25. The Kommandant's Girl

By Pan Jenoff
Rated ★★★

After having said that I don't do Holocaust books here I am reading another one. But I did enjoy this one, probably because it came off as a more positive book than those that have distressed me so much in the past. The characters in this book were fighters, not just helpless victims so the focus of the book was their struggle. You know while reading that a story like this would not end well but still it is heart warming to read about people who are taking their fate in their own hands and even if their cause is nearly hopeless at least they are going down fighting.

Emma, a beautiful young orthadox jew in Krakow, Poland meets Jacob while working at the university library and met Jacob. He sweeps her off her feet, and they marry on the eve of the Nazi invasion. Jacob immediately leaves to join the Jewish underground, and Emma returns to her family, now locked in the Jewish ghetto. Jacob provides false papers, enabling Emma to become Anna Lipowski and move in with his Catholic aunt Krysia, posing as her niece. Krysia works for the underground while maintaining her status as a leader in the arts community. During a dinner party, Emma/Anna is introduced to Nazi Kommadant Richwalder. Smitten, he asks her to come work for him. She agrees, knowing such access will aid the underground, and even becomes intimate with the enemy to gather information.

Written in the first person, the author gives an insightful portrait of people forced into an untenable situation and succeeds in humanizing the unfathomable as well as the heroic

Movie - The Illusionist

Rated ★★★★★

Martin and I watched The Illusionist last night. I had been on a long waiting list for it at my library and it was well worth the wait. It was beautifully acted and beautifully filmed. Naturally there was a lot of it that I didn't get. But that's ok, I still liked it anyway.

Briefly - Sophy (a Dutchess) and Eisenheim a (poor peasent boy) become childhood friends. When thier friendship becomes known her family puts a stop to it. Eisenheim goes off to see the world and encounters an old man who teaches him magic. He returns years later to find that Sophy has become engaged to a Crown Prince. Eisenheim uses his powers so that he and Sophy can elope. The whole thing was kind of Gothic but in a fun kind of way.

Jeanette