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Sisters Under the Rising Sun–cruelty and bravery
Sisters Under the Rising Sun
by Heather Morris
There are so many books that vividly describe the horrors of concentration camps in Europe during World War II, and Heather Morris has written several of these. In Sisters Under the Rising Sun, a work of historical fiction, Morris takes readers to the other side of the world to examine the equally dreadful treatment of civilians and Australian Army nurses in Japanese prisoner of war camps in World War II. Any sense of humanity went out the door on the part of the Japanese captors as their captives struggled to stay alive for almost 4 years with very little food, no medical supplies, unsanitary living conditions, and brutal treatment. There were many deaths, but also many examples of prisoners who survived by faith, loving and supporting each other with survival and hoping for a reunion with loved ones.
One prisoner has an extensive musical background and a lot of talent. She organizes a “voice orchestra” with women’s voices taking the parts of various musical instruments producing classical pieces to the amazement of all and with enthusiastic members. She refuses, however, the request of the camp captain to play a Japanese song, and she is harshly punished.
The groups are moved from camp to camp, each time having to restore the camp into a semi-livable place. They are given only a few inadequate tools for their work (e.g. two machetes to dig graves). Depending on the circumstances, they have to carry water quite a distance or dig wells with coconut shells or their hands. With very little to eat, they have very little energy for the work and weak immune systems. Vermin and rodents are a problem all the time. When the monsoons arrive, they have to repair their roofs with leaves. The heat is unbearable, and thirst is a common companion.
The book begins with a focus on two different groups. One is the brave and dedicated nurses who are addressed as “sisters.” The other is a family group consisting of two biological sisters and their husbands. It took me a little while to get into the story because initially the plot did not have a strong focus and kept going back and forth. Then the characters were united in one storyline which helped a lot. By the end of the story, I was smiling and crying at the resolutions for the various characters. They had become real to me.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Historical Fiction
Notes: 1. As I began Sisters Under the Rising Sun, I pegged this book as worthy of 4/5 stars. By the end, my heart had gone out to the characters. Any book that can do that to me is worthy of 5/5 stars.
2. There is an epilogue that ties up what happened to the major characters when families are reunited. Ena and her sister Norah were prisoners together throughout the whole imprisonment period of almost 4 years but they had no idea what had happened to their loved ones. Especially important are June, a child who got separated from her parents and swept up in the arrests. She was cared for by Ena. Norah’s daughter Sally left Singapore under precarious conditions before everything fell apart.
3. The book ends with notes about what happened to the historical characters that the fictional ones are based on.
Publication: October 24, 2023—St. Martin’s Press
Memorable Lines:
“Be my life short or long, I’ll remember this moment forever. How in the worst possible circumstances two women, who I love more than life itself, found a way to laugh and make me laugh. Thank you, my darlings.’
“No, Sister, we’re not going anywhere. Can’t you see there are people here who need us? Yes, they have probably killed the men, but all our training and everything we stand for means we do not abandon those who need our help. I want you all to remember that where there is life there is hope.”
“I served in the Great War and I’ve been fighting in this one for two years. I thought I had seen and heard the worst of humanity. But today, just now, you have shown me that human brutality knows no bounds. What happened on that beach will not be forgotten. I’ll find a way to make it known and all I ask of you is that you say nothing to another living soul until you are safely back at home.”
Pax, Journey Home–repercussions of war
Pax, Journey Home
by Sara Pennypacker
illustrated by Jon Klassen
When you read Pax by Sara Pennypacker, you will probably want to have closure on several fronts. What happens to Peter? What happens to Pax? Will they ever unite? Will Peter ever return to live with Vola or will he return to his old home?
In Pax, Journey Home the focus is no longer the war, but the aftermath of the war—deserted towns, water poisoned with heavy metals, and animals who have died or fled. Peter joins the Water Warriors in a junior capacity and is able to help some of the adults with his survival skills. Peter’s story turns more tender here as he finally deals with grief and guilt.
Like the first book, Pax, this book provides many opportunities for discussion about war and its impact on families. It adds to that framework environmental topics related to war.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Children’s Fiction
Notes: 1. Ages 9-11
Grades 3-7
2. I liked this book better than the first. Although this book shows Peter confronting issues from his past, in Pax, Journey Home, he overcomes them. He learns how to be strong and brave in his decisions. There is more positivity and gentleness in this book. I do advise reading Pax first.
Publication: January 31, 2023—Balzer + Bray
Memorable Lines:
Memories were so treacherous. Always lurking under the surface, ready to bushwhack you with a blade to the heart when you weren’t careful.
“Well, that is not what I believe.” Vola said it in a completely neutral voice. No challenge, no judgement on someone who believed something else. Peter had come to appreciate Vola’s technique. It defused things, let the other person hold a different side without asking for a fight.
When they’d pulled into the outpost, she’d advised him again. “Fill your cup whenever you can,” and this time he’d understood that she wasn’t talking about water and his eyes had stung.
Pax–a boy and his fox
Pax
by Sara Pennypacker
illustrated by Jon Klassen
Pax is supposed to be a middle grade book, but its themes require more maturity than most young people of that age can muster. The costs of war are central to the book as the characters have to deal with its emotional effects on individuals and families. Trust and treachery, anger and emotional abuse, and love, promises, guilt and truthfulness are all issues that come into play in this book.
With a purposely vague setting in terms of location and time, the author uses two points of view to tell this story—that of Peter, a twelve year old boy whose mother has recently passed away and of Pax, the fox Peter rescued when Pax was just an orphaned kit. Peter’s father goes away to war leaving him with his grandfather, but making him desert his pet. That is so much grief for a boy!
Wracked with guilt and worry, Peter sets out to find Pax while Pax waits and then searches for Peter. The reader follows both characters through adventures and misadventures. Another interesting character is Vola, a wounded veteran who has difficulty recovering from the physical and emotional traumas of war, but tries to help Peter. Several characters in the book suffer from what we would call PTSD or shell shock. There are also generational issues as Peter’s father has difficulty with anger and Peter doesn’t want to follow in his footsteps.
The writing is excellent, and Pax is ripe with topics for discussion. Our book group debated various issues related to the book and reread passages to clarify our understanding of some underlying meanings. When it was time to close down our meeting, we still had concerns we could have pursued.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Children’s Fiction
Notes: 1. Ages 9-11
Grades 3-7
In looking at reviews in Amazon after I finished writing my review, I found that readers were mixed on the appropriate reading level for the subject matter. Whereas my book club of adults found it to be emotionally challenging, many readers in online statements thought it was appropriate. This is not the kind of book you want to hand to a child to read on their own. Instead, it needs to be read with an adult at home or in a classroom and include lots of discussion.
2. I was unhappy that some of the storylines seemed incomplete, but the author published a sequel: Pax, Journey Home in 2023 which I have checked out from my library to read.
Publication: 2016—HarperCollins (Balzer + Bray)
Memorable Lines:
“I have more than everything I need.” Vola sat. “I have peace here.” “Because it’s so quiet?” “No. Because I am exactly where I should be, doing exactly what I should be doing. That is peace.”
“So which is it? You going back for your home or for your pet?” “They’re the same thing,” Peter said, the answer sudden and sure, although a surprise to him. “And you’re going to do this no matter who tries to stop you? Because it’s the right thing for you, at your core?” Vola made a fist and thumped her chest. “Your core. Is that true?”
Peter remembered Vola asking him which side his father was fighting on. Peter had answered her, stunned that she would even have to ask. “The right side,” he’d added, indignantly. “Boy,” Vola had said, and then “Boy!” again, to make sure she had his attention. “Do you think anyone in the history of this world ever set out to fight for the wrong side?”
The Christmas Prayer–Christmas surprises
The Christmas Prayer
by Wanda E. Brunstetter
Wanda Brunstetter has a little gift for readers in her sweet novella The Christmas Prayer. Departing from her usual Amish fare, Brunstetter creates a tale of three families headed west in a tiny wagon train over the Sierra Nevada mountains with a goal of California: a businessman with his fiancé and her mother, a capable blacksmith in search of gold, and a widower traveling with two young children traumatized by the death of their mother.
Given the length of the book, there is not much opportunity for either plot or character development. The ending is predictable, but overall the novella is a nice addition to the genre of Christian historical fiction.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Barbour Publishing (Shiloh Run Press) for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Christian, Historical Fiction
Notes: novella
Publication: September 1, 2018— Barbour Publishing (Shiloh Run Press)
Memorable Lines:
Is it always going to be this way—Walter treating me like a piece of property and acting like he owns me?
Despite their situation, it seemed that God was intervening, giving hope each time they felt defeated.
She didn’t want anything to spoil the day—something she knew Walter was capable of doing in just a matter of seconds.
Mad Cow: A PTSD Love Story
Mad Cow: A PTSD Love Story
by Meredith Shafer
Despite its subtitle, Meredith Shafer’s Mad Cow: A PTSD Love Story is not a mushy romance. It is the hard-hitting tale of a woman who has lived in the trenches and struggled to scramble out for her own survival and that of her children and her husband nicknamed Mr. Wonderful in the book. “Mad Cow” does not refer to the feared Mad Cow disease; it is the nickname Meredith has given to the struggle her husband faces every day. He is a veteran retired on a medical disability and Mad Cow is a triangle of asthma, PTSD, and traumatic brain injury and all of the associated problems that often accompany these disorders including issues with depression and sobriety.
Mad Cow is not a timeline biography, and it does not detail Mr. Wonderful’s war injuries or his specific medical issues. Instead, this memoir shares the struggles of this hot mess, circus-like, crazy family of six, led by a spunky mama and a wounded warrior as they navigate life, crises, and the VA medical system. We learn of financial struggles and family issues. We discover how survival fueled by faith, trust, and God’s love becomes more important than a perfect house, after school activities, and productivity.
Meredith brings her background as a musician, lawyer, mom, writer and speaker, a devotee of leopard, shoes, coffee and bling, and most especially a lover of Jesus to this book. She shares openly from her heart; there is no fakeness in this book. You will find humor scattered liberally throughout. There is one particularly funny chapter called “The Casita” which describes how the family of six lived temporarily in a 150 square foot house. Under the humor though is the pain of trying to save a husband who is past being able to save himself. Under the humor is a woman’s heart as she leans into her Father relying on Him to restore her family.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Memoir, Christian Nonfiction
Notes: You can find my review of Meredith Shafer’s first book, My Pink Champagne Life here
Publication: 2016
Memorable Lines:
You can’t really go back, though. You can only move forward, which we are trying to do with generosity of spirit and good humor and grace, a whole truckload of grace. Wow, that’s hard.
I’ve decided that potty training a fiery redheaded she-child is kind of like training a wild tiger to dance to show tunes. It’s a delicate yet frightening process that requires infinite patience, a death wish, and multiple costume changes.
I guess thirty days off and three counseling appointments post deployment aren’t nearly enough. The military way, though it’s not written in any of their field manuals, is to soldier on. Self-medicate with alcohol if necessary as that is the acceptable method of of soldiering on.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz–tribute to human resilience and the power of love
The Tattooist of Auschwitz
by Heather Morris
When a book reads like fiction but is a union of memories and history, it is literary work that is destined to engage and move the reader. The Tattooist of Auschwitz is such a tale, related by Lale Sokolov to Heather Morris over a three year period. It is a horrific story of desperation in the worst of circumstances and of Lale’s confidence that he would survive and marry his beloved fellow sufferer Gita.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz displays the best and worst of mankind. It shows the incredible resilience of the human spirit. Throughout, the reader witnesses people doing whatever it takes to survive as does Lale who is innovative, multilingual, charming, and determined that in the end his tormentors would not get the best of him. There are many books written about the Holocaust. Each addresses the events from a different perspective. This is another valuable contribution, adding to our understanding and reinforcing the sentiment of “never again.”
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Bonnier Zaffire for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: General Fiction (Adult), Historical Fiction
Notes: Despite the nature of the events being retold, the writing has a respectful tone without graphic descriptions of violence or swearing. I highly recommend this book.
Publication: January 11, 2018—Bonnier Zaffire
Memorable Lines:
Lale has witnessed an unimaginable act. He staggers to his feet, standing on the threshold of hell, an inferno of feelings raging inside him.
How can a race spread out across multiple countries be considered a threat?
“I know it’s a strange thing for me to say, but you will honor them by staying alive, surviving this place and telling the world what happened here.”
He knows they will never grow to be the women they were meant to be. Their futures have been derailed and there will be no getting back on the same track. The visions they once had of themselves, as daughters, sisters, wives and mothers, workers, travelers, and lovers, will forever be tainted by what they’ve witnessed and endured.
education pathways 