And heeere's Belgium:
Lots of fun neighbors. Aaand summary:
Untold millions who saw and read Band of Brothers can finally know the whole story of what happened to American soldiers and civilians in Bastogne during that arduous Winter of 1944/45. In the television version of Band of Brothers, a passing reference is made to an African nurse assisting in an aid station in Bastogne. When military historian Martin King watched the episode, he had to know who that woman was; thus began a multi-year odyssey that revealed the horror of a town under siege as well as an improbable love story between a white Army medic, Jack Prior, and his black nurse, Augusta Chiwy, as they saved countless lives while under constant bombardment. Based on the recent discovery of Prior's diary as well as an exhaustive and occasionally futile search for Augusta herself, King was at last able to bring belated recognition of Augusta's incredible story by both the U.S. Army and Belgian government shortly before she died. This is not only a little-known story of the Battle of the Bulge, but also the author's own relentless mission to locate Augusta and bestow upon her the honors she so richly deserved.
I'll admit that I erred a bit here: I got so excited when I was reading the summary that I didn't look into the author. He's British, but I'm calling it okay because he lives in Belgium and is a military historian so I think he probably did his homework.
I really love historical fiction. My only wish is that they made it more obvious which parts or conversations they made up so you can know for sure.
It was another war book, so there were a lot of things that made my stomach turn. The nazis (no, Google, I won't give them the respect of capitalization) were big old bastards. It definitely blew my mind the level of racism that was still rampant at that time. Some of these soldiers were literally dying but they somehow thought being worked on by a black nurse was worse. Fucking ridiculous. There was a super amazing line about that: "In his opinion the most frightening aspect of any society is the one that regards others, those who are different, as being 'less than human.'" A-fricken-men. I think that's pretty relevant to today's society (well, I guess society always).
And here's a *spoiler* that's also a complaint: when I read a love story I want the main characters to get together! It was a bummer that they didn't. Although, when the author did meet Augusta a few years ago and she told him how Jack was in love with her, she seemed like she might be a smidge senile. So maybe it wasn't a love story at all. And less love story than war story. Which I guess makes sense for what was going on. It's definitely not for the squeamish though.
So, that's it for Belgium. Another war story, another history. Sorry not sorry, etc.
Ok, I know I'm not doing well at these "review" things. I really don't know what to write for starters. Second, I have a huuuuge headache that's making me very cranky, and my knees have been naughty lately. I went to the doctor about them today which always throws me into a big pity party. Alas, woe is me and all that. Maybe by the next review I'll be more chipper.
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