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For Such a Time
In 1944, blonde and blue-eyed Jewess Hadassah Benjamin feels abandoned by God when she is saved from a firing squad only to be handed over to a new enemy. Pressed into service by SS-Kommandant Colonel Aric von Schmidt at the transit camp of Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia, she is able to hide behind the false identity of Stella Muller. However, in order to survive and maintain her cover as Aric's secretary, she is forced to stand by as her own people are sent to Auschwitz. Suspecting her employer is a man of hidden depths and sympathies, Stella cautiously appeals to him on behalf of those in the camp. Aric's compassion gives her hope, and she finds herself battling a growing attraction for this man she knows she should despise as an enemy. Stella pours herself into her efforts to keep even some of the camp's prisoners safe, but she risks the revelation of her true identity with every attempt. When her bravery brings her to the point of the ultimate sacrifice, she has only her faith to lean upon. Perhaps God has placed her there for such a time as this, but how can she save her people when she is unable to save herself?
430 pages, Paperback
First published March 25, 2014
261 people are currently reading
5029 people want to read
About the author
Kate Breslin
11 books1,109 followersFormer bookseller-turned-author Kate Breslin enjoys life in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and family. A writer of travel articles and award-winning poetry, Kate received Christian Retailing's 2015 Best Award for First Time Author and her first novel, For Such A Time, won American Christian Fiction Writers 2015 Carol Award. Kate's latest novel, As Dawn Breaks, released in November, 2021. When she's not writing inspirational fiction, Kate enjoys reading or taking long walks in Washington's beautiful woodlands. She also likes traveling to new places, both within the U.S. and abroad, having toured Greece, Rome, Barcelona, and much of Western Europe. New destinations make for fresh story ideas. Please visit her at www.katebreslin.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 614 reviews
September 9, 2015
What the actual fuck, y'all. Captain America didn't fall into the ice for this bullshit.
August 4, 2015
Okay. A Nazi romance is not okay. It's offensive, dangerous, contributes to Holocaust denial, and this is the WORST. This is the WORST, okay? I don't really understand how this was published. At all. No one said, "This is really not okay?" Seriously?
Nazis killed more people than you can imagine. Than you have ever seen standing in one place. They killed more people than live in New York City. And they were not alone. They did not appear out of nowhere. Anti-semitism in Europe had been RAMPANT. There was no One Man Who Inspired Others To Kill Jews, Disabled People, Gay People, Roma, and Political Prisoners. There was a pervasive culture of Anti-Semitism.
When you write, you need to decide whose story is most important. And this author chose HER story. Not her character's, but HER story. She decided to manipulate, co-opt, steal, and erase MILLIONS of people in order to push her PERSONAL agenda.
It'd be one thing if this just existed and we could all say, "That's pretty terrible" but it's worse that it was published by a publisher, and nominated for awards, and you people think it's GOOD. That because Kate Breslin can write that what she writes is GOOD. You need to go sit down in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. REALLY sit there. Stare at those piles of shoes. Listen to the stories. Look at the system, violent, dehumanizing destruction of babies, and children, of mothers and daughters, of fathers and sons, aunts and uncles, grandparents, great grandparents, entire families erased into smoke. Some, never found. Their bodies are in mass graves in the forests of Poland and Hungary and Austria and Germany and they will never be found. They will never be remembered because there is no one left who knew who they were. Because people like the hero of this story killed them. Looked at them, and killed them. And that is what you are considering to be Moral Christian Behavior. That is what you believe is redeemable.
I just. I don't understand. I just really don't. You are all lucky that your culture and your religion have not been fundamentally changed and formed by thousands of years of genocide against you. The only way you could write this and read this and think this is good is if you've never carried the collective burden of millions and millions of deaths in your blood and in your bones.
Nazis killed more people than you can imagine. Than you have ever seen standing in one place. They killed more people than live in New York City. And they were not alone. They did not appear out of nowhere. Anti-semitism in Europe had been RAMPANT. There was no One Man Who Inspired Others To Kill Jews, Disabled People, Gay People, Roma, and Political Prisoners. There was a pervasive culture of Anti-Semitism.
When you write, you need to decide whose story is most important. And this author chose HER story. Not her character's, but HER story. She decided to manipulate, co-opt, steal, and erase MILLIONS of people in order to push her PERSONAL agenda.
It'd be one thing if this just existed and we could all say, "That's pretty terrible" but it's worse that it was published by a publisher, and nominated for awards, and you people think it's GOOD. That because Kate Breslin can write that what she writes is GOOD. You need to go sit down in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. REALLY sit there. Stare at those piles of shoes. Listen to the stories. Look at the system, violent, dehumanizing destruction of babies, and children, of mothers and daughters, of fathers and sons, aunts and uncles, grandparents, great grandparents, entire families erased into smoke. Some, never found. Their bodies are in mass graves in the forests of Poland and Hungary and Austria and Germany and they will never be found. They will never be remembered because there is no one left who knew who they were. Because people like the hero of this story killed them. Looked at them, and killed them. And that is what you are considering to be Moral Christian Behavior. That is what you believe is redeemable.
I just. I don't understand. I just really don't. You are all lucky that your culture and your religion have not been fundamentally changed and formed by thousands of years of genocide against you. The only way you could write this and read this and think this is good is if you've never carried the collective burden of millions and millions of deaths in your blood and in your bones.
March 21, 2016
Update I am quite pleased to say that the book didn't sell in quite the quantities the author and her vociferous fan club did their best to ensure and is now remaindered and on sale dirt cheap. :-D
_____
According to some author, the people (me included) who have one-starred this book are 'vengeful haters' of Kate Breslin and part of a 'smear campaign'. The author seems to think that we should all continue that successful freebie/5 star review campaign of hers and not write our true thoughts about her book. Why shouldn't we review it?
It is by no means a smear campaign. It is people are angry at the anti-semitism that is either quite deliberate and the author thought it was too subtle and would pass criticism or the author didn't realise it would read that way. I have no idea.
______________
Let's rewrite this. Here we have this clear-skinned black girl with straight hair who can "pass" and she is sent to a plantation where the slaves are treated much more brutally than anywhere you can imagine. In fact only 170 slaves out of a total, over the years, of 1400 survive . Our heroine's daughter is one of the victims and dies from the whip. Nonetheless she is rescued from field work and beatings and being treated like an animal by the plantation owner, the slaver, who is convinced she is really white. He falls in love with her and she with him. Because of her love for him, she sees the light. She sees that giving up her black roots forever and 'converting' into a full-time white person is really is the right way to go and God wants it so now they can go to the same church and get married.
What would you think of this plot? That it was unbelievably unlikely, that it was an insult to Blacks, that it was the hero was no hero? That it was in two words, fucking sick?
So why are all these people 5-starring it because the Black girl is a Jewish girl who is blonde and blue-eyed (ie looks like the Aryan idea of beauty) and falls in love with an SS commandante and converts to Christianity?
All the rest is rant and quotes and virtual axe-murdering of other people's reviews.
" A concentration camp Christian inspirational"
I found this book and the review (in spoilers above) from Simon Evine's review. He insists that we "kill me if I ever think of reading this!"
Look at this link: Chocoholic's response to this 'smear campaign'. There are more links at the bottom of that blistering reply. This link is extremely sick. Kate Breslin's publishing company (with her approval obviously) using the gates of Auschwitz to promote the book.
_____
According to some author, the people (me included) who have one-starred this book are 'vengeful haters' of Kate Breslin and part of a 'smear campaign'. The author seems to think that we should all continue that successful freebie/5 star review campaign of hers and not write our true thoughts about her book. Why shouldn't we review it?
It is by no means a smear campaign. It is people are angry at the anti-semitism that is either quite deliberate and the author thought it was too subtle and would pass criticism or the author didn't realise it would read that way. I have no idea.
______________
Let's rewrite this. Here we have this clear-skinned black girl with straight hair who can "pass" and she is sent to a plantation where the slaves are treated much more brutally than anywhere you can imagine. In fact only 170 slaves out of a total, over the years, of 1400 survive . Our heroine's daughter is one of the victims and dies from the whip. Nonetheless she is rescued from field work and beatings and being treated like an animal by the plantation owner, the slaver, who is convinced she is really white. He falls in love with her and she with him. Because of her love for him, she sees the light. She sees that giving up her black roots forever and 'converting' into a full-time white person is really is the right way to go and God wants it so now they can go to the same church and get married.
What would you think of this plot? That it was unbelievably unlikely, that it was an insult to Blacks, that it was the hero was no hero? That it was in two words, fucking sick?
So why are all these people 5-starring it because the Black girl is a Jewish girl who is blonde and blue-eyed (ie looks like the Aryan idea of beauty) and falls in love with an SS commandante and converts to Christianity?
All the rest is rant and quotes and virtual axe-murdering of other people's reviews.
" A concentration camp Christian inspirational"
I found this book and the review (in spoilers above) from Simon Evine's review. He insists that we "kill me if I ever think of reading this!"
Look at this link: Chocoholic's response to this 'smear campaign'. There are more links at the bottom of that blistering reply. This link is extremely sick. Kate Breslin's publishing company (with her approval obviously) using the gates of Auschwitz to promote the book.
June 12, 2015
It takes a certain, truly despicable, type of person to write a romance between a Jew and a Nazi. Kate Breslin is such a person; she wrote the book For Such A Time. I, unfortunately, only read the first part of the back cover, the part about "Aryan-looking Jew ends up secretary to Nazi and is forced to stand by as her own people are sent to Auschwitz." I thought, that sounds interesting and checked it out. Oh, boy, I sure should have read that middle part. I did not, going into this, know that it was Christian book (what moron's like, oh yeah, story of Esther? a story about Jews? let's rewrite it but insert ~Christianity~).
The book is in third-person, narrated by Stella Muller. Even though her actual name is Hadassah Benjamin. Anyway, she has fake papers that say she's not Jewish, but she gets in a fight with a Gestapo man who gets a wee bit intimate with her at a train station, and gets herself labeled "Jew" and packed off to Dachau.
Where she is miraculously saved by the Nazi Colonel Aric, who firmly believes she's an Aryan that the idiotic Gestapo mistook for a Jew. So, because she's pretty and he has a crush, he saves her from the firing squad and carts her off to the concentration camp Theresienstadt to be his secretary. How romantic. Oh, you don't think so? Well Kate Breslin does!
Aric is portrayed as Misunderstood Man. You know how when women make posts about men treating them shitty and some asshole comes along and says "not all men"? Well, this book is all about Not All Nazis.
In classic Stockholm Syndrome style, Stella has lines like "[…]and though he had the strength to crush her, he’d shown her only gentleness and consideration…” If by 'gentleness and consideration' you mean treating her like a goddamn human being (or, rather, like a beautiful Aryan lady). A lack of cruelty is not the same thing as kindness.
So, you might wonder, what "good things" as Aric done? Well, 1) one of the prisoners (a 10 year old) tried to steal some potatoes and so one of the SS guys lopped one of the kid's ears. Aric decided to make the kid his houseboy. 2) he gives table scraps to the Jews he forces to get his firewood. 3) he...saved Stella? Yeah that's, that's about it. Wow, what a hero. How did someone so noble end up a Nazi?
No, seriously. How did someone with even his pathetic level of decency get the position of SS colonel at Theresienstadt?? Himmler would never let that shit happen. The SS is the creme of the crop. It's the elite. They're the most rabid Nazi zealots of the lot. They have to prove their 'pure' Aryan ancestry going back like 100 years. They fully and completely believe in the Nazi ideology. And those who manage to get into the SS who /don't/ fully believe, or come to not fully believe? They get relieved of their position and treated like traitor's to the Reich. If Aric had even a sliver of humanity within him, he would not be in the SS.
Plus, there's Marta. Marta is Christian. She was Stella's best friend back before Stella got sent to Dachau. Marta, despite otherwise sounding like a decent person, apparently constantly tried to get Stella to convert to Christianity. And now, in the Colonel's house at Theresienstadt, there's a Bible in Stella's bedside table. The way the writing is leaning, it makes me very nervous that the author's going to have Stella convert.
Then there's her vague-at-best understanding of Judaism. She described challah as the bread God gave the Jews during the 40 years in the desert, when, actually, he gave them manna. Then there's that kid, the houseboy Aric saved, who, upon hearing one of Stella's friends (possibly child or younger sister), died in Dachau, says "Then she's in heaven." Um, no, not really. No. Heaven and Hell are Christian concepts. In case you think he's just saying it because he thinks Stella is Christian, he goes on to describe how /his mom/ described heaven.
I don't even know what to make of this shitshow. The implication seems to be that 'hey guys, the Nazis weren't actually that bad' which then, of course, implies the Holocaust was somehow justified, because you can't argue the people who committed it weren't that bad without taking the horror out of the act itself. Or possibly the implication is that Jews who don't "look Jewish" aren't Jews??? I don't know, but it's clearly saying that Aryan-looking Stella and her Nazi love interest are good.
This isn't Schindler's List, okay. This isn't, 'Nazi party member starts to realize Jews are people too and goes out to try and save as many as he can, risking his own skin in the process.' This book isn't that.
This book is, 'SS member thinks this one Jewish girl is hot as hell and so becomes convinced that she cannot possibly be Jewish (because *ew jews aren't pretty*) but must, in fact, be Aryan. Stockholm syndrome ensues.'
Even the author's characterization of actually evil Nazis is spoiled by her need to erase anti-semitism from being a thing. This one guy, Stella's uncle, (named Mordecai, just in case the *THIS IS AN ESTHER RETELLING* hadn't sunk in), is a prisoner at Theresianstadt. One of the guards, Hermann, catches him staring out towards Aric's house and not working. To stop Hermann from dragging him off to Theresianstadt's "Little House" (aka probably a torture chamber), 'Mordy' gives Hermann the Grand Cross he received for his actions in WW1, which Mordy presumably smuggled in via his butt (since, you know, prisoners are strip-searched). Mordy tells Hermann he found it, and, it being worth a lot, Hermann takes the bribe.
What's weird is Hermann's reaction to Mordy. Hermann's not that stupid, he figures out the Grand Cross must have been awarded to Mordecai. And instead of having the reaction you'd expect from a Nazi SS Death's Head member (aka ew gross that's disgusting how could such a prestigious award be given to this jew scum?), Hermann taunts Mordecai and the narration informs us "Hermann's taunts failed to hide his grudging admiration." As though a Nazi ever once admired a Jew.
I then proceeded to head over to Goodreads, where the "genres" section helpfully informed me that this piece of shit is Christian Historical Fiction and Historical Romance.
The writing's pretty good, but the best writing in the world could not make up for the fact that it's a ROMANCE between a JEW and a NAZI. Notice to everyone: if you think for a second about writing a romance between a Jew and Nazi, DON'T DO IT 'cause if you do you're a horrible, incredibly offensive person who understands nothing.
The book is in third-person, narrated by Stella Muller. Even though her actual name is Hadassah Benjamin. Anyway, she has fake papers that say she's not Jewish, but she gets in a fight with a Gestapo man who gets a wee bit intimate with her at a train station, and gets herself labeled "Jew" and packed off to Dachau.
Where she is miraculously saved by the Nazi Colonel Aric, who firmly believes she's an Aryan that the idiotic Gestapo mistook for a Jew. So, because she's pretty and he has a crush, he saves her from the firing squad and carts her off to the concentration camp Theresienstadt to be his secretary. How romantic. Oh, you don't think so? Well Kate Breslin does!
Aric is portrayed as Misunderstood Man. You know how when women make posts about men treating them shitty and some asshole comes along and says "not all men"? Well, this book is all about Not All Nazis.
In classic Stockholm Syndrome style, Stella has lines like "[…]and though he had the strength to crush her, he’d shown her only gentleness and consideration…” If by 'gentleness and consideration' you mean treating her like a goddamn human being (or, rather, like a beautiful Aryan lady). A lack of cruelty is not the same thing as kindness.
So, you might wonder, what "good things" as Aric done? Well, 1) one of the prisoners (a 10 year old) tried to steal some potatoes and so one of the SS guys lopped one of the kid's ears. Aric decided to make the kid his houseboy. 2) he gives table scraps to the Jews he forces to get his firewood. 3) he...saved Stella? Yeah that's, that's about it. Wow, what a hero. How did someone so noble end up a Nazi?
No, seriously. How did someone with even his pathetic level of decency get the position of SS colonel at Theresienstadt?? Himmler would never let that shit happen. The SS is the creme of the crop. It's the elite. They're the most rabid Nazi zealots of the lot. They have to prove their 'pure' Aryan ancestry going back like 100 years. They fully and completely believe in the Nazi ideology. And those who manage to get into the SS who /don't/ fully believe, or come to not fully believe? They get relieved of their position and treated like traitor's to the Reich. If Aric had even a sliver of humanity within him, he would not be in the SS.
Plus, there's Marta. Marta is Christian. She was Stella's best friend back before Stella got sent to Dachau. Marta, despite otherwise sounding like a decent person, apparently constantly tried to get Stella to convert to Christianity. And now, in the Colonel's house at Theresienstadt, there's a Bible in Stella's bedside table. The way the writing is leaning, it makes me very nervous that the author's going to have Stella convert.
Then there's her vague-at-best understanding of Judaism. She described challah as the bread God gave the Jews during the 40 years in the desert, when, actually, he gave them manna. Then there's that kid, the houseboy Aric saved, who, upon hearing one of Stella's friends (possibly child or younger sister), died in Dachau, says "Then she's in heaven." Um, no, not really. No. Heaven and Hell are Christian concepts. In case you think he's just saying it because he thinks Stella is Christian, he goes on to describe how /his mom/ described heaven.
I don't even know what to make of this shitshow. The implication seems to be that 'hey guys, the Nazis weren't actually that bad' which then, of course, implies the Holocaust was somehow justified, because you can't argue the people who committed it weren't that bad without taking the horror out of the act itself. Or possibly the implication is that Jews who don't "look Jewish" aren't Jews??? I don't know, but it's clearly saying that Aryan-looking Stella and her Nazi love interest are good.
This isn't Schindler's List, okay. This isn't, 'Nazi party member starts to realize Jews are people too and goes out to try and save as many as he can, risking his own skin in the process.' This book isn't that.
This book is, 'SS member thinks this one Jewish girl is hot as hell and so becomes convinced that she cannot possibly be Jewish (because *ew jews aren't pretty*) but must, in fact, be Aryan. Stockholm syndrome ensues.'
Even the author's characterization of actually evil Nazis is spoiled by her need to erase anti-semitism from being a thing. This one guy, Stella's uncle, (named Mordecai, just in case the *THIS IS AN ESTHER RETELLING* hadn't sunk in), is a prisoner at Theresianstadt. One of the guards, Hermann, catches him staring out towards Aric's house and not working. To stop Hermann from dragging him off to Theresianstadt's "Little House" (aka probably a torture chamber), 'Mordy' gives Hermann the Grand Cross he received for his actions in WW1, which Mordy presumably smuggled in via his butt (since, you know, prisoners are strip-searched). Mordy tells Hermann he found it, and, it being worth a lot, Hermann takes the bribe.
What's weird is Hermann's reaction to Mordy. Hermann's not that stupid, he figures out the Grand Cross must have been awarded to Mordecai. And instead of having the reaction you'd expect from a Nazi SS Death's Head member (aka ew gross that's disgusting how could such a prestigious award be given to this jew scum?), Hermann taunts Mordecai and the narration informs us "Hermann's taunts failed to hide his grudging admiration." As though a Nazi ever once admired a Jew.
I then proceeded to head over to Goodreads, where the "genres" section helpfully informed me that this piece of shit is Christian Historical Fiction and Historical Romance.
The writing's pretty good, but the best writing in the world could not make up for the fact that it's a ROMANCE between a JEW and a NAZI. Notice to everyone: if you think for a second about writing a romance between a Jew and Nazi, DON'T DO IT 'cause if you do you're a horrible, incredibly offensive person who understands nothing.
no
September 1, 2015so much NOPE up in here you can't even go seven words into the blurb without tripping over a 'jewess.'
like as if gendering nouns is so modern and exciting, still?
i was preoccupied when the outrage over this book (and the humiliating cultural oblivion of the RWA that fostered it) broke.
while i was busy mooning over some stupid boy, the scandal came to such a rollicking boil it spilt over my entire social media spectrum and did not simmer down for me until i started muting hashtags and discreetly unfollowing 16 year old persons with Opinions.
social media decontamination protocols notwithstanding, it turns out that this time my feelings on this exquisite tangle of fuckwittery do indeed mostly align with the majority, in that i was at first completely incredulous, then appalled, then amused, then outraged, then amused again, and now just sort of hung up on 'jewess' again AS IF THAT IS EVEN A WORD YOU CAN USE TO SOMEONE'S FACE ANYMORE, MY GOD, WHAT IS A FORESKIN EVEN.
so by now i have nothing to add to the discussion.
buuuuuuut here's a summary of events, anyway:
the RITA awards ballot was filled by five randomly selected readers who were given a questionnaire to evaluate the objective quality of a box of books, including this one.
none of them saw anything wrong with the themes or the plot or the characterization or the frankly grotesque perversion of history promoted therein.
that's how the book got on the ballot in the first place.
but any debut book that makes it to the finals is also automatically entered into a "best first book" category. so by the time final voting opened, this piece of shit was up for awards in two separate categories—inspirational, and best new author.
lawl.
evangelicals are always seeking to legitimize their bizarre, revisionist fictions, just like the sad/rabid puppy camps tried to do with the hugo awards.
worse, the RWA/RITA rules allow them to opt-out of voting for books in categories that offend them, which is basically everything especially homoromanze.
so the entirety of the bible-vote, every year, goes to inspirational titles—which in this year is this glistening turd right here.
fortunately, like the ragey white men trying to shut-out black/queer/female nominees at the hugo awards, these gruesome people were unsuccessful.
the book didn't win in either category.
but by then it had—incredibly—already been endorsed with a starred review in romantic times, presumably by some person who right now is probably wishing they hadn't opened their email the day they got that epub.
and then again, a starred review in the library journal.
as in, two other entities, two completely separate and distinct industry bodies, evaluated this story and not only found nothing objectionable about it—they fuckin loved it.
think about that for a quick second.
while you're appreciating the scale of dafuqery that went on here, take a look at the cover of this book and see if you can come up with an explanation for why a blonde, blue-eyed jewess trapped in a concentration camp is pictured with manic-panic auburn hair like some hipster retrophile thrift-shop-addicted art student sulking on a crumbling rooftop terrace in greenpoint, brooklyn.
so, my disappointment with the RWA lies in their refusal to disavow the clearly deranged judgement of their awards committee in favor of some dishwater-dull mumbling about freedom of speech.
freedom of speech doesn't mean what you think it means if you think you have to validate what amounts to hate speech just to avoid pissing people off.
and speaking as a backslidden born again christian, i honestly can't think of anyone who deserves a cricket up their skirts more than the psychos who hope to jump-start armageddon by destabilizing the middle east so they can all get to heaven faster, as if christ's return were a thing one could chivvy along like a goatherd with ADHD.
fuck those assholes, in other words.
you don't have to lick their butts, dear friends at the RWA, just because they buy themselves a fuckton of "inspirational" fiction and pay their membership dues; they're cheaters both in terms of the awards you let them undermine and also ON A GLOBAL FUCKING SCALE—to say nothing of their annoying habit of constantly getting caught in predatory "seed-faith" scams that convince poor sick people in debt that all their problems will be solved if they just pick up that phone and send them a check hallelujah—
*delicate cough*
i feel i have gone somewhat further afield than i intended.
sorry.
it's just—i grew up with those people, and they have destroyed my family both financially and emotionally, inasmuch as my parents are constantly waiting around for a miraculous return on their investment in creflo dollar while telling me i deserve everything bad that ever happens to me because i'm a fucking filthy faggohmygod i'm doing it again.
*straightens bow tie in embarrassment*
look. that's all over by now. like i said, i missed it all.
right now i'm too tired to do much more than grunt ambiguously and idly wish i had a robotic litter-box.
it's just—pathetic, really. the whole thing.
like an illustrated guide to VHS cassette maintenance and repair:
sad and useless.
ignorance, privilege, appropriation, racism, granola naiveté, sexism, money, and the internet.
all in one place.
for weeeeeeeeeeeks.
*sucks teeth, musingly*
...wow.
like as if gendering nouns is so modern and exciting, still?
i was preoccupied when the outrage over this book (and the humiliating cultural oblivion of the RWA that fostered it) broke.
while i was busy mooning over some stupid boy, the scandal came to such a rollicking boil it spilt over my entire social media spectrum and did not simmer down for me until i started muting hashtags and discreetly unfollowing 16 year old persons with Opinions.
social media decontamination protocols notwithstanding, it turns out that this time my feelings on this exquisite tangle of fuckwittery do indeed mostly align with the majority, in that i was at first completely incredulous, then appalled, then amused, then outraged, then amused again, and now just sort of hung up on 'jewess' again AS IF THAT IS EVEN A WORD YOU CAN USE TO SOMEONE'S FACE ANYMORE, MY GOD, WHAT IS A FORESKIN EVEN.
so by now i have nothing to add to the discussion.
buuuuuuut here's a summary of events, anyway:
the RITA awards ballot was filled by five randomly selected readers who were given a questionnaire to evaluate the objective quality of a box of books, including this one.
none of them saw anything wrong with the themes or the plot or the characterization or the frankly grotesque perversion of history promoted therein.
that's how the book got on the ballot in the first place.
but any debut book that makes it to the finals is also automatically entered into a "best first book" category. so by the time final voting opened, this piece of shit was up for awards in two separate categories—inspirational, and best new author.
lawl.
evangelicals are always seeking to legitimize their bizarre, revisionist fictions, just like the sad/rabid puppy camps tried to do with the hugo awards.
worse, the RWA/RITA rules allow them to opt-out of voting for books in categories that offend them, which is basically everything especially homoromanze.
so the entirety of the bible-vote, every year, goes to inspirational titles—which in this year is this glistening turd right here.
fortunately, like the ragey white men trying to shut-out black/queer/female nominees at the hugo awards, these gruesome people were unsuccessful.
the book didn't win in either category.
but by then it had—incredibly—already been endorsed with a starred review in romantic times, presumably by some person who right now is probably wishing they hadn't opened their email the day they got that epub.
and then again, a starred review in the library journal.
as in, two other entities, two completely separate and distinct industry bodies, evaluated this story and not only found nothing objectionable about it—they fuckin loved it.
think about that for a quick second.
while you're appreciating the scale of dafuqery that went on here, take a look at the cover of this book and see if you can come up with an explanation for why a blonde, blue-eyed jewess trapped in a concentration camp is pictured with manic-panic auburn hair like some hipster retrophile thrift-shop-addicted art student sulking on a crumbling rooftop terrace in greenpoint, brooklyn.
so, my disappointment with the RWA lies in their refusal to disavow the clearly deranged judgement of their awards committee in favor of some dishwater-dull mumbling about freedom of speech.
freedom of speech doesn't mean what you think it means if you think you have to validate what amounts to hate speech just to avoid pissing people off.
and speaking as a backslidden born again christian, i honestly can't think of anyone who deserves a cricket up their skirts more than the psychos who hope to jump-start armageddon by destabilizing the middle east so they can all get to heaven faster, as if christ's return were a thing one could chivvy along like a goatherd with ADHD.
fuck those assholes, in other words.
you don't have to lick their butts, dear friends at the RWA, just because they buy themselves a fuckton of "inspirational" fiction and pay their membership dues; they're cheaters both in terms of the awards you let them undermine and also ON A GLOBAL FUCKING SCALE—to say nothing of their annoying habit of constantly getting caught in predatory "seed-faith" scams that convince poor sick people in debt that all their problems will be solved if they just pick up that phone and send them a check hallelujah—
*delicate cough*
i feel i have gone somewhat further afield than i intended.
sorry.
it's just—i grew up with those people, and they have destroyed my family both financially and emotionally, inasmuch as my parents are constantly waiting around for a miraculous return on their investment in creflo dollar while telling me i deserve everything bad that ever happens to me because i'm a fucking filthy faggohmygod i'm doing it again.
*straightens bow tie in embarrassment*
look. that's all over by now. like i said, i missed it all.
right now i'm too tired to do much more than grunt ambiguously and idly wish i had a robotic litter-box.
it's just—pathetic, really. the whole thing.
like an illustrated guide to VHS cassette maintenance and repair:
sad and useless.
ignorance, privilege, appropriation, racism, granola naiveté, sexism, money, and the internet.
all in one place.
for weeeeeeeeeeeks.
*sucks teeth, musingly*
...wow.
August 6, 2015
A romance between a Nazi and a Jew, where the Jew ends up converting to Christianity at the end. What the fuck.
This Jewish woman will NOT be reading this book.
This Jewish woman will NOT be reading this book.
August 11, 2015
For Such A Time was the very last book I read before giving birth to my firstborn at the end of March... so I apologize that my review is a little late... and that my blog looks as though it's been abandoned.
Kate Breslin wasn't anyone I'd ever heard of before, but once I saw her book cover advertised and read the description of the novel, I knew I needed to read it. It's a story set in the time of WWII based on the story of Esther in the Bible. And believe it or not, the hero is actually a Nazi officer in charge of sending Jews from his concentration camp to Auschwitz. This simply exemplifies how God's grace is sufficient for even the worst sinner. No one is beyond God's grace. No one.
I read the first few chapters of For Such a Time online at a website called Scribd.com after I saw it advertised on Facebook by one of my friends. I seriously did not want to stop reading. I was hooked and I knew I needed to find a way to get my hands on the book so I could finish it. Fortunately, I was offered a copy soon after and basically devoured it the day it came in the mail.
I don't think there was anything I didn't like about this book--which doesn't usually happen. It's written so deeply I could hardly remember from when I read those first chapters whether it was written in third person or first person POV. The characterization of Stella was so flawless... she was everything she needed to be in her particular kind of situation... and yet it was completely believable that she--a fair-haired Jew with false papers--would somehow fall in love with Aric the Nazi officer. I loved how the author took such a moving story from the Bible and rewrote it into another time. It was perfect.
Kate Breslin wasn't anyone I'd ever heard of before, but once I saw her book cover advertised and read the description of the novel, I knew I needed to read it. It's a story set in the time of WWII based on the story of Esther in the Bible. And believe it or not, the hero is actually a Nazi officer in charge of sending Jews from his concentration camp to Auschwitz. This simply exemplifies how God's grace is sufficient for even the worst sinner. No one is beyond God's grace. No one.
I read the first few chapters of For Such a Time online at a website called Scribd.com after I saw it advertised on Facebook by one of my friends. I seriously did not want to stop reading. I was hooked and I knew I needed to find a way to get my hands on the book so I could finish it. Fortunately, I was offered a copy soon after and basically devoured it the day it came in the mail.
I don't think there was anything I didn't like about this book--which doesn't usually happen. It's written so deeply I could hardly remember from when I read those first chapters whether it was written in third person or first person POV. The characterization of Stella was so flawless... she was everything she needed to be in her particular kind of situation... and yet it was completely believable that she--a fair-haired Jew with false papers--would somehow fall in love with Aric the Nazi officer. I loved how the author took such a moving story from the Bible and rewrote it into another time. It was perfect.
August 15, 2015
I thought using the story of Esther would make a moving read in a Holocaust setting. However, the relationship between Aric and Stella/Hadassah was highly disturbing and incredibly unrealistic.
I don't have a problem with the idea of a Jew and Nazi having a love story if it is done well. After all, it is ignorant to believe all members of the Nazi party hated and murdered Jews; there are many true stories of resistance within members of the party. What bothered me was how ridiculous this specific plot is. Aric basically falls instantly in love with this emaciated prisoner about to get shot and helps her escape so he can play with his fanciful crush. That's just nonsense. A colonel of the Third Reich, recently appointed to be in charge of a transit camp, would not have some nonsensical “love at first site” experience at Dachau, in 1944, with a Jewish prisoner. If you understand anything at all about the years and years of intense psychological propaganda that took place before we even got to 1944, you’d understand how ridiculous this notion is. Also, I’m not very clear on whether he realized she was Jewish and saved her anyways, or genuinely thought her false Aryan identity was real (as I only made it a third of the way through the book,) but it’s also nonsense for a Nazi at his level to be so stupidly naïve about false identification papers. The Nazis were incredibly thorough, and it would take a whole lot for them to believe they’ve made a mistake. A far more realistic approach would have been to have Aric pull her out of Dachau for purely selfish/logistical reasons and then over time (lots of time) to grow to appreciate and love her.
Second of all, for a Jew to be battling conflicting romantic emotions within the first day and week of meeting a Nazi camp commander after having gone through the horrors of 4-ish years of WWII and the hellish experience of Dachau, is also incredibly nonsensical, disturbing, and quite frankly, very insulting. A more realistic and less unsettling approach would have been to have Stella/Hadassah hate Aric almost completely, with some confusion as to why he removed her from the camp, and a healthy dose of great suspicion and fear as to whether he means to use her in other disturbing ways (like for example in Schindler’s List, a true story, Amon Goeth, the commander of Plaszow pulls a girl out of the ranks to be his housemaid and ends up consistently beating her, manipulating her, and sexually abusing her.) For Stella/Hadassah to have thoughts about how attractive Aric is and how she has these strange feelings of desire within the first week of knowing him is absolutely absurd, nauseating, and incredibly unrealistic if you have any real knowledge of the depth of horrors the Jews experienced at the hands of the Nazis. I’m sorry but this isn’t a Disney/Hallmark movie here, this is the Holocaust. I’ve read and watched dozens of fictional and non-fictional accounts in the WWII/Holocaust genre and I found this to be a waste of my time. The author either doesn’t fully grasp the gravity of this horrendous part of history, or lives in a romance novel/fantasy world that doesn’t compute with reality.
Lastly, the Biblical account of Esther is NOT a romantic love story. The book of Esther is a story of God and His justice, goodness, provision, and sovereignty. It shows how God uses evil men like Xerxes, a lustful, prideful, selfish, violent, and childish king, to do God’s will, and places an initially hesitant, self-preserving Jew in a position to help save the Jewish people. Xerxes and Esther did not have this grand Love. The man had a harem of women, temporarily liked Esther the most, and if you read commentaries from trusted scholars, they agree that Esther was later deposed as queen and possibly murdered after the events described in the Bible. They didn’t have this happily-ever-after, grow-old-together, love story. God put them together and used the political marriage to save His people. There are many great and wonderful lessons that come out of the rich story of Esther, if you understand that it is a story of God’s love and provision for His people.
The author's note at the end was also ridiculous. Inventing history to make it more "romantic" or "Christian" or "happy" or whatever, is incredibly offensive and insulting to the millions that were murdered and the survivors. On behalf of us Christians who aren't anti-Semitic, I want to say that I'm so sorry this book exists.
I made it over 30% into the book, and then briefly scanned through the rest, before I decided I was too horrified to waste more of my time. Another reviewer mentioned this and I will reiterate it: “This is no Schindler’s List.” It’s not a story of a man who starts off self-centered, materialistic, using the war and Jews for his own personal and sick gain, and then over time coming to grips with the evil before him and turns his ways do good in this world. This is a twisted fantasy romance novel that has no real grounds in reality.
I don't have a problem with the idea of a Jew and Nazi having a love story if it is done well. After all, it is ignorant to believe all members of the Nazi party hated and murdered Jews; there are many true stories of resistance within members of the party. What bothered me was how ridiculous this specific plot is. Aric basically falls instantly in love with this emaciated prisoner about to get shot and helps her escape so he can play with his fanciful crush. That's just nonsense. A colonel of the Third Reich, recently appointed to be in charge of a transit camp, would not have some nonsensical “love at first site” experience at Dachau, in 1944, with a Jewish prisoner. If you understand anything at all about the years and years of intense psychological propaganda that took place before we even got to 1944, you’d understand how ridiculous this notion is. Also, I’m not very clear on whether he realized she was Jewish and saved her anyways, or genuinely thought her false Aryan identity was real (as I only made it a third of the way through the book,) but it’s also nonsense for a Nazi at his level to be so stupidly naïve about false identification papers. The Nazis were incredibly thorough, and it would take a whole lot for them to believe they’ve made a mistake. A far more realistic approach would have been to have Aric pull her out of Dachau for purely selfish/logistical reasons and then over time (lots of time) to grow to appreciate and love her.
Second of all, for a Jew to be battling conflicting romantic emotions within the first day and week of meeting a Nazi camp commander after having gone through the horrors of 4-ish years of WWII and the hellish experience of Dachau, is also incredibly nonsensical, disturbing, and quite frankly, very insulting. A more realistic and less unsettling approach would have been to have Stella/Hadassah hate Aric almost completely, with some confusion as to why he removed her from the camp, and a healthy dose of great suspicion and fear as to whether he means to use her in other disturbing ways (like for example in Schindler’s List, a true story, Amon Goeth, the commander of Plaszow pulls a girl out of the ranks to be his housemaid and ends up consistently beating her, manipulating her, and sexually abusing her.) For Stella/Hadassah to have thoughts about how attractive Aric is and how she has these strange feelings of desire within the first week of knowing him is absolutely absurd, nauseating, and incredibly unrealistic if you have any real knowledge of the depth of horrors the Jews experienced at the hands of the Nazis. I’m sorry but this isn’t a Disney/Hallmark movie here, this is the Holocaust. I’ve read and watched dozens of fictional and non-fictional accounts in the WWII/Holocaust genre and I found this to be a waste of my time. The author either doesn’t fully grasp the gravity of this horrendous part of history, or lives in a romance novel/fantasy world that doesn’t compute with reality.
Lastly, the Biblical account of Esther is NOT a romantic love story. The book of Esther is a story of God and His justice, goodness, provision, and sovereignty. It shows how God uses evil men like Xerxes, a lustful, prideful, selfish, violent, and childish king, to do God’s will, and places an initially hesitant, self-preserving Jew in a position to help save the Jewish people. Xerxes and Esther did not have this grand Love. The man had a harem of women, temporarily liked Esther the most, and if you read commentaries from trusted scholars, they agree that Esther was later deposed as queen and possibly murdered after the events described in the Bible. They didn’t have this happily-ever-after, grow-old-together, love story. God put them together and used the political marriage to save His people. There are many great and wonderful lessons that come out of the rich story of Esther, if you understand that it is a story of God’s love and provision for His people.
The author's note at the end was also ridiculous. Inventing history to make it more "romantic" or "Christian" or "happy" or whatever, is incredibly offensive and insulting to the millions that were murdered and the survivors. On behalf of us Christians who aren't anti-Semitic, I want to say that I'm so sorry this book exists.
I made it over 30% into the book, and then briefly scanned through the rest, before I decided I was too horrified to waste more of my time. Another reviewer mentioned this and I will reiterate it: “This is no Schindler’s List.” It’s not a story of a man who starts off self-centered, materialistic, using the war and Jews for his own personal and sick gain, and then over time coming to grips with the evil before him and turns his ways do good in this world. This is a twisted fantasy romance novel that has no real grounds in reality.
August 13, 2015
This is not about -censorship-
This is about a "book's subject matter to be so tasteless and offensive that it should not be considered suitable to win Romance's top award. RWA"*
I couldn't agree more with this post
Thank you:
Courtney Milan, Tessa Dare, Julia Quinn, Smart Bitches, Katherine Locke,
..and many , many , many , many , many , many , many , many , many ,many , many , many , many , many , many , many , many , many , many , many other writers and readers for opening a serious and healthy debate over Twitter, blogs, tumbler in the past week.
Thank you for speaking up
update 12/08/2015
Dear Bethany House,
It took you a while.
You finally deign us with words.
Your poor excuse of statement, is not an apology to the readers
You have obviously missed the point, offending us with your blindness once again.
This is about a "book's subject matter to be so tasteless and offensive that it should not be considered suitable to win Romance's top award. RWA"*
I couldn't agree more with this post
Thank you:
Courtney Milan, Tessa Dare, Julia Quinn, Smart Bitches, Katherine Locke,
..and many , many , many , many , many , many , many , many , many ,many , many , many , many , many , many , many , many , many , many , many other writers and readers for opening a serious and healthy debate over Twitter, blogs, tumbler in the past week.
Thank you for speaking up
update 12/08/2015
Dear Bethany House,
It took you a while.
You finally deign us with words.
Your poor excuse of statement, is not an apology to the readers
You have obviously missed the point, offending us with your blindness once again.
March 20, 2014
When Stella is unexpectedly snatched from a concentration camp she fears the worst. Why would a SS Kommandant move her to his private residence? There’s no answer that she can live with. Aric von Schmidt, a decorated soldier, knows how to set his opinions and emotions aside for the glory of the Fatherland. He doesn’t enjoy the brutality that takes place in his camp, but people die. That’s what war is about. He’ll follow orders as long as he and his household are safe.
If you’re familiar with the story of Esther, you’re probably getting twitchy at the near-parallels. King Xerxes wasn’t a Nazi. Nazis were the most evil people ever. They tried to commit genocide. They were brutal… Oh, yeah. Remember why Esther had to hide that she was a Jew? Do some of those details get lost in the glamour of the beauty pageant scene? But that’s why I love For Such a Time. It takes the remote and puts it into a setting we’re more familiar with. The drama becomes fresh again, shocking us with the relationships Esther had to maintain, and the strength that was required of her.
Which brings me to my favorite part of For Such a Time. It’s a romance. The romance is difficult and complicated, yet Breslin wrote it so well that I still understood why Stella and Aric needed each other. Stella’s love isn’t easy, but it’s true. And so is Aric’s fear that he’s being manipulated into ruining his career. The research and details that fill the pages give a strong sense of setting and keep the plot believable, and don’t be thinking you can predict the finale. For Such a Time keeps you reading way past bedtime.
So I highly recommend this book on its own merits. Plot, characters, setting, romance–every standard is met. But besides the enjoyment you’ll get from reading For Such a Time, you might just come away with a fresh understand of a heroine Queen whom you thought you knew inside out. And that’s the greatest reward of all.
If you’re familiar with the story of Esther, you’re probably getting twitchy at the near-parallels. King Xerxes wasn’t a Nazi. Nazis were the most evil people ever. They tried to commit genocide. They were brutal… Oh, yeah. Remember why Esther had to hide that she was a Jew? Do some of those details get lost in the glamour of the beauty pageant scene? But that’s why I love For Such a Time. It takes the remote and puts it into a setting we’re more familiar with. The drama becomes fresh again, shocking us with the relationships Esther had to maintain, and the strength that was required of her.
Which brings me to my favorite part of For Such a Time. It’s a romance. The romance is difficult and complicated, yet Breslin wrote it so well that I still understood why Stella and Aric needed each other. Stella’s love isn’t easy, but it’s true. And so is Aric’s fear that he’s being manipulated into ruining his career. The research and details that fill the pages give a strong sense of setting and keep the plot believable, and don’t be thinking you can predict the finale. For Such a Time keeps you reading way past bedtime.
So I highly recommend this book on its own merits. Plot, characters, setting, romance–every standard is met. But besides the enjoyment you’ll get from reading For Such a Time, you might just come away with a fresh understand of a heroine Queen whom you thought you knew inside out. And that’s the greatest reward of all.
August 15, 2015
If the beautiful story of Esther had taken place during WWII instead of the days of Persia, it may have looked like this.
Breslin tells a tale of a young Jewish woman singled out of a concentration camp when her inner strength and promise of beauty captures the attention of a Nazi officer. He whisks her out of that life of hardship and employs her as his secretary, intrigued and attracted...and knowing well that she considers him the enemy. That she will never forgive it when she learns the role he must play in the Final Solution. The question is--can he ever forgive himself after she opens his eyes to the truth of her people's plight?
This is a tale that paints vividly the horrors of life for the Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe. It's a tale that shows that sometimes the heart leads us toward people logic says we should hate. It's a tale that reminds us that sometimes God turns a heart of stone back into a heart of flesh.
The sad truth is that there *was* no Esther for the Jews in 1944. There was no victory like in the story of Esther. The author gives us one, and then reminds us in her note that that was part of the retelling aspect, and that in reality, no one stepped forward to save these people. That's a failing of humanity.
I've read a ton of bad reviews objecting to the idea of a Christian book about a Jewish heroine, and that it's an atrocity that someone would "save" (i.e. convert) a strong Jewish woman. But they've obviously never read the book, as the heroine doesn't convert to Christianity. I've read similar objections saying the author is dishonoring the plight of the Jews in the hands of the Nazis by redeeming an SS officer. Personally, I don't see how saying that one man might have been led to see his sin through this atrocity in any way diminishes the evils wrought by the regime. Evils that are painted quite clearly as just that in Breslin's book.
Is it a true story? No. I wish it were. I wish the prisoners really had managed, through the help of a brave heroine, the victory they achieved in this book. I wish an Esther--and a Xerxes--had stepped up. The world might be a different place today.
FOR SUCH A TIME is certainly a book worth reading. You'll get swept away by the prose, cheer for the heroes, and wish, as I did, that history really had happened this way a second time.
Breslin tells a tale of a young Jewish woman singled out of a concentration camp when her inner strength and promise of beauty captures the attention of a Nazi officer. He whisks her out of that life of hardship and employs her as his secretary, intrigued and attracted...and knowing well that she considers him the enemy. That she will never forgive it when she learns the role he must play in the Final Solution. The question is--can he ever forgive himself after she opens his eyes to the truth of her people's plight?
This is a tale that paints vividly the horrors of life for the Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe. It's a tale that shows that sometimes the heart leads us toward people logic says we should hate. It's a tale that reminds us that sometimes God turns a heart of stone back into a heart of flesh.
The sad truth is that there *was* no Esther for the Jews in 1944. There was no victory like in the story of Esther. The author gives us one, and then reminds us in her note that that was part of the retelling aspect, and that in reality, no one stepped forward to save these people. That's a failing of humanity.
I've read a ton of bad reviews objecting to the idea of a Christian book about a Jewish heroine, and that it's an atrocity that someone would "save" (i.e. convert) a strong Jewish woman. But they've obviously never read the book, as the heroine doesn't convert to Christianity. I've read similar objections saying the author is dishonoring the plight of the Jews in the hands of the Nazis by redeeming an SS officer. Personally, I don't see how saying that one man might have been led to see his sin through this atrocity in any way diminishes the evils wrought by the regime. Evils that are painted quite clearly as just that in Breslin's book.
Is it a true story? No. I wish it were. I wish the prisoners really had managed, through the help of a brave heroine, the victory they achieved in this book. I wish an Esther--and a Xerxes--had stepped up. The world might be a different place today.
FOR SUCH A TIME is certainly a book worth reading. You'll get swept away by the prose, cheer for the heroes, and wish, as I did, that history really had happened this way a second time.
August 5, 2015
Appalling.
How can a premise like this for a book be okay? And to be nominated for an award? NO. Unbelievable.
How can a premise like this for a book be okay? And to be nominated for an award? NO. Unbelievable.
September 8, 2015
I am an inspie reader. I read it and I'm keeping it on my WTF-UGH-BLAH-ICK-STFU shelf.
ETA: I'M STILL ANGRY.
After three close reads and a bit of research, I believe this book fails its intended audience and its sub-genre of religious fiction.
Whether we call label it “Christian fiction” or “inspirational fiction,” whether it’s marketed as an “allegory” or a “retelling” or a “reframing” or even a mere “inspired by,” this book is a full-on hot mess of plug-n-play Bible verses presented with all the subtlety of a Looney Tunes anvil dropping.
If you mess with — or ignore — the basic elements of the original story, you change the outcome. Unless you’re specifically calling it a fairy tale or alternate history, not acceptable in an allegory/retelling.
If you mess with — or ignore — the basic elements of the original story, you change the meaning and the impact. Never acceptable in a retelling of a Bible story.
By (1) ignoring reader expectations; (2) cherry-picking superficial bits of the source material; (3) conflating the story with scriptural themes unrelated to the source material; (4) relying on deus ex machina and proof-texted divine interventions to drive the plot; and (5) deliberately choosing a setting solely for shock value, this so-called “inspirational” novel ignores and subverts the themes and messages of the Book of Esther so badly as to be nearly unrecognizable.
Instead of “reframing” the characters and themes of the Book of Esther to support the message God wants us to hear, Breslin uses whatever Bible verses she can find to support the story she wants to tell.
- The Full-Snark Bitchfest Recap
- Deconstructing FSAT, part 1: An Angry Book Nerd Manifesto
- Deconstructing FSAT, part 2: Allegory, Schmallegory
- Further Deconstructing “For Such a Time,” Part 3: The Fallacy of the Magic Bible
- Bethany House’s Statement and Our Response
- Side by Side: the Book of Esther and FSAT
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I read this book because…
I am an inspie reader.
- Blog reviews
- Goodreads shelf
I’m a (former) participant in the Bethany House blogger review program (I am soooo getting kicked out for this), and a (former) fan of the imprint and most of their authors. I’ve read dozens of Bethany House books, rated many 4 or 5 stars on Goodreads, and full-on squeed over a few.
I feel like I should apologize to everyone for this.
I am very disturbed that book people I felt a spiritual affinity with could possibly think the premise of this story was acceptable.
I remember seeing For Such a Time in the Bethany House blogger review email, and I recall glancing at the blurb and thinking “oh, geez, not another one” (in reference to this one: Simple Faith. I don’t remember if I chose another book that month.
But now I keep thinking that blurb should have been a BIG RED FLAG.
I should have requested it and read it and reviewed it before it won all the awards and the controversy erupted. I couldn’t have prevented it from being published, but maybe I could have raised enough eyebrows to bring it a larger audience sooner.
I decided to put my own self-righteousness to the test. In a few ways, I feel vindicated that my first assumptions of “OH GOD NO” (in a very non-blasphemous sense) were justified, and others with similar backgrounds were similarly offended. NOT ALL CHRISTIANS *sob*. And in more ways, I feel unworthy. And nauseous.
Here is my high-level take on the general premise of For Such a Time by Kate Breslin:
On the surface, it’s easy to see why the author chose this particular setting for an allegory — the parallels between the Esther story and the Holocaust are downright eerie. And every Christian likes to think “I would have stood up for my Jewish friends. I would have hidden them all in my basement and thrown myself in front of Gestapo bullets to save them.” We all want to be the heroes. We all want there to BE heroes. Americans are so obviously the heroes of WWII. Without us, Hitler would have won, right?
As Alexis Hall commented on his blog post about the RITA nomination:
I don’t feel comfortable labeling Kate Breslin the author as an anti-Semite. I truly think her intentions were good, and she clearly made an attempt to treat the subject with what she felt was heartfelt respect.
But I can, without qualm, say that For Such a Time the novel is an unquestionable example of “subtle and pernicious” anti-Semitism.
I don’t care that there was no on-page conversion or that most of the Bible verses were from the Old Testament. There is NO EXCUSE for appropriating and exploiting a concentration camp to promote a “Christian worldview.”
None. ZERO.
Yes, the horrors are mentioned explicitly and prominently in the novel. But the scenes came across as deliberately paced and placed for shock value, instead of an integral part of the story. And most of the horrors are fleeting and momentary; the heroine shrugs off her icky worries about Her People when she’s distracted by another glimpse of uniformed broad shoulders. It’s all seen through the gloss of a fictional romance and buckets of glamorized intrigue and action.
This book has “smug superiority” oozing out of every page.
In the Esther episode of VeggieTales, the moral of the story for the kiddies is “You never have to be afraid to do what’s right.” I don’t think the author and her book team have seen the Veggie version — because from a “Christian worldview,” no matter how much we want to rewrite history, we didn’t do what was right. We didn’t do anything.
To borrow from another review,we need stories about the Holocaust. We need fiction about the Final Solution because it’s the only way we can feel it and grasp the full meaning on a personal level as we despair and hope with fictional characters.
But a “Christian worldview” of the Holocaust is NOT OUR STORY TO TELL, and it never will be.
The Holocaust is our EVER-LASTING SHAME of APATHY and SELFISHNESS and COWARDICE. Our story is the UTTER FAILURE to do what was right.
And you know what, Kate Breslin and Bethany House? That right there is THE OPPOSITE OF THE STORY OF ESTHER.
I AM USING A LOT OF ALL CAPS BECAUSE WHY IS THIS SO DIFFICULT FOR THE APPROVERS OF THE BOOK TO SEE? That last bit deserved the extra bold and italics.
But I am glad I read it, because I am learning so much. Our epic discussion has lead me to research anything I can get my hands on about Theresienstadt and the Book of Esther. Every time I glance at the book and our discussion and my growing list of bookmarks, I have more and more and more questions.
And in a (disturbing) way, reading this book has made me a better Christian. I’m back to studying my Bible closely, which I haven’t done in a very long time, and I’m internalizing how we go to such lengths to adapt God’s word to fit our history, our modern life, and the way we want the world to be.
ETA: I'M STILL ANGRY.
After three close reads and a bit of research, I believe this book fails its intended audience and its sub-genre of religious fiction.
Whether we call label it “Christian fiction” or “inspirational fiction,” whether it’s marketed as an “allegory” or a “retelling” or a “reframing” or even a mere “inspired by,” this book is a full-on hot mess of plug-n-play Bible verses presented with all the subtlety of a Looney Tunes anvil dropping.
If you mess with — or ignore — the basic elements of the original story, you change the outcome. Unless you’re specifically calling it a fairy tale or alternate history, not acceptable in an allegory/retelling.
If you mess with — or ignore — the basic elements of the original story, you change the meaning and the impact. Never acceptable in a retelling of a Bible story.
By (1) ignoring reader expectations; (2) cherry-picking superficial bits of the source material; (3) conflating the story with scriptural themes unrelated to the source material; (4) relying on deus ex machina and proof-texted divine interventions to drive the plot; and (5) deliberately choosing a setting solely for shock value, this so-called “inspirational” novel ignores and subverts the themes and messages of the Book of Esther so badly as to be nearly unrecognizable.
Instead of “reframing” the characters and themes of the Book of Esther to support the message God wants us to hear, Breslin uses whatever Bible verses she can find to support the story she wants to tell.
- The Full-Snark Bitchfest Recap
- Deconstructing FSAT, part 1: An Angry Book Nerd Manifesto
- Deconstructing FSAT, part 2: Allegory, Schmallegory
- Further Deconstructing “For Such a Time,” Part 3: The Fallacy of the Magic Bible
- Bethany House’s Statement and Our Response
- Side by Side: the Book of Esther and FSAT
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I read this book because…
I am an inspie reader.
- Blog reviews
- Goodreads shelf
I’m a (former) participant in the Bethany House blogger review program (I am soooo getting kicked out for this), and a (former) fan of the imprint and most of their authors. I’ve read dozens of Bethany House books, rated many 4 or 5 stars on Goodreads, and full-on squeed over a few.
I feel like I should apologize to everyone for this.
I am very disturbed that book people I felt a spiritual affinity with could possibly think the premise of this story was acceptable.
I remember seeing For Such a Time in the Bethany House blogger review email, and I recall glancing at the blurb and thinking “oh, geez, not another one” (in reference to this one: Simple Faith. I don’t remember if I chose another book that month.
But now I keep thinking that blurb should have been a BIG RED FLAG.
I should have requested it and read it and reviewed it before it won all the awards and the controversy erupted. I couldn’t have prevented it from being published, but maybe I could have raised enough eyebrows to bring it a larger audience sooner.
I decided to put my own self-righteousness to the test. In a few ways, I feel vindicated that my first assumptions of “OH GOD NO” (in a very non-blasphemous sense) were justified, and others with similar backgrounds were similarly offended. NOT ALL CHRISTIANS *sob*. And in more ways, I feel unworthy. And nauseous.
Here is my high-level take on the general premise of For Such a Time by Kate Breslin:
On the surface, it’s easy to see why the author chose this particular setting for an allegory — the parallels between the Esther story and the Holocaust are downright eerie. And every Christian likes to think “I would have stood up for my Jewish friends. I would have hidden them all in my basement and thrown myself in front of Gestapo bullets to save them.” We all want to be the heroes. We all want there to BE heroes. Americans are so obviously the heroes of WWII. Without us, Hitler would have won, right?
As Alexis Hall commented on his blog post about the RITA nomination:
It’s almost the centrepiece of western culture’s narrative of the twentieth century and every nation that was involved in the Second World War sort of feels a degree of ownership over it. There’s a very strong history of portrayals of the Holocaust that strip it down to Good Gentiles versus Bad Gentiles, and which treat Jewish people as sort of tokens by which everyone else can prove their virtue or villainy. This is really deeply embedded in western culture. And can, I think, genuinely be seen as a subtle and pernicious form of anti-Semitism.
I don’t feel comfortable labeling Kate Breslin the author as an anti-Semite. I truly think her intentions were good, and she clearly made an attempt to treat the subject with what she felt was heartfelt respect.
But I can, without qualm, say that For Such a Time the novel is an unquestionable example of “subtle and pernicious” anti-Semitism.
I don’t care that there was no on-page conversion or that most of the Bible verses were from the Old Testament. There is NO EXCUSE for appropriating and exploiting a concentration camp to promote a “Christian worldview.”
None. ZERO.
Yes, the horrors are mentioned explicitly and prominently in the novel. But the scenes came across as deliberately paced and placed for shock value, instead of an integral part of the story. And most of the horrors are fleeting and momentary; the heroine shrugs off her icky worries about Her People when she’s distracted by another glimpse of uniformed broad shoulders. It’s all seen through the gloss of a fictional romance and buckets of glamorized intrigue and action.
This book has “smug superiority” oozing out of every page.
In the Esther episode of VeggieTales, the moral of the story for the kiddies is “You never have to be afraid to do what’s right.” I don’t think the author and her book team have seen the Veggie version — because from a “Christian worldview,” no matter how much we want to rewrite history, we didn’t do what was right. We didn’t do anything.
To borrow from another review,we need stories about the Holocaust. We need fiction about the Final Solution because it’s the only way we can feel it and grasp the full meaning on a personal level as we despair and hope with fictional characters.
But a “Christian worldview” of the Holocaust is NOT OUR STORY TO TELL, and it never will be.
The Holocaust is our EVER-LASTING SHAME of APATHY and SELFISHNESS and COWARDICE. Our story is the UTTER FAILURE to do what was right.
And you know what, Kate Breslin and Bethany House? That right there is THE OPPOSITE OF THE STORY OF ESTHER.
I AM USING A LOT OF ALL CAPS BECAUSE WHY IS THIS SO DIFFICULT FOR THE APPROVERS OF THE BOOK TO SEE? That last bit deserved the extra bold and italics.
But I am glad I read it, because I am learning so much. Our epic discussion has lead me to research anything I can get my hands on about Theresienstadt and the Book of Esther. Every time I glance at the book and our discussion and my growing list of bookmarks, I have more and more and more questions.
And in a (disturbing) way, reading this book has made me a better Christian. I’m back to studying my Bible closely, which I haven’t done in a very long time, and I’m internalizing how we go to such lengths to adapt God’s word to fit our history, our modern life, and the way we want the world to be.
Read
August 13, 2015Apart from the wildly, sickeningly offensive theme of this novel, just looking at the names of the main characters is extremely off-putting to me, and makes me wonder how much research the author can possibly have done. 'Stella Muller'? No, the name is Müller in German. Umlauts matter; you can't just leave them off. It's like missing out a letter and calling your heroine Stella Smth. 'Muller' may be how people of German origin in other countries who use languages without umlauts spell it, but it is not a German name. Neither is Stella, an extremely rare name in Germany whatever the time period. It would be pronounced 'shtella' and sounds like you're trying to say the word 'stellen', 'to put'. And 'Aric von Schmidt'? What to say? Sounds exactly like the kind of absurdly non-German name someone who hasn't researched properly would think sounds like a plausible German name, but completely isn't. Schmidt is one of the two or three most common surnames in Germany, von is the aristocratic prefix (meaning 'of'). Aric is just freaking weird. Calling your character 'Aric von Schmidt' like giving a British officer of the WW2 era the name 'Aric de Johnson'.
I'm typing this sitting literally round the corner from a memorial which now stands on the site where the main synagogue of this German city used to be, which was destroyed on Kristallnacht in November 1938. Then, the Jewish population of the city was 5053. By the end of the Second World War six and a half years later, only 58 of them were still alive. Also near here, just a few minutes on foot, is a house with a plaque on it stating that the house once belonged to a Jewish couple murdered in Auschwitz in 1944. Years ago I lived for some months in a small town in Poland, also just a few minutes' walk from the square where in 1943 the Jewish population of the town - those still alive after the starvation and the forced labour and the shooting into mass graves and all the rest - were rounded up and sent to the death camp of Treblinka. Not one of them survived. Not one. I've spent quite a bit of time in Krakow, which in 1939 had at least 70,000 Jewish inhabitants and now has barely 100. This matters to me. It matters more than I can express. Fiction set during the Holocaust, even fiction where a Jewish prisoner has a relationship with an SS guard, can be done, of course it can, but it needs to be done a hell of a lot more sensitively than this revolting 'Gosh, I think I'll convert to the religion of the persecutors of my people!' effort. I literally feel sick.
I'm typing this sitting literally round the corner from a memorial which now stands on the site where the main synagogue of this German city used to be, which was destroyed on Kristallnacht in November 1938. Then, the Jewish population of the city was 5053. By the end of the Second World War six and a half years later, only 58 of them were still alive. Also near here, just a few minutes on foot, is a house with a plaque on it stating that the house once belonged to a Jewish couple murdered in Auschwitz in 1944. Years ago I lived for some months in a small town in Poland, also just a few minutes' walk from the square where in 1943 the Jewish population of the town - those still alive after the starvation and the forced labour and the shooting into mass graves and all the rest - were rounded up and sent to the death camp of Treblinka. Not one of them survived. Not one. I've spent quite a bit of time in Krakow, which in 1939 had at least 70,000 Jewish inhabitants and now has barely 100. This matters to me. It matters more than I can express. Fiction set during the Holocaust, even fiction where a Jewish prisoner has a relationship with an SS guard, can be done, of course it can, but it needs to be done a hell of a lot more sensitively than this revolting 'Gosh, I think I'll convert to the religion of the persecutors of my people!' effort. I literally feel sick.
March 31, 2014
Ooh, brother.
So I picked this one up thinking it was a straightforward historical. And the concept really intrigued me. Esther's story has always been my favourite and I could see how applying that conceit to WWII could be interesting IF treated really delicately and thoughtfully, so heck, why not? But enough about the book's treatment of the Jewish and Christian faiths made me so uncomfortable by a third of the way into the book that I had to stop and look it up and, woop, there it is. Christian/inspirational.
I will give the author credit for trying. The actual writing is decent and there's enough action and suspense that in another context, I would probably really like it. But at no point does it rise past the self-imposed limitations of the genre. The chapter headings from the Book of Esther were incredibly intrusive--I was being reminded every five pages that this was a biblical adaptation: there was no room for the story to breathe or the narrative to proceed organically. The romance with Aric was super-awkward at times; he basically bullies her into agreeing to marry him and I was never able to think of him as like a Romantic Lead Human Person as opposed to Nazi Commandant Who's Kind of Decent But Still Gross And Oh Yeah a NAZI. And I'm speaking as a Catholic-raised gal myself, I don't want to co-opt whatever Jewish readers might think of this book, but personally, turning a Christian bible into Hadassah's touchstone and bringing back the metaphor of Christ's sacrifice again and again struck me as deeply disrespectful of her own faith. Though, thank God, we didn't get a conversion at the end, which I was genuinely afraid of.
I imagine people who read inspirational historicals will like this book. Like I said, on a technical and plotting level, the author succeeds just fine. But at no point does it let me forget that it's an inspirational historical; there just wasn't enough for a mainstream secular reader like me to latch onto.
So I picked this one up thinking it was a straightforward historical. And the concept really intrigued me. Esther's story has always been my favourite and I could see how applying that conceit to WWII could be interesting IF treated really delicately and thoughtfully, so heck, why not? But enough about the book's treatment of the Jewish and Christian faiths made me so uncomfortable by a third of the way into the book that I had to stop and look it up and, woop, there it is. Christian/inspirational.
I will give the author credit for trying. The actual writing is decent and there's enough action and suspense that in another context, I would probably really like it. But at no point does it rise past the self-imposed limitations of the genre. The chapter headings from the Book of Esther were incredibly intrusive--I was being reminded every five pages that this was a biblical adaptation: there was no room for the story to breathe or the narrative to proceed organically. The romance with Aric was super-awkward at times; he basically bullies her into agreeing to marry him and I was never able to think of him as like a Romantic Lead Human Person as opposed to Nazi Commandant Who's Kind of Decent But Still Gross And Oh Yeah a NAZI. And I'm speaking as a Catholic-raised gal myself, I don't want to co-opt whatever Jewish readers might think of this book, but personally, turning a Christian bible into Hadassah's touchstone and bringing back the metaphor of Christ's sacrifice again and again struck me as deeply disrespectful of her own faith. Though, thank God, we didn't get a conversion at the end, which I was genuinely afraid of.
I imagine people who read inspirational historicals will like this book. Like I said, on a technical and plotting level, the author succeeds just fine. But at no point does it let me forget that it's an inspirational historical; there just wasn't enough for a mainstream secular reader like me to latch onto.
April 23, 2014
Possibly my best discovery yet this year in a debut historical novel, “For Such a Time” is a moving work of fiction.
There is a romantic tension in this book that is so tightly woven throughout the story that I held my breath and only the pounding of my heart reminded me I was alive and reading. Stella is a captivating character coming into her own—a Jew living under the roof of a Nazi and he has no clue about her heritage.
The story strongly mirrors that of the Biblical story of Esther and I loved that about it. Set in a Nazi concentration camp, it’s heartbreaking to read what happens to the Jews and Stella’s striving to protect as many as she can, from the position she is in as a Nazi’s secretary.
It was the romance that grabbed me by the heartbeat and wouldn’t let go. I wouldn’t have expected the book to have such strong tension rife throughout the entire book, but it made for some pulsating moments. The book became near impossible to put down, and don’t plan on distractions during the last hundred pages of the book. I’ll warn you now: it’s impossible.
I would definitely highly recommend this title. A fabulous work of fiction with strong writing and even more captivating characters. I am incredibly impressed.
This review is my honest opinion. Thanks to the publishers for my copy to review.
There is a romantic tension in this book that is so tightly woven throughout the story that I held my breath and only the pounding of my heart reminded me I was alive and reading. Stella is a captivating character coming into her own—a Jew living under the roof of a Nazi and he has no clue about her heritage.
The story strongly mirrors that of the Biblical story of Esther and I loved that about it. Set in a Nazi concentration camp, it’s heartbreaking to read what happens to the Jews and Stella’s striving to protect as many as she can, from the position she is in as a Nazi’s secretary.
It was the romance that grabbed me by the heartbeat and wouldn’t let go. I wouldn’t have expected the book to have such strong tension rife throughout the entire book, but it made for some pulsating moments. The book became near impossible to put down, and don’t plan on distractions during the last hundred pages of the book. I’ll warn you now: it’s impossible.
I would definitely highly recommend this title. A fabulous work of fiction with strong writing and even more captivating characters. I am incredibly impressed.
This review is my honest opinion. Thanks to the publishers for my copy to review.
January 26, 2015
For Such a Time is an impressive debut. As soon as I saw the premise, I wanted to read it. I was drawn to the idea of a Jewish woman and a Nazi officer in love and wondered if the author would be able to pull off such an unlikely pairing believably. The answer is yes! The story begins with a young Jewish woman, Hadassah--or Stella, as she is officially known thanks to the false papers she carries confirming she is Aryan--being rescued from death by firing squad in Dachau by a Nazi officer. Colonel Aric von Schmidt is struck by the quiet defiance of the woman he believes was mistakenly interred. A wounded war hero, he has been removed from active duty and given an "honorable" position as commandant of Theresienstadt, a holding camp for Jews bound for Auschwitz. The Red Cross is coming to inspect the Nazi interment camp, and Aric has been given the job of hiding the atrocities committed to convince the Red Cross that the Nazis' prisoners are being treated humanely. He is in need of a secretary, and Stella's papers indicate she is educated. She is also beautiful beneath the bruises and skeletal flesh, and he makes it his mission to nurse her back to health.
Hadassah can't waste much time rejoicing in her salvation at the hands of the enemy. She's seen Nazi brutality firsthand, and she's seen the mind games they love to play with their prey. Though she seems safe and more cared for than she's been in years, she can't afford to let her guard down for a moment, even though the surprisingly compassionate and generous commandant seems determined to get her to do just that. And she has trouble reconciling her newfound luxury and safety with the plight of her fellow Jews in the ghetto next door. At first, she feels lost, set adrift by a God that has abandoned her and her people, but she slowly comes to see that through her clerical duties and her growing influence on Aric, she can help her people, even if only in the smallest of ways. But as her feelings for Aric deepen, creating another conflict in her soul, an embittered Nazi captain plots against them, and the Red Cross visit with the Nazi high brass looms near. Hadassah and Aric will both have to confront their fears and their faith and make decisions that will have dangerous and far-reaching consequences, and they soon find themselves fighting not just for the fate of the Theresienstadt Jews, but for their love and for their own lives.
Now this is inspirational fiction, which I enjoy reading, even though I'm not a very religious person. I like getting insight into the concepts of faith and devotion. And I can't think of a more likely place than a Nazi concentration camp for people under extreme conditions, faced with unending horrors and degradations, to find or lose faith--or both. Hadassah's faith and that of her uncle and their people, and to a lesser extent, Aric, are integral to the story, and it felt very natural. But I could have done without the verses from Esther at the beginning of each chapter. They served as spoilers as they showed how Hadassah's story mirrored Esther's. I would have preferred a more subtle line drawn between the two. I kind of like to draw my own parallels rather than have them explained for me. And I was a bit confused as to what the overall point was when it came to Hadassah's Jewish faith and the Christian Bible she used to hold on to her sanity and rediscover her faith. I couldn't figure out if she was converting or if she was just exploring the similarities between the two religions. And at the end, that aspect of the story seemed to fall by the wayside.
But aside from those elements, it is a wonderful, powerful story. It's a story of highs and lows, of stolen moments and secret pride in the face of torture, humiliation, starvation, and cruelty, and in the ever-present face of death. It's a story of contrasts, how the worst humanity has to offer is still no match for the faith of the best, how hope and joy can rise from the pits of anguish and despair, how the best emotions can rise from the most awful situations, how one person can make a difference.
"I cannot heal the past for you, any more than I can bring back the dead. I can only offer you this." He brushed his mouth across hers in a light kiss.
"Should that make me feel better?"
"Yes," he said with a ferocity that surprised them both. "Because in a world suffocated by death, you and I share something very much alive."
It's a bittersweet, moving love story, and it is a focal point of the novel. I would label this as romantic historical fiction, so if you're not into romance, you may find it a bit much. But I love it! And this one really pulled at my heartstrings, urging me to tears at times and keeping me in a state of angst-ridden uncertainty until the last page. A very good read. Even if many of the major plot points are purely fictional, and even if the daring, dangerous, and uplifting climax may seem improbable, it's still great storytelling. Unbearably sad yet wonderfully hopeful at the same time. Highly recommended for all fans of historical fiction and timeless love stories.
Hadassah can't waste much time rejoicing in her salvation at the hands of the enemy. She's seen Nazi brutality firsthand, and she's seen the mind games they love to play with their prey. Though she seems safe and more cared for than she's been in years, she can't afford to let her guard down for a moment, even though the surprisingly compassionate and generous commandant seems determined to get her to do just that. And she has trouble reconciling her newfound luxury and safety with the plight of her fellow Jews in the ghetto next door. At first, she feels lost, set adrift by a God that has abandoned her and her people, but she slowly comes to see that through her clerical duties and her growing influence on Aric, she can help her people, even if only in the smallest of ways. But as her feelings for Aric deepen, creating another conflict in her soul, an embittered Nazi captain plots against them, and the Red Cross visit with the Nazi high brass looms near. Hadassah and Aric will both have to confront their fears and their faith and make decisions that will have dangerous and far-reaching consequences, and they soon find themselves fighting not just for the fate of the Theresienstadt Jews, but for their love and for their own lives.
Now this is inspirational fiction, which I enjoy reading, even though I'm not a very religious person. I like getting insight into the concepts of faith and devotion. And I can't think of a more likely place than a Nazi concentration camp for people under extreme conditions, faced with unending horrors and degradations, to find or lose faith--or both. Hadassah's faith and that of her uncle and their people, and to a lesser extent, Aric, are integral to the story, and it felt very natural. But I could have done without the verses from Esther at the beginning of each chapter. They served as spoilers as they showed how Hadassah's story mirrored Esther's. I would have preferred a more subtle line drawn between the two. I kind of like to draw my own parallels rather than have them explained for me. And I was a bit confused as to what the overall point was when it came to Hadassah's Jewish faith and the Christian Bible she used to hold on to her sanity and rediscover her faith. I couldn't figure out if she was converting or if she was just exploring the similarities between the two religions. And at the end, that aspect of the story seemed to fall by the wayside.
But aside from those elements, it is a wonderful, powerful story. It's a story of highs and lows, of stolen moments and secret pride in the face of torture, humiliation, starvation, and cruelty, and in the ever-present face of death. It's a story of contrasts, how the worst humanity has to offer is still no match for the faith of the best, how hope and joy can rise from the pits of anguish and despair, how the best emotions can rise from the most awful situations, how one person can make a difference.
"I cannot heal the past for you, any more than I can bring back the dead. I can only offer you this." He brushed his mouth across hers in a light kiss.
"Should that make me feel better?"
"Yes," he said with a ferocity that surprised them both. "Because in a world suffocated by death, you and I share something very much alive."
It's a bittersweet, moving love story, and it is a focal point of the novel. I would label this as romantic historical fiction, so if you're not into romance, you may find it a bit much. But I love it! And this one really pulled at my heartstrings, urging me to tears at times and keeping me in a state of angst-ridden uncertainty until the last page. A very good read. Even if many of the major plot points are purely fictional, and even if the daring, dangerous, and uplifting climax may seem improbable, it's still great storytelling. Unbearably sad yet wonderfully hopeful at the same time. Highly recommended for all fans of historical fiction and timeless love stories.
winter-in-pandemonium
August 12, 2015I won't rate this book, because I didn't read it, and never will, but I'm offended that a publisher thought it wise to publish a book in which a Nazi Kommandant is depicted as some kind of hero, and that a Jewish woman supposedly falls in love with this murderer of innocent men, women, and children, whose only "crime" it was to be Jewish in Hitler Germany. I'm outraged that the marketing campaign they chose to employ uses real images from Nazi concentration camps in which millions of Jewish people died.
As a German, I'm offended that someone decided to romanticize this evil bloody stain on world history, on Jewish history, on German history, and twisted facts in such a way that they become nothing but fiction.
I'm offended on behalf of my Jewish friends who will forever have to live with the pain and unimaginable suffering inflicted on their people by a monster who thought nothing of killing millions of them as part of his 'master plan'.
I'm thoroughly disgusted that such a book would be published.
As a German, I'm offended that someone decided to romanticize this evil bloody stain on world history, on Jewish history, on German history, and twisted facts in such a way that they become nothing but fiction.
I'm offended on behalf of my Jewish friends who will forever have to live with the pain and unimaginable suffering inflicted on their people by a monster who thought nothing of killing millions of them as part of his 'master plan'.
I'm thoroughly disgusted that such a book would be published.
April 7, 2015
Thank you to my bookclub friend who picked this book for the month's read. It was fabulous. After being in a reading slump for so long this helped me get back out. It was completely un-put-down-able.
However I am one of those people who love stories such as this, depressing, but there is something beneath it all that fascinates me. The deep brain wash and propaganda of Hitler and how it all transpired, the depth of soul in the lives of people in the camps, the truth behind such a tragic part of history. It's real and tragic.
This story is a retelling of the biblical account of Esther and it follows a woman who was saved at the last second from a firing squad due to some "mistake" on her papers. Under the false name of Stella Muller she is moved from a camp to another camp, this time as a secretary at the transit camp of Theresienstadt (which actually exists). There under the employ of Kommandant Colonel Aric von Schmidt who isn't what he appears to be.
I liked Stella because she was honest, having lived through time in a camp the author did a great job of creating the character and showing the deep fear, mistrust and horror of what she went through, yet the struggling of knowing she should be out there suffering with her fellow jews, yet not wanting to leave the comforts of this mistaken identity. Due to the fact that Stella has suffered so long in a camp she has to wear a wig of red hair to hide the baldness of her head from being shaved, she is impossibly thin and gaunt and the author painted a perfect picture of that aspect. And it was interesting to watch her transformation from starving survivor to a beautiful woman, wanted and adored.
I liked Aric, I enjoyed the inner struggle of everything, he wasn't exactly a nazi he was a german completing orders he hated because that is what he was trained to do. Having fought for Germany he was wounded and offered a high position in which he dislikes but will do as commanded. I enjoyed the many levels of depth to this man as he finds his inner struggle to find the peace he hasn't ever had in just about all his lift, I enjoyed that you weren't ever sure as to what he would do and it kept you on your toes especially if you know of the account of Esther in the bible.
The romance was a little too cheesy for me, however, I understand the need for cheese in this story. I enjoyed the inner struggle of both Aric and Stella with their feelings and the hidden truth Stella was afraid to tell which added a but of mystery to the story which I liked.
Overall this retelling was fabulous and I was impressed at the authors telling of the real life aspect of the truth on what went on behind closed doors and not just between these two characters but other key players whose were actual nazi and enjoyed the suffering of others. I firmly believe that even though all the evil that was going on there were still good germans who fought for Germany and not for Hitler. I really enjoyed the showing of that in certain aspects.<
Sexual Content: moderate (PG some kissing, innuendos)
Language: mild
Violence: heavy (do I really need to go into detail? it's the holocaust)
Drugs/Alcohol: mild (social drinking)
However I am one of those people who love stories such as this, depressing, but there is something beneath it all that fascinates me. The deep brain wash and propaganda of Hitler and how it all transpired, the depth of soul in the lives of people in the camps, the truth behind such a tragic part of history. It's real and tragic.
This story is a retelling of the biblical account of Esther and it follows a woman who was saved at the last second from a firing squad due to some "mistake" on her papers. Under the false name of Stella Muller she is moved from a camp to another camp, this time as a secretary at the transit camp of Theresienstadt (which actually exists). There under the employ of Kommandant Colonel Aric von Schmidt who isn't what he appears to be.
I liked Stella because she was honest, having lived through time in a camp the author did a great job of creating the character and showing the deep fear, mistrust and horror of what she went through, yet the struggling of knowing she should be out there suffering with her fellow jews, yet not wanting to leave the comforts of this mistaken identity. Due to the fact that Stella has suffered so long in a camp she has to wear a wig of red hair to hide the baldness of her head from being shaved, she is impossibly thin and gaunt and the author painted a perfect picture of that aspect. And it was interesting to watch her transformation from starving survivor to a beautiful woman, wanted and adored.
I liked Aric, I enjoyed the inner struggle of everything, he wasn't exactly a nazi he was a german completing orders he hated because that is what he was trained to do. Having fought for Germany he was wounded and offered a high position in which he dislikes but will do as commanded. I enjoyed the many levels of depth to this man as he finds his inner struggle to find the peace he hasn't ever had in just about all his lift, I enjoyed that you weren't ever sure as to what he would do and it kept you on your toes especially if you know of the account of Esther in the bible.
The romance was a little too cheesy for me, however, I understand the need for cheese in this story. I enjoyed the inner struggle of both Aric and Stella with their feelings and the hidden truth Stella was afraid to tell which added a but of mystery to the story which I liked.
Overall this retelling was fabulous and I was impressed at the authors telling of the real life aspect of the truth on what went on behind closed doors and not just between these two characters but other key players whose were actual nazi and enjoyed the suffering of others. I firmly believe that even though all the evil that was going on there were still good germans who fought for Germany and not for Hitler. I really enjoyed the showing of that in certain aspects.<
Sexual Content: moderate (PG some kissing, innuendos)
Language: mild
Violence: heavy (do I really need to go into detail? it's the holocaust)
Drugs/Alcohol: mild (social drinking)
August 11, 2015
I am disgusted and dismayed and horrified. I hope and pray that the Jewish members of my family never ever ever run across this book.
And since the fuck when has fucking PICTURES OF PEOPLE BEING SENT TO THEIR DEATHS been considered romantic???!? How can you look at that cover and not want to throw up???
ETA: The yellow in this cover is part of the Star of David pictured as forced on the Jewish people by the Nazis.
The photo below the yellow is an actual photo of Jewish people being sent to Auschwitz and thus to their deaths.
There is no romanticism is the death of millions.
http://dearauthor.com/features/letter...
http://www.jackiebarbosa.com/2015/08/...
And since the fuck when has fucking PICTURES OF PEOPLE BEING SENT TO THEIR DEATHS been considered romantic???!? How can you look at that cover and not want to throw up???
ETA: The yellow in this cover is part of the Star of David pictured as forced on the Jewish people by the Nazis.
The photo below the yellow is an actual photo of Jewish people being sent to Auschwitz and thus to their deaths.
There is no romanticism is the death of millions.
http://dearauthor.com/features/letter...
http://www.jackiebarbosa.com/2015/08/...
August 17, 2015
For the same reason Schadenfreude is equally utterly despicable.
And two commentaries that I can undersign, applying to this whole nazisploitation romance and erotica writing, which doesn't end with "Schadenfreude" or "For Such A Time".
I'm absolutely sick of this. What a fucking idiocy of RWA.
They say it better:
http://bibliogato.tumblr.com/post/125...
http://caferisque.blogspot.de/2015/08...
And two commentaries that I can undersign, applying to this whole nazisploitation romance and erotica writing, which doesn't end with "Schadenfreude" or "For Such A Time".
I'm absolutely sick of this. What a fucking idiocy of RWA.
They say it better:
http://bibliogato.tumblr.com/post/125...
http://caferisque.blogspot.de/2015/08...
April 16, 2018
What can I say? It's heart-wrenching, it's emotional, and extremely deep. It holds your attention. It makes you want to ignore the rest of the world, but also wish that there was never such an awful history in the past. As a believer, it brings forth the beauty of the book of Esther and carries you through to the end.
Yet, in some ways it fell short. Aric was a deep character, but I never was drawn to him. Sometimes I didn't understand Stella's love for him. But every time I wondered "how in the world?" I would remind myself of how little happiness and love the Jews were shown in the camps. Any sort of kindness would have been reached for. Neither did I understand how she could love him so quickly, but I think part of it is becuase she could sympathize with his struggles.
The kissing scenes were over the top for me, several much too detailed (I'm not kidding). I also would have liked if Aric's faith struggle had been bigger. It seemed that he found more love-which, during most of the book was a selfish love-from Stella, then God.
In no way did I ever feel that the author agreed with the Nazi's. If that is what is taken away from this book, then I believe readers have sorely missed the point of this story. Aric's character is an example of many Germans during the war. I've read true accounts where German soldiers-yes, even SS officers-showed compassion. It is possible, even in the worst of men. But neither does this discount the fact that man, even as "good" as they may be, can only be saved through Jesus Christ.
The author never belitted the suffering of the Jewish people. She could have been much more detailed in her descriptions, but neither does she sugar-coat it. Maybe it seems offensive she would have a Jew trust in Jesus Christ (as some reviews have pointed out), but believe it or not there are are Jews that believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah.
All around this is a very intense story...I thought the ending would be different and would have preferred it that way, even though most readers would be happy with how it ends. I still would recommend to historical lovers and readers 18/19+.
Yet, in some ways it fell short. Aric was a deep character, but I never was drawn to him. Sometimes I didn't understand Stella's love for him. But every time I wondered "how in the world?" I would remind myself of how little happiness and love the Jews were shown in the camps. Any sort of kindness would have been reached for. Neither did I understand how she could love him so quickly, but I think part of it is becuase she could sympathize with his struggles.
The kissing scenes were over the top for me, several much too detailed (I'm not kidding). I also would have liked if Aric's faith struggle had been bigger. It seemed that he found more love-which, during most of the book was a selfish love-from Stella, then God.
In no way did I ever feel that the author agreed with the Nazi's. If that is what is taken away from this book, then I believe readers have sorely missed the point of this story. Aric's character is an example of many Germans during the war. I've read true accounts where German soldiers-yes, even SS officers-showed compassion. It is possible, even in the worst of men. But neither does this discount the fact that man, even as "good" as they may be, can only be saved through Jesus Christ.
The author never belitted the suffering of the Jewish people. She could have been much more detailed in her descriptions, but neither does she sugar-coat it. Maybe it seems offensive she would have a Jew trust in Jesus Christ (as some reviews have pointed out), but believe it or not there are are Jews that believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah.
All around this is a very intense story...I thought the ending would be different and would have preferred it that way, even though most readers would be happy with how it ends. I still would recommend to historical lovers and readers 18/19+.
August 9, 2015
ZERO STARS.
Outside of the fact that the book itself is distasteful, obscene and quite frankly, DANGEROUS, I can't believe that Kate Breslin is SO tone deaf, she uses a picture of Auschwitz to promote her book.
What in the hell, Breslin? I just can't with people sometimes.
Outside of the fact that the book itself is distasteful, obscene and quite frankly, DANGEROUS, I can't believe that Kate Breslin is SO tone deaf, she uses a picture of Auschwitz to promote her book.
What in the hell, Breslin? I just can't with people sometimes.
August 10, 2015
The subject is offensive. It's conversion porn. You lost me at Nazi.
Added 8/9/15: To the author who called the critics of this book "vengeful haters" http://wanderlands.tumblr.com/post/12...
Added 8/9/15: To the author who called the critics of this book "vengeful haters" http://wanderlands.tumblr.com/post/12...
July 19, 2023
I should start by saying that I read Christian Fiction with a different eye than I do other forms of fiction. Whether this be right or wrong, I feel that Christian Fiction has a different aim and, because of that, I need to look at it with that aim in mind. Because of this, I can overlook some things that would really, really bug my in other genres. Still, the fact that this is Christian Fiction does not give it a free pass.
The idea of re-telling the story of Esther and setting it during the Holocaust is intriguing and problematic. The setting definitely works--both the Biblical account and the Holocaust center around the persecution of the Jewish people. Breslin does a very good job of pacing this book along with the Biblical account so that they line up. I found that the general arc of her story was fascinating and it kept me interested in the book.
Breslin also had a very good grasp of the main character of Hadassah/Stella. She had a lot going on--she was rescued from one concentration camp and then put into the employ of the kommandant of another. She had to hold up the facade of being a gentile while watching her fellow Jews, including her Uncle, suffer. Breslin was able to effectively communicate all the inner struggles of this woman in a believable way.
All this being said, I found two rather big problems with this book. One has to do with the fact that it is Christian Fiction and Breslin had to struggle with how to make it "Christian" while dealing with non-Christian characters. On this count, I don't feel that she completely succeeded. I believe that she tried to remain respectful to the Jewish faith--but having a main character in kind of a limbo land between Judaism and Christianity just didn't work. I think she still could have told this story in a "Christian" tone by focusing on Aric's faith instead of Hadassah's.
The second issue was far more troublesome to me. The relationship between Aric and Stella was just outright uncomfortable to read. The idea was that Aric was in love with Stella (at first sight, of course) and that is what led him to rescue her from a firing squad and that she fell in love with him as she discovered his good heart under his SS uniform. Unfortunately, that is not how the relationship came off. Instead, it came across more like a frightening case of sexual harassment couple with Stockholm Syndrome. I was incredibly repulsed by the whole situation--and the fact that what I find stomach turning from this book is the love story and not the fact that it was set in a concentration camp should tell you something.
Honestly, Breslin could have told this story in a way that conveyed a believable love story and I think that is probably the biggest failing of the book, which is too bad because the overall story is quite good.
I might recommend this book to others--but only to those with an interest in Christian fiction and who were willing to overlook a badly written romance in order to see a fascinating re-telling of Esther.
I was given an electronic copy of this book in return for an honest review. I received no other compensation for this post.
The idea of re-telling the story of Esther and setting it during the Holocaust is intriguing and problematic. The setting definitely works--both the Biblical account and the Holocaust center around the persecution of the Jewish people. Breslin does a very good job of pacing this book along with the Biblical account so that they line up. I found that the general arc of her story was fascinating and it kept me interested in the book.
Breslin also had a very good grasp of the main character of Hadassah/Stella. She had a lot going on--she was rescued from one concentration camp and then put into the employ of the kommandant of another. She had to hold up the facade of being a gentile while watching her fellow Jews, including her Uncle, suffer. Breslin was able to effectively communicate all the inner struggles of this woman in a believable way.
All this being said, I found two rather big problems with this book. One has to do with the fact that it is Christian Fiction and Breslin had to struggle with how to make it "Christian" while dealing with non-Christian characters. On this count, I don't feel that she completely succeeded. I believe that she tried to remain respectful to the Jewish faith--but having a main character in kind of a limbo land between Judaism and Christianity just didn't work. I think she still could have told this story in a "Christian" tone by focusing on Aric's faith instead of Hadassah's.
The second issue was far more troublesome to me. The relationship between Aric and Stella was just outright uncomfortable to read. The idea was that Aric was in love with Stella (at first sight, of course) and that is what led him to rescue her from a firing squad and that she fell in love with him as she discovered his good heart under his SS uniform. Unfortunately, that is not how the relationship came off. Instead, it came across more like a frightening case of sexual harassment couple with Stockholm Syndrome. I was incredibly repulsed by the whole situation--and the fact that what I find stomach turning from this book is the love story and not the fact that it was set in a concentration camp should tell you something.
Honestly, Breslin could have told this story in a way that conveyed a believable love story and I think that is probably the biggest failing of the book, which is too bad because the overall story is quite good.
I might recommend this book to others--but only to those with an interest in Christian fiction and who were willing to overlook a badly written romance in order to see a fascinating re-telling of Esther.
I was given an electronic copy of this book in return for an honest review. I received no other compensation for this post.
August 20, 2015
I had many issues with this book. Although I cannot disagree that it was well written but I did struggle to find any attachment to the characters. This was mostly due to the fact that I didn't agree with the romance.
I am a little confused on how one can fall in love so quickly with a man who wears the same uniform as the man who killed your family. I don't see it and I don't get it.
I picked up this book because it sounded intriguing and I always enjoy a good historical novel. I enjoyed the novel in the beginning because it was suspenseful. But that just turned into dust later on.
The Christian aspect to me was forced and disrespectful to a story that should have been about Jewish faith and their struggle. Although I understand that there is the same God when it comes to Jewish and Christian faith I did not agree bringing Jesus and his 'salvation'into the story.
I just have too many problems with this book and had to skim through the last chapters because I started becoming uncomfortable and a little annoyed.
I am especially uncomfortable with the fact that this author used (yes, used) a terrible crime against humanity as a means to promote her own religious faith.
No. Kate Breslin. No.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 20, 2015
Two of my favorite things came together with this novel - debut and WWII Fiction.
For Such a Time is a modern day retelling of Esther. One of the things I loved the most was how the author started each chapter with a verse from Esther that related to the story.
Hadassah was also known as Stella in the story. She is a brave lady and very likable heroine.
I recommend this novel for those who enjoy historical Fiction.
For Such a Time is a modern day retelling of Esther. One of the things I loved the most was how the author started each chapter with a verse from Esther that related to the story.
Hadassah was also known as Stella in the story. She is a brave lady and very likable heroine.
I recommend this novel for those who enjoy historical Fiction.
July 20, 2017
by Andrea Renee Cox
World War II stories always punch me in the gut. For Such a Time was no different there. The heart for children that was on display was quite beautiful.
There were plenty of things to disappoint me in this book, though. The lead male took advantage of his position to coerce kisses from the leading lady, which made him no better than the antagonists to me. I couldn't root for him because of this, and it also made the entire romance feel forced and awkward. The details of the romance contradicted the rest of the two leading characters' personalities. At times they hated each other, yet they fell in love so easily. This was a major issue for me, because it seemed to be two completely different story lines that didn't belong together.
There was a really awkward moment when the leading lady was observing, touching, and kissing the lead male's chest.
There were at least three expletives, one of which was used by the leading lady. There were tobacco, alcohol, and drug usage. There was some nudity associated with Jewish death camps. Sexual innuendo and crude comments were present throughout.
Where was Stella's faith? Since this story was a retelling of Esther's and it was a Christian fiction book, I expected the lead to be a believer. But she had very little -- if any -- faith through the first seventy-five percent of the book, relying only on her own smarts to outwit the Nazis.
The glossary in the back of the book was incomplete. Many times I checked for a term used in the book, only to find it missing from the glossary. I finally gave up and stopped using the "aid."
A few random POVs popped up late in the story simply to show something the already-established POV characters could not be aware of. This is a poor writing tactic that distracts me from the story every time.
I really wanted to enjoy this book a lot more than I did. I think I'll give this author another try, but I hope there aren't any expletives in whichever of her books I read next. That's a real pet peeve of mine in Christian fiction.
I was not compensated for my honest review.
World War II stories always punch me in the gut. For Such a Time was no different there. The heart for children that was on display was quite beautiful.
There were plenty of things to disappoint me in this book, though. The lead male took advantage of his position to coerce kisses from the leading lady, which made him no better than the antagonists to me. I couldn't root for him because of this, and it also made the entire romance feel forced and awkward. The details of the romance contradicted the rest of the two leading characters' personalities. At times they hated each other, yet they fell in love so easily. This was a major issue for me, because it seemed to be two completely different story lines that didn't belong together.
There was a really awkward moment when the leading lady was observing, touching, and kissing the lead male's chest.
There were at least three expletives, one of which was used by the leading lady. There were tobacco, alcohol, and drug usage. There was some nudity associated with Jewish death camps. Sexual innuendo and crude comments were present throughout.
Where was Stella's faith? Since this story was a retelling of Esther's and it was a Christian fiction book, I expected the lead to be a believer. But she had very little -- if any -- faith through the first seventy-five percent of the book, relying only on her own smarts to outwit the Nazis.
The glossary in the back of the book was incomplete. Many times I checked for a term used in the book, only to find it missing from the glossary. I finally gave up and stopped using the "aid."
A few random POVs popped up late in the story simply to show something the already-established POV characters could not be aware of. This is a poor writing tactic that distracts me from the story every time.
I really wanted to enjoy this book a lot more than I did. I think I'll give this author another try, but I hope there aren't any expletives in whichever of her books I read next. That's a real pet peeve of mine in Christian fiction.
I was not compensated for my honest review.
August 21, 2016
SUMMARY: Powerful Retelling of the Story of Esther
In 1944, blonde and blue-eyed Jewess Hadassah Benjamin feels abandoned by God when she is saved from a firing squad only to be handed over to a new enemy. Pressed into service by SS-Kommandant Colonel Aric von Schmidt at the transit camp of Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia, she is able to hide behind the false identity of Stella Muller. However, in order to survive and maintain her cover as Aric's secretary, she is forced to stand by as her own people are sent to Auschwitz.
Suspecting her employer is a man of hidden depths and sympathies, Stella cautiously appeals to him on behalf of those in the camp. Aric's compassion gives her hope, and she finds herself battling a growing attraction for this man she knows she should despise as an enemy.
Stella pours herself into her efforts to keep even some of the camp's prisoners safe, but she risks the revelation of her true identity with every attempt. When her bravery brings her to the point of the ultimate sacrifice, she has only her faith to lean upon. Perhaps God has placed her there for such a time as this, but how can she save her people when she is unable to save herself?
REVIEW: For a debut novel, I would give this a 5+. Similar in vein, to The Butterfly and the Violin, it is as complex and well-written as it. The parallel to the story of Esther and the introduction of each chapter with verses from Esther as well as the similarity in names in many cases all interwoven with a complex plot line and incredibly developed characters made this an incredible read.
The secondary characters added additional depth to this story and you will fall in love with young Joseph the houseboy, Helen the cook and Rand, Aric's sergeant. The World War II setting and historical detail continue to round out a well researched novel.
This book will definitely stay in my mind for a long time and be ranked high on my 2015 Favorite Reads list.
FAVORITE QUOTES: "Earthly ears cannot always fathom divine reasoning. Remember we live not in our time, but in God's."
"God did not fail....Main fails. He fails God. He fails his brother. Himself."
"A strong belief in God is like forging steel; it must be repeatedly tested in fire, then colled in the waters of His mercy before becoming resilient enough to withstand evil."
In 1944, blonde and blue-eyed Jewess Hadassah Benjamin feels abandoned by God when she is saved from a firing squad only to be handed over to a new enemy. Pressed into service by SS-Kommandant Colonel Aric von Schmidt at the transit camp of Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia, she is able to hide behind the false identity of Stella Muller. However, in order to survive and maintain her cover as Aric's secretary, she is forced to stand by as her own people are sent to Auschwitz.
Suspecting her employer is a man of hidden depths and sympathies, Stella cautiously appeals to him on behalf of those in the camp. Aric's compassion gives her hope, and she finds herself battling a growing attraction for this man she knows she should despise as an enemy.
Stella pours herself into her efforts to keep even some of the camp's prisoners safe, but she risks the revelation of her true identity with every attempt. When her bravery brings her to the point of the ultimate sacrifice, she has only her faith to lean upon. Perhaps God has placed her there for such a time as this, but how can she save her people when she is unable to save herself?
REVIEW: For a debut novel, I would give this a 5+. Similar in vein, to The Butterfly and the Violin, it is as complex and well-written as it. The parallel to the story of Esther and the introduction of each chapter with verses from Esther as well as the similarity in names in many cases all interwoven with a complex plot line and incredibly developed characters made this an incredible read.
The secondary characters added additional depth to this story and you will fall in love with young Joseph the houseboy, Helen the cook and Rand, Aric's sergeant. The World War II setting and historical detail continue to round out a well researched novel.
This book will definitely stay in my mind for a long time and be ranked high on my 2015 Favorite Reads list.
FAVORITE QUOTES: "Earthly ears cannot always fathom divine reasoning. Remember we live not in our time, but in God's."
"God did not fail....Main fails. He fails God. He fails his brother. Himself."
"A strong belief in God is like forging steel; it must be repeatedly tested in fire, then colled in the waters of His mercy before becoming resilient enough to withstand evil."
August 19, 2021
I read only the first few pages, but knew that even if the prose was War and Peace-worthy, I was going to one star this. I read the reviews. I know that the Romance Writers of America (RWA) nominated it for a major award. And I read the articles critiquing said awards (https://www.bustle.com/articles/10284... https://www.flavorwire.com/531367/naz... https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/202... https://www.themarysue.com/romance-wr...).
So, why, after seven years, am I commenting on this now? Particularly when so many reviewers have left far more eloquent critiques of a book that romanticizes Nazis and explicitly endorses genocide (if not by murder, then by conversion) than I ever could?
I'm doing so because the RWA -- apparently having learnt nothing -- recently gave their newly-named major award to At Love's Command, which romanticizes murderers of Native Americans and explicitly endorses genocide (if not by murder -- well, actually, by murder). The category for this award:The trauma of the oppressed serves solely as a redemption arc for the White Male Character Romance with Religious or Spiritual Elements. (Well, it's pretty clear that in both cases the "Religious or Spiritual Elements" are specifically Christian.) And while I could leave the comments I'm about to make on At Love's Command, I'm choosing to do so here because this offensive treatment of difference resonates with me personally: I'm part Jewish and it's an important part of my intersectional identity.
The major point I want to make, though, applies to both these books -- as well as countless others I've read in the romance genre, including the erotic sub-genre. And that is that many authors and many readers (at least from what I can tell from their reviews) seem to believe that fantasy excuses everything. And that as long as you invoke "fantasy" or "hot" or "dark" or whatever, you don't have to interrogate discrimination or prejudice. Thus, authors write and readers (not to mention awards voters) seemingly ignore Islamophobia (Devil Dog), racism (The Taking), anti-semitism (Collateral Damage: A Dom's Justice), body shaming (Tamed by Her Mates), and ableism (The Bratva's Bride), to name just a few) -- all in the name of "smexy times are so groovy!" breathlessness.
So, this is a problem and it's a serious one. Because "fantasy" or "hot" or "dark" or whatever don't actually mean that books can't contain harmful stereotypes or endorse problematic ideologies. And just because a book is "fantasy" or "hot" or "dark" or whatever doesn't mean that these books don't have the power to harm. I, for example, was pretty upset at the Shylock comment in Collateral Damage: A Dom's Justice. And I'm pretty upset about this.
At the end of the day, we should all interrogate what we read -- even a book marketed solely for candy-coated entertainment. And we should all interrogate what we write -- even a "smut" book. Because if words have no meaning, then why read or write at all?
Note: I'm specifically commenting on the romance and erotic genres here because they are A) the books that I review on this site; and B) the most recent examples of my problems with the "fantasy excuses everything" defense. I am not saying that other genres and other generic authors are "better" or problem-free: sci-fi and Westerns, for example, often contain colonialism, racism, and xenophobia.
So, why, after seven years, am I commenting on this now? Particularly when so many reviewers have left far more eloquent critiques of a book that romanticizes Nazis and explicitly endorses genocide (if not by murder, then by conversion) than I ever could?
I'm doing so because the RWA -- apparently having learnt nothing -- recently gave their newly-named major award to At Love's Command, which romanticizes murderers of Native Americans and explicitly endorses genocide (if not by murder -- well, actually, by murder). The category for this award:
The major point I want to make, though, applies to both these books -- as well as countless others I've read in the romance genre, including the erotic sub-genre. And that is that many authors and many readers (at least from what I can tell from their reviews) seem to believe that fantasy excuses everything. And that as long as you invoke "fantasy" or "hot" or "dark" or whatever, you don't have to interrogate discrimination or prejudice. Thus, authors write and readers (not to mention awards voters) seemingly ignore Islamophobia (Devil Dog), racism (The Taking), anti-semitism (Collateral Damage: A Dom's Justice), body shaming (Tamed by Her Mates), and ableism (The Bratva's Bride), to name just a few) -- all in the name of "smexy times are so groovy!" breathlessness.
So, this is a problem and it's a serious one. Because "fantasy" or "hot" or "dark" or whatever don't actually mean that books can't contain harmful stereotypes or endorse problematic ideologies. And just because a book is "fantasy" or "hot" or "dark" or whatever doesn't mean that these books don't have the power to harm. I, for example, was pretty upset at the Shylock comment in Collateral Damage: A Dom's Justice. And I'm pretty upset about this.
At the end of the day, we should all interrogate what we read -- even a book marketed solely for candy-coated entertainment. And we should all interrogate what we write -- even a "smut" book. Because if words have no meaning, then why read or write at all?
Note: I'm specifically commenting on the romance and erotic genres here because they are A) the books that I review on this site; and B) the most recent examples of my problems with the "fantasy excuses everything" defense. I am not saying that other genres and other generic authors are "better" or problem-free: sci-fi and Westerns, for example, often contain colonialism, racism, and xenophobia.
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