This book
isn’t for those who love to ready very fast and prefer racy read; in patches it
is quite slow when the author delves in describing the English countryside, the
seasons, recipes, etc. Though the story stems out of war circumstances but
still it isn’t a war fiction, rather it depicts how war forces the exodus of
civilian mass, make people stranger from their own countries, and so on. All in
all, the book is about ramification of war on the lives of common people.
The story is
about a German family who are struggling against the rising Nazism. Jack and
his wife Sadie and their toddler daughter Elizabeth are Jews. They have
succeeded in running way from Germany to enter England as refugees in 1939. As
they land in Britain, they are handed a list. This is the list mentioned in the
title: a list of things to do to become the ideal Englishman. Jack takes this
list to his heart. From there, starts his journey of trying to become the
perfect English gentleman. Jack's attempts to assimilate himself into the English
way of life are charming. It reminds you of a naive child trying very hard to
fit in, without realizing that the people around him still look upon him as an
outsider.
What stands
out about Jack is his enormous inventiveness. He manages to find an opportunity
where none exists. His golf course, and the hard work, determination and
passion and at times extreme foolishness that he gets into while building the
course, all this creates a soft spot for him in readers mind.
If not for a
clearly and beautifully scratched character, Jack's story could be considered
somewhat boring. But the author has created such a charmingly childlike
character, that you feel like you want to know how his story goes till end.
This is a perfect example of the character, rather than the story, pulling you
into a book.
Another heart
wrenching aspect of this book is the story of Sadie. What do you do when you've
had to leave your heart behind in your native country? Your father, mother, and
your young teenage brother is back there awaiting there death in the camps. You
were lucky enough to escape. They couldn't. The guilt, the pain, it tortures
you every day, each moment. The memories overwhelm you. You try very hard to
hold on to your roots but by doing so, you feel like you are holding on to
their memories. And your partner is busy adopting the ways of the new alien
country. It angers you. You want him to acknowledge the loss. Loss of near
ones, loss of roots but he refuses to do so. You don’t want to forget. And all
this is creating a distance between you and your husband.
There are some
scenes through which you will feel the pain that Sadie went through. The scene
where she realizes that her family is no more, where she loses her mental
equilibrium because she has lost things which were treasured memories of her
mother and her brother Emil, the point after which her healing begins, the
scene where she realizes that Jack hasn't forgotten, he is just coping with the
pain in a way he knows best, by thinking and doing other things which occupy
his mind space.
Jack's
determination to build a golf course brings them to the English countryside of
Dorset. And that place and the smells of that countryside remind Sadie of her
childhood holidays spent with her family. Dorset pulls her and provides a
healing touch to her wounds.
There are no
details about the atrocities committed on Jews during the WW-II. But this story
gives you a glimpse into the pain of those who survived. For this reason, this
novel will stay with you long before you put it down.
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