This book follows a large number
of characters: the master butcher Fidelis Waldvogel; his wife, Eva; motherless
Delphine who has returned to her upper mid-western hometown and finds herself
stuck; her partner, Cyprian, who loves her but prefers men; Delphine’s
alcoholic father, who may have killed three people- but he can’t remember;
Delphine’s best friend, Clarisse, who is the undertaker and is being sexually
harassed by the sheriff; Step-and-a-Half, a junk collecting woman who has
secrets; and the Waldvogel’s four sons. The story follows their lives and
relationships from 1918 to 1954, entangled with each other in so many ways. One
of the things that takes center stage in the book is the predicament of
German-Americans as Hitler rose to power and during WW 2. There were divided
loyalties, as the Waldvogel family shows. Families were torn apart as they were
forced to choose between nation and family, and even fight family member to
family member.
I’m of two minds about this book. On the one hand, the prose
is just so lovely that reading it was a joy. It’s like looking through a jewel
box. But on the other hand, despite the length, a lot of the characters seem to
be fairly impenetrable. Delphine, even though she is the main character, we
seem to only skim the surface of. Delphine’s best friend has a huge event
happen to her, but the effect in the story is negligible. The reveal at the end
is momentous, but we have no idea WHY Mazarine’s mother did what she did years
before Mazarine was born. Was she unaware of her state? Did she not care? How
did Mazarine manage to survive her lack of care? The book is not boring- far
from it- but it seems to lack something. In the end, I wanted to know more
about these people than the author gave us.
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