#Jessica Shattuck

[inabooknook]

Last House by Jessica Shattuck

I loved this book. It followed the story of a family who has been involved in the middle east with oil from the 50s, and the patriarch buys a home in the woods on a plot of land with other friends. The story sounds so simple in retrospect but it encompassed so many different human emotions and storylines throughout the entire thing. I really enjoyed the complex characters, the interweaving of history, but also the nitty gritty of real humans experiences as well. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys good multigenerational sagas. It was similar to, but more complex than the work of Kristin Hannah.

This ebook was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[whatwouldserenasay]

She pictures love as a pond to be stepped into, swum around in, and then climbed out of and toweled off before getting too chilly.

Jessica Shattuck, The Hazards of Good Breeding

[strawberriesandhappiness]

She looked at the ceiling, and tears slid down her cheeks. How seamlessly she cried, as if she went through life filled to the brim.

The Women in the Castle

[abbydjonesoffaerie]

As far as historical fiction depicting the different human experiences, and feminine experiences, of life in Germany, pre, during, and post-WW2, this book was very well done. It serves as a human reminder that life in Germany wasn't instantly the Holocaust and that seeing the signs aren't as easy as we think. It also depicted the shame born by that generation in a way that entered your heart and made one weep at the destructive force of our own evil.

The writing was good and not overburdened with some sort of feminists ranting, which is always the concern with modern female-centric fiction.

I did learn two things reading this book:

1) For the first time, I saw the connection people make between a love of homemaking and Nazism. I've run into these accusations before but never understood it. This book helped me to see how the push for women to excel in the home got trapped and twisted by Hitler and the Holocaust. It's such a sad thing to see it get so maligned by association when it actually has a much richer and deeper history.

2) I was finally able to put my finger on why I don't enjoy most female-centric stories. They always feel like gossip. Even from the high vaulted tower of WW2 history, they feel like stories of who slept with who, who argued with their husband, who backstabbed who, guess what she wore, guess what she said, can you believe it, I heard she...on and on and on. I find it wearying to my soul. I know that we women are relational and are the backbones of our families, but I wish that could be depicted better, not so like a salacious story.

Now, this book was good, well-written, well-researched, and I enjoyed reading it. It deepened my understanding of life in Germany around WW2. So, my internal observations aren't a mark against the book in any way. I did enjoy *The Hiding Place* by Corrie Ten Boon and *All But my Life* by Gerda Weissman Klein more than this, but this wasn't a bad read at all.

Warning: adult situations, not gratuitous, and rape.

[thebookwormunderground]

For this Christmas night they are lifted from the damning particularities of their own lives and invited to be a small piece of eternity.

Jessica Shattuck, The Women in the Castle

[roseisreading]

I am really loving that I have had so much time off from school to read. This is the 6th book I’ve finished this month, and tbh I don’t remember the last time I had this much time to read for fun; maybe middle school? Anyways, I am back with another review and it’s a good one.

If you love historical fiction, this is the book for you.

The Women In The Castle details the life of three women after WWII, whose husbands were involved in the Resistance movement against Hitler. The women live in a castle left to Marianne by her family, and it becomes a headquarters of sorts for Marianne and her mission. Marianne, the “commander of wives and children” as she is named by her childhood best friend and husband is tasked with finding the wives and children of those left behind by the dead of the Resistance. Marianne finds Benita, the wife of her childhood best friend, and Ania, whose past is very muddled to the point where even Marianne, the woman on top of everything, knows who she really is. There is drama and suspense and morally ambiguous characters and it’s amazing.

The text is split into four books: Marianne’s story, Benita’s past and present with Marianne, Ania’s story, and then 40 years into the future. All the characters are present within all the stories one way or another. Shattuck writes in such a beautiful way that I could not put the book down. I could easily read 50 pages in a sitting.

I appreciated the way Shattuck wrote the characters of Marianne, Benita, and Ania as well. Marianne wants to do the right thing all of the time, and is very headstrong. What Marianne can fail to realize is how her actions affect others in negative ways, especially when she thinks she is doing the right thing. Benita’s character is assumed to be aloof and naive, for she is extremely young when her son is born and her husband Connie is killed. She is sent to a brothel where Marianne finds her. She wrestles with her own demons about her husband’s role in the Resistance, and blames Marianne for a lot for why her life turns out the way it did. As we gain more of her perspective, we see her motivations and her past, and learn why she has become the person she is. Ania is a whole different story. Without giving spoilers, we see Ania as very closed off and mysterious, and something does not sit quite right. It is not until her story, that we can actually receive some answers about who she is and what the war was like for her and her sons. 

For a tale that is set in post-war Germany, the characters are all at very different points in their lives. They all experienced the war in very different ways, and all were deeply affected. There is no way to know right or wrong in any case, and that comes through loud and clear within Shattuck’s writing. In my experience, while there may have been some moral ambiguity with characters in WWII novels, there is not this level of ambiguity, and I think that makes this novel truly unique.

This is truly one of the best WWII historical fiction novels I have ever read, and I would read it again. 

Content warnings: war, death, abuse, suicide

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹/5

[roxannethereader-blog]

WW2 historical fictions.

[petrichorsmemory]

The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck

The best word I can find to describe this book is “quiet”. The historical background, The WWII is very violent time in our collective past but this book is situated or before or after it has happened and concentrates mostly on the consequences of it for the lives of 3 women in Germany and their children. Bit by bit we discover their secrets, get to know and understand them better. 

Not much happens in this book, most “exciting” things happen off page and are related through flashbacks. This story is about the in-between moments and shows us the life in more natural way.

The characters are well written. Some of them have done questionable things, others did what was necessary to survive, but they expect us to forgive them, in fact the thing I found most refreshing about this book is that the author doesn’t push for forgiveness. She shows us the facts in a matter of fact way and  presents the characters in a way that doesn’t necessarily make us like but understand them.

The only thing that disappointed me is the fact that most of the story doesn’t in fact happen in the castle, I was kind of looking forward to that.

But I really didn’t expect to like this book as much as I did.

[missiracundablog]

Mis 10 mejores lecturas de 2018

Mis 10 mejores lecturas de 2018

(more…)

[foreverlostinliterature]

New review up for The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck, which will be released tomorrow! This is a postwar WWII novel that centers on the lives of three women, and is one that I really recommend. 

[brennanbookblog]

The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck

It is our responsibility to read this book. Never has a historical fiction been more timely in our country’s history. I turned the last page of this epic as the news reported mass destruction of Jewish graves in a cemetery in my home city, the second attack this week on Jewish resting places. Is it an eerie reminder that the past cannot rest in our tumultuous present?  

I received The Women in the Castle on Friday evening. I holed up for the weekend, swept through time within its uneven pages and finished the final sentence last night, on Sunday. I devoured a 360-page historical fiction in a weekend, and I was sad to see it end.

There was a time in my childhood when I was enamored with WWII fiction. I think now that I shared the view of the character Ania in the book who both believed and couldn’t believe the atrocities of the war. Like there was a final barrier of doubt separating us from the truth: one man was not capable of inciting such destruction, humanity was not capable of this grand scale of evil. This was the stuff of Grimm’s horrific fairy tales and not of our collective history.

The story is unique in that it deals with a heretofore overlooked population of war victims: German women. Now if you scoff that you wouldn’t want to read a tale about German women in a war that so negatively affected other groups, I would tell you: in war there are no winners. Everyone loses. And Shattuck renders the nuanced portrait of inscrutable loss through a lens of compassion and clarity.

The narrative switches seamlessly between the time before and after the war. Marianne has inherited the titular castle. Stalwart and no nonsense, committed to her principles, but fiercely loving and with a seed of self-doubt buried underneath her depths, Marianne leads the triumvirate with two daughters and a son in tow. Through a series of catastrophic events, she takes in Benita, young naïve wife to her own former love, and Benita’s son, the constant reminder of his father, as well as Ania, the reported wife of a resister with her two sullen boys. I’d like to say that the women become the best of friends and through love and tears they wrestle through the difficult times. This is not the case. The randomness of the makeshift family is just that - random, built upon a foundation of shared loss, upon soil tilled with guilt amidst a landscape thick with violence. In that environment, who knows what will survive?  

In many ways, you know this story. It is our collective tale of shame, of complicity, of ignorance. It is a tale of strangers killing strangers. But it is also our collective story of hope, of courage, of resistance. It is a story of strangers saving strangers.

Shattuck’s writing is, in a word, exquisite. The transportive power of her phrases matches that of Jennifer Egan (a visit from the goon squad); her insight to human nature tantamount to Lily King (Euphoria) and Celeste Ng (Everything I Never Told You). My own edition of the book is covered in green highlighter and when I reread the passages, the words construct tangible uneven planks underneath my toes only to drop the floor out from under me in the next line.

I would not be surprised if this beautiful, necessary piece were nominated for the Pulitzer. Sweeping in scope, it is frighteningly topical, poignantly crafted and deeply personal. It is our collective history. And it’s time we acknowledge that it cannot stay buried.

*I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

[hummingbirdsaltimolockia]

1, 2, 3?

1. How many books did you read this year?

thirteen, and two in progress

2. Did you reread anything? What?

yes, I reread a tree grows in brooklyn by betty smith. I hadn’t read it since I was eighteen, seven years ago. it has cemented its place as one of my favorite books

3. What were your top five books of the year?

1. the women in the castle by jessica shattuck

2. hooked by sutton foster

3. the boy who harnessed the wind by william kamkwamba

4. the hearts of horses by molly gloss

5. the lord of the flies by william golding

[missdaisydaily]

📰 NEWS: Daisy Ridley to star in World War II Drama ‘Women In The Castle’ directed by Jane Anderson

The exciting trio of Daisy Ridley (Star Wars), Kristin Scott Thomas (Darkest Hour) and Nina Hoss (Phoenix) have been set to star in Jane Anderson’s (The Wife) adaptation of Jessica Shattuck’s 2017 New York Times bestseller Women In The Castle, about three widows of conspirators involved in an assassination attempt on Hitler.

The story of the three German women, set during and after World War II, explores how each deals with the fallout of her personal life and the devastation around her differently. Shattuck’s main characters are fictional but the story draws on familial – she is half-German – and historical accounts from the period.

Source: Deadline

[tabloidtoc]

In Touch, April 13

Cover: Pregnant Kate Middleton having a girl and Princess Charlotte picked her name 

Page 1: Contents 

Page 2: Who Wore It Better? Delilah Belle Hamlin vs. Scarlett Johansson

Page 3: Ming-Na Wen vs. Laura Marano, Lucy Hale vs. Hilary Duff 

Page 4: The full video of Kanye West’s notorious 2016 phone call with Taylor Swift in which they discuss his then-unreleased song Famous was leaked giving Taylor the current edge in the pair’s epic decade-long feud 

Page 5: Makeover of the Week -- Jonathan Van Ness shaved off his trademark beard during quarantine, Courteney Cox doesn’t remember being on Friends, Alec Baldwin and wife-to-be Hilaria dated 6 weeks before their first kiss, Blake Shelton tried to steal ex Miranda Lambert’s thunder by dropping a clip of his Nobody But You duet with girlfriend Gwen Stefani on the same day Miranda released her official Bluebird video 

Page 6: Crib of the Week -- Kesha’s $5 million wood-and-concrete in Mar Vista 

Page 8: These stars cut their kids out of the will -- Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, Daniel Craig, Gordon Ramsay, Simon Cowell, Marie Osmond, Jackie Chan 

Page 9: Lucy Hale confessed she has a fascination with teeth, Man Candy of the Week -- Maluma, Winner of the Week -- Kelley Flanagan who came in fifth place on The Bachelor has been spotted hanging out with Peter Weber, Losers of the Week -- 2020 Olympics are postponed until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic 

Page 10: Up Close -- Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani shared an update on his quarantine mullet 

Page 11: Kylie Jenner’s daughter Stormi Webster, Becky Lynch trains for WrestleMania, Maren Morris and newborn son Hayes Andrew Hurd

Page 12: Go Take a Hike -- Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern, Rebel Wilson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Ellen DeGeneres 

Page 14: Celebs Go Stir Crazy -- Chris Meloni models his quarantine kilt, Amanda Seyfried models a messy makeup job, pregnant Nikki Bella and Artem Chigvintsev do the Flip the Switch challenge, Jeremy Renner dresses up as DJ Sloth to entertain daughter Ava 

Page 16: Family Matters -- Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green and their kids Noah and Bodhi and Journey make a trip to the grocery store, Jessica Simpson and kids Maxwell and Ace 

Page 17: Ashley Graham and son Isaac, Hilary Duff and kids Luca and Banks 

Page 18: Coronavirus Craziness -- how these 10 celebs reacted to the pandemic -- David Geffen, Madonna, Gal Gadot, Vanessa Hudgens, Evangeline Lilly 

Page 19: Lady Gaga, Jaime King, Sam Smith, Cardi B, Gwyneth Paltrow 

Page 20: Stars Clean Up Nicely -- Donnie Wahlberg and Jenny McCarthy shave together, Jessica Alba in a face mask, Gigi Hadid in a gold facial mask 

Page 21: Dua Lipa and boyfriend Anwar Hadid in face masks 

Page 22: Chips Off the Old Block -- Brie Bella and daughter Birdie, Will Smith and daughter Willow, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and daughter Giovanna 

Page 24: Cover Story -- Another little princess for Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton -- the future king and queen relocate to Anmer Hall to self-isolate as they await the arrival of their second daughter 

Page 27: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s $20 million Malibu mansion 

Page 28: Tiger King: Burning Questions 

Page 30: Maddox Jolie-Pitt comes home -- Angelina Jolie’s eldest son flees South Korea to be with his family 

Page 32: Stars Without Makeup -- Demi Moore, Gwyneth Paltrow, Portia De Rossi, Cardi B, Jennifer Lawrence, Rita Ora 

Page 33: Courtney Love, Ana de Armas, Chrissy Metz, Michelle Pfeiffer, Meghan Trainor, Ashley Greene, Ireland Baldwin 

Page 34: Julianne Hough, Paris Jackson, Olivia Wilde, Heidi Klum, Cameron Diaz, Alicia Keys 

Page 35: Kate Winslet, Julianne Moore, Nikki Bella, Geena Davis, Julia Roberts, Irina Shayk, Jennifer Lopez 

Page 36: Celebs are the new personal trainer -- Chris Hemsworth, Halle Berry, Candace Cameron Bure 

Page 38: Margaret Qualley took a break from self-isolating in LA to go for a walk but onlookers were alarmed when they saw how skinny she has gotten 

Page 39: Tamron Hall may be a hit with viewers but behind the scenes staffers are claiming she is a nightmare, Ariana Grande and her mother Joan have been granted temporary restraining orders against a man who was arrested outside her mother’s home, Star Sightings -- Giacomo Gianniotti (pictured), Ali Krieger and wife Ashlyn Harris (pictured), D-Nice

Page 40: Ben Affleck’s new relationship with Ana de Armas has his ex Jennifer Garner afraid he’ll start giving their kids less attention 

Page 41: Lori Loughlin and husband Mossimo Giannulli along with 12 other parents charged in the college admissions cheating scandal asked a judge to dismiss the fraud and bribery and money laundering charges against them accusing prosecutors of extraordinary misconduct by concealing evidence that would bolster the parents’ claims of innocence, Julianne Hough and Brooks Laich making things work, Meryl Streep’s daughter Grace Gummer has ended her marriage to keyboardist Tay Strathairn 

Page 44: The Big Interview -- Amber Pike and Matt Barnett on joining Love Is Blind -- we never thought we’d actually get married

Page 48: Beauty Buzz -- Scent-sational Spring -- Emma Roberts 

Page 50: Style -- Spring Fitness Essentials -- Reese Witherspoon 

Page 52: Did I Really Do That? Eiza Gonzalez channeled Charlie’s Angels, Reemarkable lifted from Lifesavers

Page 54: Animal Overload -- My dog looks like Diane Keaton 

Page 56: Entertainment 

Page 58: My Night at Home -- Ebony Obsidian, Guess Whose Art Boy -- Cooke Maroney, Caspar Jopling, Lucas Zwirner, Marco Perego, Louis Eisner, Ben Shattuck -- Jennifer Lawrence, Sienna Miller, Zoe Saldana, Ashley Olsen, Jenny Slate, Ellie Goulding 

Page 60: Double Take -- Paris Jackson runs errands with boyfriend Gabriel Glenn in LA 

Page 62: Horoscope -- Aries Daisy Ridley 

Page 64: Last Laughs