The Book: When Canadian teen Kurt Schreiber goes to Germany for a year of language training, he also aims to find out what his grandfather did during World War II. Kurt’s Opa has never been willing to talk about his time as a German soldier, so Kurt has some deep concerns about what he might have done during the war. He's seen the movies, likeSchindler’s List, and he hopes and prays his grandfather couldn’t have been involved in atrocities.
Placed in the highschool in his Opa’s hometown, Kurt meets Herr Brandt, his grandfather’s boyhood friend. Kurt learns about their childhood in the Hitler Youth and their experiences in the German army and on the Eastern Front. Through Herr Brandt’s story, Kurt comes to understand how as children, and later as young men, the two were drawn into participation in a war based on lies.
This fast-paced and carefully researched novel tells a story that illuminates history and fills in the texture and complexity that lie behind the bare facts.
The author: Karen Bass has been interested in World War II since childhood. She began writing shortly after she was hired to manage a local library, and her stories and articles have been published in newspapers, magazines and anthologies. Run like Jäger is her first novel. A fourth-generation Albertan, Karen attended the University of Alberta, and received a psychology degree from the University of Victoria. She currently lives with her family in northwestern Alberta, where she continues to work as a librarian. Her website:http://www.karenbass.ca
Enjoyed learning about life, real life during World War II.
ReplyDeleteThis was my second favourite book, next to Chanda's Wars. It gave a different perspective to World War II which allowed for a great read.
ReplyDeleteI really loved this book a lot! I never really thought about the German soldiers in that way before. This book gave me a really genuine feel of the perspective of a German soldier in world war two that wasn't sugar coated.
ReplyDeleteHello, Christian High School Book Club members,
ReplyDeleteA friend told me that Run like Jäger was on your reading list. I'm honoured you chose to include it. Thanks for that. And thank you for the kind comments.
-Karen Bass
www.karenbass.ca
I liked this book. it is defiantly in the top 5. I loved learning of what it was like to go through WWII through a Nazi's point of view. It really showed what they had to go through. I loved how the story Wolf was telling became so real and how I felt like Kurt listening to the story. It was an intense read
ReplyDeleteThis was a great well written novel that i really enjoyed
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this book. I thought it was really cool how it is from the perspective of a Nazi. I like how it felt really real. I like how it shows that not all of the Nazi's really wanted to become part of the war. I think this is a really great book.
ReplyDeleteThis was a slow read, but an amazing book.
ReplyDeleteI liked how "wolf" told Kurt about the war. It was interesting to learn about the life of a soldier. Not all Nazi's were evil. They didn't know because they were just children when the started. I like the very last paragraph of the book where he remembers a part of the movie casablanca...very cool
I like anything to do with WWII in general. This book was a refreshing read since the perspective was from a German solider which is not something I often am able to read.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great novel. Refreshing perspective - there is always 'that other side of the story'. Highly recommended!
ReplyDeleteI just skimmed over the book again in preparation for our discussion about it today. It's a great story, and I like the way the author developed the themes of courage and loyalty. I'm also struck by how a person's view of the world is influenced so much by their circumstances and history: e.g., Peter's bullying results from a broken family, and the broken family can be traced to the violence & stigma that happened to his grandmother.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this book, especially since i haven't read many books about WWll.. I also liked that it was written through the perspective of a soldier.
ReplyDeleteI've been searching for years for any type of literature which portrayed WW2 from the German Perspective. Needless to say, this book did an excpetional job at unearthing the immense power German propaganda played on every citizen during that period - something which the reader understood through Jager's learning of it.
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