Customer Reviews

Silent Battlefields: A Novel

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Mr. Rosen's novel, Silent Battlefield, read like a dream. His words were like a gentle spring flowing out so eloquently and effortlessly. You feel so immersed in the novel, actually seeing, feeling, and being a silent participant wondering about what tomorrow will bring. His keen observation of human behavior and inner thought processes was so well described in this novel. Consequently, this novel draws you in so that you can relate to all the characters, their mental anguishes, and inter-actions with each other, yet realizing that each character is uniquely different.

I very much enjoyed watching the unfolding of each character's life story from their particular circumstances as they matured into self-fulfilled persons. In that process, you see their pains, struggles, and coming to terms with who they are. In short, there is a lesson here about life, about good and evil, and about the reality that a person's private actions do matter in becoming your own person.

Among the delights in reading "Silent Battlefields," are the deeply human connections one makes with this novel's sensitively developed characters. It is difficult to comprehend how this can be Hugh Rosen's first novel when taking into consideration the sagacious craftsmanship with which he reveals to his readers the inner souls of his characters while guiding us through multiple, intertwining levels of their truly moving and eloquently told life stories.

This is a novel that never gets bogged down in unnecessary exposition. Instead, readers will find themselves moving through intriguing situations and thought-provoking episodes from beginning to the novel's end. I found myself marveling at the many twists and turns of this multi-layered story, and impressed by an ever expanding awareness of how each character's inner-most struggles are so carefully revealed at just the right moments within the tapestry of very believable conflicts each character presents.

The book is aptly named because it is not about a very loud WWII, nor is it specifically about the horrors of The Holocaust. However, these tragic historical realities do serve as the backdrop upon which the characters in this novel play out their personal struggles to define their lives with each other and to find within themselves the courage to make the choices so essential in their respective lives. For me, "Silent Battlefields" refers to the battlefields we experience within our own psyche when engaged in desperate private struggles to break free of thought and behavior patterns that no longer seem to work in the face of ever-changing life challenges. Because we all can relate to the existence of our own "silent battlefields," the struggles and triumphs presented in this exquisite novel make for an irresistible read.

The narrative begins in the year 1939 and introduces the first of a cast of characters caught in a dilemma of loyalties. Immediately I was drawn into the environment surrounding the German Youth movement and the immense difficulty faced by the Jews in Germany as Hitler expanded his ruthless appetite for power.

Rosen uses conversation as a tool to draw the reader into the background needed to set the story in motion. He also uses conflict and romance to develop the plot movement. In this way he captures and holds the readers attention.

Each character becomes a complex individual calling for empathy, dislike, and respect. I was left with a desire to know more of the inner feelings of the characters with whom I identified. There was a haunting theme throughout the narrative. Characters were deprived of potential relationships because of prejudice and bigotry. Relationships between individuals were overshadowed by an effort not to become vulnerable. Each guarded a secret inner guilt. His characters are believable and showed both their flaws and their inner strengths.

Rosen's beautiful, often stirring word pictures and striking descriptive phrases evoked a roller coaster of emotions from this reader.

His attention to detail in background research and character development is enhanced by his colorful comparisons. His research is both scholarly and convincing. The whole story is thought provoking and soul searching.

Although I am neither Jewish, nor German, I felt an identity with the characters. I recognized in myself the conflict of and the waging of personal silent battles.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who remembers personally those years of World War II and anyone seeking to better understand the complex sense of survival, whether a direct holocaust victim, participant, or someone caught up in a web of a secret battlefield of unanswered guilt or despair.

Hugh Rosen has written an exceptionally moving and important novel. He takes a subject which, so far as I know, has not been explored before in fiction. How do the children of holocaust survivors and children of Nazis cope with the anger and guilt that comes out of their parents' suffering or criminal actions. From this subject, he creates a meditation on the human capacity for retribution and forgiveness. And he makes the story into a genuine page-turner. It was as gripping as a good detective novel and still left me thinking about the nature and capacity of suffering and love.

For readers, some books are educational; others are mysteries, romance, historical, entertaining or thought provoking. "Silent Battlefields" is all of this and more. Author Rosen, professor emeritus at Drexel University, moves from a series of nonfiction works to fiction. Or it is fiction?

Understanding how the Holocaust happened is almost impossible. Rosen's story describes not only the horror and impact on the tortured and killed but also the post-war burden of those who survived --- both the abused and the abusers.

I found this book one of those where, "I must finish to see how it ends," However, I was also challenged to not dismiss a number of fictional improbable coincidences and twists of fate inserted to add to the mystery and make the story complete. That is until I allowed myself to assume that with millions of people impacted by World War II that stranger things could have happened,and probably did.

Rarely do you find a novel that so closely approximates what you'd expect to hear from the personal experiences of Holocaust survivors. Rosen captured their essence so beautifully and even created a Nazi character that you could sympathize with, root for which may be hard to believe if you are a Jew.
On the one hand his plot seems beyond belief, that two people whose pathes have crossed in a world gone mad, could come together across an ocean. Yet it is always the seemingly impossible that can be spellbinding and horrifying at the same time. How such an encounter could turn out so differently is credit to a writer with imagination to go beyone the stereotypical Holocaust stories and create a hauntingly poignant tale.
Don't miss it if you're a Holocaust "junkie" like me.

This is a gripping novel that keeps you engaged until the last page. The "battlefield" surrounds you as you connect with real people in their personal strugges with good versus evil, hate vesus love,and societies judgements versus self judgement. There are happy lovers and sad lovers in this book but we can identify with all of them. While the Holocaust is the fire that ignites this tale, Rosen leads his characers through it to today's world -and we follow. a most satisfying read

This novel is a well-wrought story spanning generations and countries that offers a terrific window into some of the still thorny issues of how the horrors of Nazi Germany happened and how reconciliation is possible. It deals with several complex realities admirably and compels you to read it.

I found myself thinking a lot about it the day after I started it and felt drawn back to finishing it quickly because I found myself caring about the characters and their various problems. The strands of their interweaving stories were well composed.

It was refreshing to see that gay characters were presented realistically and sensitively, although this was not a major focus on the book. It was also fun to see that much of the story takes place in my hometown.

The author is clearly a learned man who has done much research into the facts surrounding the story and I look forward to more novels by this talented writer. I think many types of readers will find something to draw them into this intriguing story.
I also think that it would make a good movie!

This is no ordinary work of fiction. On one level it is the mesmerizing tale of three generations of people whose lives were shaped directly or indirectly by the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust. On another level, it is an eloquently written piece of literature which compels the reader to grapple with the darker side of humanness as it delves into concepts such as war, hate, loyalty, prejudice, guilt, and death. On yet a third level it is an inspiring, albeit explosive, story of forbidden love, sacrifice, hope and forgiveness.
"Silent Battlefields" contains profound moral teachings. Among them is the reality that if we assume that we understand an individual's character, motivation or intention because we know the predominate ideology of their homeland-we will be mistaken. Countries are made up of people, but people are not necessarily the product of their countries.
Although this book contains a good deal of tension, it also consists of cheery banter and good humor among several of its characters. This unique novel will leave the reader with strong feelings and much to think about.

Initially I thought Silent Battlefields would be just one more, of many, holocaust books. I was pleasantly surprised with Hugh Rosen's new twist to this familiar theme in his splendidly written novel. The story moves right along. Whenever you think you have it "figured out" the story takes a new twist. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good "read".