Rue the Day [Paperback]

Ralph Freedman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2009

Wars, all wars, create winds of chaos that blow long after the last shot is fired. World War II was no exception. Jacob and Francesca, like Dante's Paolo and Francesca, are caught up in those winds. Jacob, haunted by overwhelming fear caused by persecution in his past, damages himself and those he loves. Francesca, hardened by the war, finds it impossible to forgive. "Rue the Day is a novel of compelling moral force. ...We have inherited the Cold War politics that turned friend against friend and husband against wife. In our troublous times, Freedman's novel reminds us of the indelible wounds to the soul and the destruction of lives wrought by unchallenged evil, but also of the possibility for redemption." Anca Vlasopolos, author of The New Bedford Samurai

Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: Paladin Timeless Books (May 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1606190997
• ISBN-13: 978-1606190999
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,588,838 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars It could happen to you, September 25, 2010

By 

Alain Falasse - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rue the Day (Paperback)

One could rather hastily summarize "Rue The Day" with "There are mistakes for which you pay all your life." The mistake is a betrayal, not a voluntary one, but one made under stressful circumstances, fear of ghosts from the past and mental torture, but made "willingly", as confessions were willingly made Moscow trials.

The book is the story of the betrayer's guilt and remorse, but not as much lived out by him, as by the three women of his life, through whom we approach Jacob (who is not the most present character in the novel).

The betrayal could have been forgiven: no one is injured or killed; life has been momentarily shaken for Francesca, the betrayed women, but as the McCarthyism receded, things could have been patched up, behaviors explained and understood, even if not forgiven.

But, no. That betrayal is one of an utmost symbolic charge. It convokes the same behavior under the Nazi regime in Germany and the Fascist regime in Italy.

Freedman makes Jacob a German Jew, persecuted, detained and interrogated during Crystal Night, who manages to escape to the United State with his family before it is too late. Jacob, once in the US, joins the US army and fights in Germany, Tunisia and Italy.

People were and still are routinely denounced in totalitarian regimes by friends, family members, neighbors, colleagues out of fear of to gain favors.

Jacob's having been a victim in Nazi Germany could have been an extenuating circumstance. Again, no. Freedman develops a Greek tragedy; there is no escape or redemption. Even heroes have descent slowly the stairway down to their private hell, and hope that those who love them will still love them once they know what they did. That is the only consolation.