In 1962, Emil Clement, a French Jew and chess champion now living in Israel, is a player at the World Chess Federation Interzonal tournament in Amsterdam. Emil is a survivor of Auschwitz and carries with him every day his belief that there are "no good Germans."
After his first game he is approached by a Catholic bishop who seems vaguely familiar. To his horror he realizes it is SS-Obersturmfuhrer Paul Meissner. He is immediately catapulted back to Auschwitz in spring 1944, a time he has struggled to forget.
Emil resists the overtures from Paul to meet and talk. He wants nothing to do with this man who was so instrumental in his imprisonment. But Paul is persistent and explains to Emil that all he wants is forgiveness. Imagine Emil's puzzlement when Paul explains that he doesn't want Emil's forgiveness but rather for Emil to forgive himself.
In Auschwitz, Paul was charged with improving the flagging morale of camp personnel. He organizes a chess club and tournament for Nazi officers. When word gets to him of a Jewish prisoner called "the Watchmaker" who is considered unbeatable at chess, he is instructed to demonstrate German superiority by pitting this Jew (Emil) against the best Nazi players. As the matches progress, the stakes are raised and a curious relationship develops between the two men.
This book came highly recommended to me by a patron. I was intimidated - at 376 pages and with small print it didn't seem like a book to dive into. But only a few pages in I was hooked and those 376 pages flew by. It is the story not only of the atrocities committed by man against man but also the story of surviving in an almost impossible situation. And ultimately it becomes the story of forgiveness (as Paul wanted) and finding a way to move forward in life.
I second the recommendation - this is a wonderful book.
This memoir has three themes - wrestling, breast cancer and being a single mom. Weldon is a journalist and a published author so she knows how to write a book. The chapters take their titles from wrestling terms. I recognized that and I was pretty proud of myself because I don't know much about the sport. The wrestling part of the book has to do with her three sons who all participated in the sport. It is less about the sport per se but more about what it takes for these young men to be a part of it. And equally important what it takes for a single mom to be a 'wrestling mom'. It wore me out just reading about it.
This novel is similar to others by Cook - but that's okay because I like his medical thrillers! In his latest Lynn Peirce is finishing up medical school. She is in a committed relationship with her boyfriend Carl. He becomes a patient in her hospital when he has to have some routine surgery. When she can she slips away to go check on him and expecting to find him groggy but fine. Instead she discovers that he has not regained consciousness after the procedure. According to the MRI he has suffered brain death. She is devastated. When she finally excepts the prognosis she wants to learn more about what went wrong. Her lab partner, Michael, is drawn into the mystery.
Rosemary Kennedy was the third child and oldest daughter born to Rose and Joseph Kennedy. She died in 2005 at the age of eighty-six, which is a long time to live - but when you read about Rosemary's life you quickly realize that it was an eternity. I knew a bit about Rosemary's life before I read this book but I found this book to be fascinating. What happened to her was most certainly not unusual for the times. In fact she surely had it better than most because of her family's money. But everything about her story is so sad. 
Bennie Rosato is back. As Lisa Scottoline herself would say,
Yay! 