
A sentimental meditation on "[w]hat is false about hope?"
Albom (The Time Keeper, 2012, etc.) goes divine again in a story about love, forgiveness and the hereafter.
Sully Harding’s a disgraced ex-military pilot. Sully hadn’t expected the assignment to ferry a jet cross-country, and so he’d indulged in a drink the night before. Making a stopover to meet his wife, Sully received incorrect instructions from ground control, resulting in a midair collision. There were no serious injuries, but driving to the airport, Sully’s wife was mortally injured in a car crash, hit by the controller attempting to flee his mistake. Flight recording missing and blood alcohol content registered, Sully pled guilty and was sentenced to prison. Depressed after his wife’s death, Sully’s now home in Coldwater, Mich., selling newspaper ads just as Coldwater’s spotlighted in an astounding news story: Residents are receiving phone calls from heaven. Katherine hears from her beloved sister. Tess hears from her mother. Even the police chief hears from his son killed in Afghanistan. The messages are brief and reassuring: "The end is not the end." Angry and bitter, worried about his young son awaiting a call from his dead mother, Sully wants to prove the calls a hoax. The church hierarchy’s befuddled by the apparent miracle, but wise old Pastor Warren’s skeptical. Amy, ambitious small-time television reporter, is reluctant to join the media circus but grows jealous as Oprah-types bask in the hype’s spotlight. Sully himself faces a momentous decision as the phone calls are broadcast worldwide in a television spectacular. Albom’s story is simplistic theology about love’s eternal nature, forgiveness and the afterlife. There’s a hint of romance and some formulaic secondary characters, including the crusty old seen-everything local reporter and the odd, out-of-place funeral director. Framed by short anecdotes relating to Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone, Albom’s story unfolds in reportorial-style sketches, right up to a double-twist conclusion.
A sentimental meditation on "[w]hat is false about hope?"Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-229437-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2013
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