Customer Reviews

Be Not Afraid: A Novel

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Although I was not alive during the WWII period, I have always been interested in that time period. This book was written with an amazing accuracy as to what it must've felt like to be an American soldier, captured and then becoming a POW. The author does mention in his Acknowledgments page that the events he describes in his writing about the Battle of the Bulge he was able to detail thanks to notes left posthumously by friends, which gave him the opportunity to learn and get the feel of that time and life. This book is partially a love story, as the main character, Robert Walker, is a soldier about to leave for war, leaving behind a new love, Mary. Due to his becoming a POW, life takes a different turn for these 2 young people, leaving them without any communication for 56 years - a time when Mary decides she needs to find out if Robert survived. When she finds Robert, he is already old and suffering from heart and cancer troubles, however, a love that is real apparently can last a lifetime, for even after each of their regular lifetimes, they still find something together that unites them. During this time, Robert explains everything that happened to him during the war, his captivity, his suffering, his basic need for survival. Ultimately, though this book begins as a love story, it's primary purpose is to portray the story of an American soldier's captivity as a POW by the Germans and how the human will, faith and hope can make or break such a chance to survive. This book is a very special story, one that shouldn't be taken lightly - it carries a message that far too few individuals today even think about or consider, especially as more and more WWII veterans pass on. Yet theirs was a time of fighting for survival and a means to maintain the freedoms we have had passed on to us today. They should not be forgotten. I recommend this book for two reasons: 1) the superb storytelling about a WWII POW's experiences and how he was able to survive, and 2) how one's first love can sometimes be something that's clung to for all of one's life.

This book had a great idea, but there was to much war talk and not enough love talk. I got lost in the details of the war and sometimes just couldn't wait for the chapter to end. I hoped the next chapter would kick in with some romance, but it fizzled. If you want details about what it would have been like to have been in World War II, and a prisoner of war, then this is a good book for you. If you are a women who wants a romantic tale, I would skip this one.