Resistance [Library Binding]

Anita Shreve (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1997

A story of forbidden passion in Nazi-occupied Belgium, by the author of "Eden Close", "Strange Fits of Passion" and "Where or When". A young American pilot crash-lands behind enemy lines and is tended by a young housewife who, with her husband, is working for the Resistance.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As in her earlier novels, Shreve (Eden Close) affectingly explores themes of love and loss with piercing clarity, once again capturing the fragile emotions of those in pain. Here, however, she moves from her customary domestic, contemporary milieu to WWII Europe?to the Belgian village of Delahaut, where young Claire Daussois and her husband, Henri, are members of an underground resistance movement. When a British plane goes down outside the town in December 1943, the plucky 10-year-old Jean Benoit finds a survivor, Ted Brice, hides him in his father's barn and then summons the aid of Mme. Daussois. As she has done with other refugees, Claire shelters the 22-year-old captain in her attic. When it becomes necessary for Henri to go into hiding, Claire and Ted embark on a brief affair, a passionate liaison made more poignant by its simultaneous inevitability and futility. With deceptive simplicity and superb control, Shreve evokes the impersonal horrors of wartime and its heartbreaking personal tragedies?often combining those elements to almost overwhelming effect, as when Jean witnesses the execution of several townspeople as reprisal for their resistance activities.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

YA?In December 1943, an American fighter plane is downed near a small village in Belgium. The pilot, Lt. Ted Brice, is rescued by a member of the local resistance movement. As he is hidden in the small attic at the home of Claire Daussois, he becomes acutely aware of the danger to himself as well as his hostess and her husband. A bond develops between Claire and Ted during his 20-day stay that changes both of their lives forever. Through this fast-paced novel, YAs will gain insight into the unthinkable horrors of World War II-German retribution, village collaborators, and local resistance workers. Shreve describes the landscape and the local residents in such detail that readers will quickly become involved in the lives of the characters.?Roberta Lisker, W.T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Library Binding
• Publisher: San Val (January 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1417707828
• ISBN-13: 978-1417707829
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,162,348 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Resistance, November 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Resistance: A Novel (Paperback)

Resistance was the fourth of Anita Shreve's books that I've read. I've just finished it, and find myself haunted by both the characters and the setting. It is an incredibly tense story, and each turn of the page is exciting and dreadful, as the reader becomes more and more afraid for the characters. When I reached the end, I simply sat down and cried. This book brought home to me, more than anything else, how fortunate we all are to sleep peacefully in our beds at night, quietly and without fear. A wonderful book.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars My least favorite Anita Shreve title, January 6, 2007

By 

Ratmammy "The Ratmammy" (Ratmammy's Town, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Resistance : A Novel (Paperback)

RESISTANCE by Anita Shreve

January 6, 2007

Amazon rating 3/5

I've read a few books by Anita Shreve and I have to say, this is my least favorite. Usually, I can count on Anita Shreve to pull me in and keep me totally glued to the pages of the book until the very end. EDEN CLOSE, WEIGHT OF WATER, FORTUNE'S ROCKS, THE LAST TIME THEY MET... all these books were great reading. For some reason RESISTANCE failed to draw me in, which is unfortunate because the subject matter was yet another opportunity for a wonderfully told story by Shreve. RESISTANCE takes place in Belgium and focuses on an American pilot whose plane falls near a small Belgian village. His life is saved by a young boy and is hid away from the rest of the village in the home of a woman and her husband who are part of the Resistance, helping to save lives that are endangered by the German Nazis.

Claire Daussouis is the woman who takes the American, Ted Brice, into hiding, and nurses him back to health. The two eventually start an affair, a time in their lives that becomes more treasured than they had expected. They know their time together is limited because of the war, but Ted is hoping that maybe he can find a way to stay with her, despite the fact that she is married to another man, a man that she has hinted she does not really love.

RESISTANCE was full of intrigue and danger but for me, it was the telling of the story that I think fell short. There were way too many characters introduced in the first few chapters that I failed to connect with anyone, including the American pilot. I have to say the overall story is tragic, and while a better-written book would have had me in tears, I didn't shed one because I just did not really connect with Claire or Ted. The ending of the story should have been more satisfying than it was, taking the story into modern times. But again, because I had not related to the two main characters, I was not moved as much as I should have been. To be fair, the story in itself was worth reading about, and it has been a while since I've read a book that took place during W.W.II, but from a master writer such as Anita Shreve, I had expected much more.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Shreve's Best, But Michael Pietsch isn't co-author!, December 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Resistance: A Novel (Paperback)

I'm a major Shreve fan, and her new Fortune's Rocks is, I think, her best. But Resistance is my next favorite. In this remarkable love story, Shreve captures the delicate balance between passion and loyalty that besets any romatnic triangle, but becomes so much more poignant set as it is in the world of anti-Nazi resistance, where both husband and lover are clearly good men. A beautiful book.