War Story, by Gwen Edelman
War Story is, on one level, a novella about playwright Joseph Kruger’s experiences in World War II, struggling to survive as a Jew. There is another war story present, though, in the conflict between Kruger and his younger lover, Kitty Jacobs. Joseph wants (or needs) to tell her about his wartime experiences--and to feed her. Most of their conversations take place at his kitchen table; he plies her with sandwiches (dry, hard bread slathered with liverwurst and butter), Schnapps, and stories of atrocities and sex as a means of denying or forgetting.
If this hadn't received such great reviews I would call it melodrama. Kitty is an immature, childlike woman and Joseph is a cruel, childish man. Their interchanges are marked by a desire to be cared for, but at the same time an astounding degree of self-centeredness. It was difficult to bring myself to care about this prickly couple, their desultory, insulting conversation, and their icky, seemingly-uncaring sexuality. However, some vague sense of "rightness" brought them together, and perhaps some derivative of that was what made me stick with the book through the end. It wasn't pleasant. Maybe that was the point?
Rating: 5. A great novel about personal experiences in war is Losing Julia by Jonathan Hull.
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