Madrona Marsh

 A nice nature walk in my area.

 

I love the trees, they're beautiful.

The Ragged Edge of Night

 

Anton Starzmann is a Franciscan friar and teacher living in Stuttgart, Germany when World War II starts. He is displaced when the school where he works is seized by the Nazis and the students are taken away.

He moves to the small town of Unterboihingen and marries Elisabeth Herter, a widow with three children (Albert, Paul and Maria). Things are awkward at first. This marriage is supposed to be in name only because Elisabeth needs help caring for the children, but Anton and Elisabeth discover later they love each other.

Anton becomes involved in the Red Orchestra, a Nazi resistance group, and keeping the Nazis from finding out what he is doing is a challenge. One challenge in particular is the creepy Bruno Franke, a Nazi party member who watches for and reports resistance. Ultimately the resistance succeeds.

What I liked: The historical setting is interesting, and the author's descriptions of the surroundings are good. I like the interaction between the characters, particularly between Anton and the children. Anton is very focused on doing his best for Albert, Paul and Maria, and this helps ease the pain he feels about losing the children he taught. I didn't care for Elisabeth at first. However, it becomes clear as the story goes on that she has been through a hard time and is doing her best for her children during a time when women didn't have a lot of options.

What I wondered about: I can't imagine marrying someone you have never met and don't love, but there was a time when people married for reasons other than love, such as financial security or to combine powerful families. Also, the story focuses mostly on the characters (Anton particularly) and their thoughts. There isn't a lot of action. This isn't necessarily always a bad thing, but in this case it makes things go slowly at times. Stories work better when there is conflict in my opinion. There is conflict between Anton and Bruno Franke, and between Elisabeth and Anton about the resistance but it is mostly talk. The war is going on around the characters and the town, not actually where they are.

I like, don't love The Ragged Edge of Night, and this isn't a book I care about reading again.

9/11

 

Happy Labor Day weekend

 

Delthorne Park

 A nice park in my area.

All The Light We Cannot See

 

All The Light We Cannot See is the story of how Marie-Laure LeBlanc's and Werner Pfenning's paths cross in Nazi occupied France during World War II.  Marie-Laure is a young blind girl who lives in Paris with her father, Daniel, near the Museum of Natural History where Daniel works.  Werner is a young orphan living with his sister Jutta in an orphanage in Germany.

Marie-Laure and Daniel go to live with Marie-Laure's great uncle Etienne in the city of Saint-Malo after the Nazis occupy Paris.  The museum has a valuable stone, the Sea of Flames, and three copies of the diamond are made due to the Nazi occupation.  Daniel and two other museum employees are given a stone, not knowing if they are copies or the real diamond.  Daniel takes the stone with him when they go to Saint-Malo.   Daniel makes a miniature of Etienne's house and hides the stone there.  He also makes a miniature of the city to help Marie-Laure learn her way around.  He tells Marie-Laure and Etienne he has some business to take care of and has to leave for a while, but he is arrested and put in a camp on his way to his destination where he dies later.

Etienne's housekeeper, Madame Manec, organizes a resistance against the Nazis which Etienne and Marie-Laure eventually participate in.  Etienne has a radio transmitter that Etienne's brother Henri (Marie-Laure's grandfather) used to do broadcasts about science.  Etienne broadcasts codes and messages to undermine the Nazis, and Marie-Laure buys a loaf of bread from the bakery every day with a scroll with important information about the resistance.

Werner has talent for technology and science.  He finds a radio transmitter at the orphanage and repairs it.  He and Jutta listen to the same science broadcasts Marie-Laure's grandfather made.  Werner is accepted into the training program at the National Institute and is sent to the front later.  His job is to discover illegal radio transmissions, and this is how he and Marie-Laure connect. Werner and the other soldiers go to Saint-Malo, and he hears the same radio broadcast coming from Etienne's house that he and Jutta heard after he repaired the radio transmitter.  He watches the house and sees Marie-Laure.

A Nazi official, Reinhold von Rumpel, is under orders to confiscate and catalogue jewels from occupied German territory.  He becomes fixated on the Flaming Sea and traces it to Etienne's house.  When the Nazis bomb Saint-Malo, von Rumpel takes the opportunity to go to Etienne's house to try to find the diamond.   Marie-Laure, who has been separted from Etienne during the bombing, hides in the attic and sends radio broadcasts which Werner hears.  He goes to Etienne's house, shoots von Rumpel and helps Marie-Laure get out of the city.

Sadly, Werner dies before the war ends, but he and Marie-Laure have a reconnection of sorts when Werner's sister Jutta finds her later.

What I liked:  The writing itself is good.  The author does a good job describing the countryside, and the setting is interesting.  I like the interaction between Marie-Laure and her father, and how he encourages her independence by making a model of their neighborhood so she can learn to navigate the area.  I like how Werner helps Marie-Laure.  There is a sad side to the book, but there is a positive message about helping others.

The issues:  The chapters are very short, and although I did like the book, in my opinion longer chapters with more information are easier to read.  That is my preference though.  Nothing really happens with the diamond, either; it is hidden when Marie-Laure leaves Saint-Malo, and we don't find out if this is the real Flaming Sea.

I did enjoy All The Light We Cannot See, and I think people who like literary and historical fiction would like this book.

 

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

 

In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, inventor Caractacus Potts (Dick Van Dyke) rebuilds a wrecked racing car that his children Jeremy (Adrian Hall) and Jemima (Heather Ripley) are fond of.  The car is named Chitty Chitty Bang Bang because of the sounds it makes. The Potts meet Truly Scrumptious (Sally Anne Howes) when she brings the children home after they skip school.  Truly's father, Lord Scrumptuous (James Robertson), is the owner of a candy factory.  She goes with the Potts on a beach picnic, where Caractacus tells the story of how Baron Bomburst (Gert Frobe), the tyrant who rules the fictional country of Vulgaria, wants to steal Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  With the help of  the local toymaker (Benny Hill), the Potts and Truly prevent Baron Bomburst from keeping Chitty.

It turns out that Lord Scrumptuous and Caractacus's father, Grandpa Potts (Lionel Jeffries), know each other.  Lord Scrumptuous offers to buy some candy Caractacus has invented to market as dog treats, which means Caractacus is going to be rich.  He proposes to Truly and they drive off in Chitty.

I was reminded when I rewatched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang what a delightful movie this is.  Part of the reason is because of Dick Van Dyke; all of his work is enjoyable.  The portrayals of the other characters are engaging also.  Other elements of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's appeal include the story being imaginative and the positive theme of a father spending time with his children.  Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is the kind of movie that you can watch many times without getting tired of it.