Winter Men

Winter Men

Jesper Bugge Kold, Translated by K.E. Semmel (Seattle, Amazon Crossing,2016)

     This is a beautifully written story of two brothers navigating life in Nazi Germany. If you are looking for a straight on war story, this is not the book for you. If,however, you are interested in a captivating novel that studies the character struggles of a German family coming to grips with their own morality and humanity during this period, then I highly recommend this story. Kold writes an almost lyrical account of the fear, desperation, and loyalty with which average German citizens struggled during the Nazi reign of horror. "Winter Men" looks closely at the intellectual brother of the family and follows his life from being a staunchly anti-Nazi academic to his encounters with the SS, his actions during the war, and his later life in South America. The story is told primarily through flashback and the vivid descriptions employed by the author cause the reader to become part of the story.

The only flaw I can find with this work is that the pace is somewhat slow for my personal liking. The most poignant outcome of this book is that it forces the reader to become introspective and ponder what her own choices may have been during an almost impossible time to remain both alive and morally satisfied.