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WWII Fiction on the homefront
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From: SHAWN BROMMER, YOUTH SERVICES - STLS <STL_SHAWN>
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 12:55:34 -0500 (EST)
From: STLS::STL_SHAWN "SHAWN BROMMER, YOUTH SERVICES - STLS" 27-OCT97 11:25:12.99 To: CCBC-NET at CCBC.SOEMADISON.WISC.EDU CC: STL_SHAWN Subj: WWII Fiction on the homefront
Our discussion this month reminded me of a title that was "the right book at the right time" for me as a YA in the 1970s. I have not read ALAN & NAOMI
(Myron Levoy) since the early 1980s, but my reaction to the book is very clear. Naomi is a French refugee who moves into Alan's New York apartment building. Naomi witnessed Nazi soldiers beat and murder her father and the experience left her emotionally devestated and uncommunicative. (I vividly remember the scene in which Naomi relives the night the soldiers broke into her family's home - she tried saving her father by destroying his anti-Nazi literature, tearing it into minuscule pieces until her hands bled, eating the torn bits of paper... ah, the power of words...) Alan, reluctantly at first, patiently draws Naomi out of her denial and depression and the two become close friends. Unfortunately, Naomi witnesses a fight in which Alan defends their Jewish heritage and is attacked in a schoolyard brawl. Naomi retreats to her previous, private hell and there is little hope for her recovery. (Please forgive any memory lapses in the brief summary.) I remember reading THE UPSTAIRS ROOM and THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, but it is ALAN & NAOMI which left a deep, indelible impression. Naomi is a witness, a survivor overwhelmed and destroyed by the horrors of war; Alan is a hero, a defender. This novel taught me about the heroics of and the insurmountable prices paid by youth in war.
I remembered ALAN & NAOMI this summer when I read two new novels set in the U.S. South during WWII - THE WAR IN GEORGIA (Jerrie Oughton) and UNDER THE SHADOW OF WINGS (Sara Harrell Banks). In both novels, the war rages, but is not the central theme. (As Shanta, the narrator in THE WAR IN GEORGIA points out, "It's hard to keep our minds on the war. We are set up against so much ourselves." [Thanks to Hazel Rochman and her Booklist 4/1/97 review for reminding me of this passage.]) The main characters in these novels are set up against so much; against the backdrop of WWII, they learn about ways to come to terms with family and community issues, family members and neighbors with mental disabilities, responsibility and guilt. Central in all three novels is the loss of innocence, mental illness, responsibility for others as well as for one's self, and guilt over circumstances beyond control. Oughton introduces her novel with Robert Frost's poem, THE BONFIRE; the final line of the poem reads, "War is for everyone, for children, too." These words are a harsh, unfortunate reality.
Shawn Brommer Southern Tier Library System Corning, NY stl_shawn at chstls.org
Received on Mon 27 Oct 1997 11:55:34 AM CST
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 12:55:34 -0500 (EST)
From: STLS::STL_SHAWN "SHAWN BROMMER, YOUTH SERVICES - STLS" 27-OCT97 11:25:12.99 To: CCBC-NET at CCBC.SOEMADISON.WISC.EDU CC: STL_SHAWN Subj: WWII Fiction on the homefront
Our discussion this month reminded me of a title that was "the right book at the right time" for me as a YA in the 1970s. I have not read ALAN & NAOMI
(Myron Levoy) since the early 1980s, but my reaction to the book is very clear. Naomi is a French refugee who moves into Alan's New York apartment building. Naomi witnessed Nazi soldiers beat and murder her father and the experience left her emotionally devestated and uncommunicative. (I vividly remember the scene in which Naomi relives the night the soldiers broke into her family's home - she tried saving her father by destroying his anti-Nazi literature, tearing it into minuscule pieces until her hands bled, eating the torn bits of paper... ah, the power of words...) Alan, reluctantly at first, patiently draws Naomi out of her denial and depression and the two become close friends. Unfortunately, Naomi witnesses a fight in which Alan defends their Jewish heritage and is attacked in a schoolyard brawl. Naomi retreats to her previous, private hell and there is little hope for her recovery. (Please forgive any memory lapses in the brief summary.) I remember reading THE UPSTAIRS ROOM and THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, but it is ALAN & NAOMI which left a deep, indelible impression. Naomi is a witness, a survivor overwhelmed and destroyed by the horrors of war; Alan is a hero, a defender. This novel taught me about the heroics of and the insurmountable prices paid by youth in war.
I remembered ALAN & NAOMI this summer when I read two new novels set in the U.S. South during WWII - THE WAR IN GEORGIA (Jerrie Oughton) and UNDER THE SHADOW OF WINGS (Sara Harrell Banks). In both novels, the war rages, but is not the central theme. (As Shanta, the narrator in THE WAR IN GEORGIA points out, "It's hard to keep our minds on the war. We are set up against so much ourselves." [Thanks to Hazel Rochman and her Booklist 4/1/97 review for reminding me of this passage.]) The main characters in these novels are set up against so much; against the backdrop of WWII, they learn about ways to come to terms with family and community issues, family members and neighbors with mental disabilities, responsibility and guilt. Central in all three novels is the loss of innocence, mental illness, responsibility for others as well as for one's self, and guilt over circumstances beyond control. Oughton introduces her novel with Robert Frost's poem, THE BONFIRE; the final line of the poem reads, "War is for everyone, for children, too." These words are a harsh, unfortunate reality.
Shawn Brommer Southern Tier Library System Corning, NY stl_shawn at chstls.org
Received on Mon 27 Oct 1997 11:55:34 AM CST
