Customer Reviews

The Soldier And The Rose (Harlequin Everlasting Love #19)

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Linda Barrett's THE SOLDIER AND THE ROSE is a heartwarming love story and family saga spanning a period of over sixty years beginning in World War II and ending in the present day.

Rose Kaufman married Joe Rabinowitz on December 7, 1941. They enjoyed six glorious months together before he was shipped overseas. She wrote many letters to Joe over the course of the
war, announcing her pregnancy, recounting the milestones in baby Susan's life, and always professing her love for Joe.

Charlie Shapiro was under Joe's command during the war. Joe shared Rose's letters with his men, and most of them grew to love her--Charlie included. Charlie was with Joe when he was killed. After the war ends, Charlie visits Rose and falls more deeply in love with her and her daughter. To help Rose out of a difficult situation, he offers a marriage of convenience, knowing she still grieves for Joe.

Can Rose find a place in her heart for Charlie? Or will Charlie have to live with Joe's ghost for the rest of his life?

THE SOLDIER AND THE ROSE is a captivating tale with a large ensemble of endearing characters. The story is woven around Rose and Charlie preparing to celebrate their sixtieth wedding anniversary. We know they have a long-enduring marriage. We know they love one another deeply. But how did they overcome the obstacles standing in their way?

With the finesse of a Hollywood director, Ms. Barrett flawlessly uses flashbacks and the letters written by Rose to her dead husband, to propel the reader back and forth through time, making the story richly layered and textured, both in the past and the present.

THE SOLDIER AND THE ROSE is an outstanding work of fiction, with a fresh and unique presentation. I was so invested in the characters' lives, I truly didn't want the story to end. When I finished the book, I immediately read it again from first page to last--something I've never done before. I highly recommend this soul-stirring book.

Since others have already posted what the book is about (I hate writing synopses), I will just state what I thought of the story. The cover is beautifully done, and (yay!) no adultery (once either the husband or wife--it's usually the husband--is unfaithful, I tend to lose interest in the love part of the story). I was so afraid that in the quest for realism (the reason for the somewhat choppy, sometimes stilted dialogue, but people really speak that way, not in complete sentences), the author would at least have Charlie committing adultery once in his marriage of 60+ years (as I am assuming he and Rose both have many years left in them), but she didn't, and I am so grateful for that.

I was disappointed that Charlie had even thought about it, but perhaps that is realistic <sighs>. Though both Rose and Charlie are Jewish, Jesus says in the New Testament that to even look upon another woman with lust is committing adultery in his heart, so though it may not be as bad as doing the actual act, it's still a form of spiritual unfaithfulness.

Perhaps if Rose had found it in her heart to love Charlie with all of it much sooner, he wouldn't have even looked at another woman. I never understood it though when people would say they were in love with someone's memory (Rose finally tells Charlie that she loves him more than Joe's memory) because that person, though they may be gone from this life, aren't dead. I always found that sort of statement (calling them just a memory) a slap in the face to the person who has passed from this life into the afterlife. Why couldn't she be buried between her two husbands? I mean, I know she was only married to Joe a short time, but not only did she give her virginity to him (you don't lose your virginity like you do a pocketbook--I've always thought that a ridiculous expression), but she had one of his children--he can't help it their marriage was cut short.

Can't she love both of them equally and unconditionally for different reasons? You don't stop loving someone just because they die, but you move on and make room in your heart for another.

Though I know it's typical of the era, Susan's feeling like President Kennedy getting shot being like losing her first father all over again was very weird. All that business with Camelot was such a farce--the man was an adulterer many times over. I wasn't living back then, so I don't really know what kind of a President he was, but his morals and family values were definitely lacking. He has practically been deified by the media, and it's sickening. Books like this only continue the illusion that when the Kennedys were in the White House, it was like a fairy tale in a story book. And President Kennedy was not a hero! To even make such a suggestion is to insult the real heroes, like Susan's G.I. Joe (all this stuff about Kennedy is on page 209 if you want to look for yourself), but Susan's redeeming virtue was her support of the troops. At least she wasn't one of those nuts spitting on the soldiers who were drafted into Vietnam.

A decent read.

The book begins in Long Island, 2007, with Rose and Charlie. They have been married sixty years. They sit at a table, with a box of memorabilia opened in front of them, reminiscing with their daughter, Susan, and Paul, Susan's husband. Part One begins in Brooklyn, the early 1940's. Rose has been married to Joseph Rabinowitz for only six months before he is deployed to Germany. Money is tight with everyone. World War II is in full swing. Hitler is doing his worst and the American soldiers are battling for freedom. It is not long before Joe learns that Rose is pregnant. Joe is to be a daddy! His buddies are thrilled for him. The soldiers make a pact together. Should one of them die, the survivors would contact the family of the fallen soldier and attest to his quick death on the battlefield. An instant ending. No pain and no suffering - regardless of the truth.

Joe is one of the soldiers killed during battle. One of his war buddies who happens to live in Brooklyn, Charlie Shapiro, makes it home. Charlie had spent time as a POW in Germany. Like the other soldiers, Charlie seldom, if ever, spoke about his time over seas. Once Charlie gained enough weight and strength back, he went to visit Rose and her daughter, Susan. Charlie falls in love with Rose and Susan, but Rose is still grieving. Yet Charlie convinces Rose to marry him anyway.

Part Two is in Queens, the 1950's. Rose and Charlie have been married five years. Part Three is in Long Island, the 1960's. Kennedy has just been assassinated. The main focus is still Rose and Charlie, but more and more scenes are with an adult Susan and her two siblings. Throughout the years, Rose has written Joe, one or two notes per year, about Susan and her second family's lives. Charlie still wonders if Joe still comes first in Rose's life. It is a question only Rose can answer.

***** The entire story is told within the space of a few hours, on a single night, by Rose and Charlie to Susan and Paul. However, the reader watches the events as they unfold for Rose and Charlie. Told in such vivid details, I felt as though I were there. This tale is absolutely perfect for a made-for-TV movie! Keep the tissues handy. This author will touch, if not play with, your heart strings. *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

During World War II, Rose Kaufman's beloved spouse Joe died in combat without once seeing his daughter, born after he left to go overseas. His friend Charlie Shapiro survived war physically, but struggles emotionally. He had vowed to his brother in arms that if Joe died and he lived, he would visit Rose when he returned to Brooklyn to tell her he loved her. However, Charlie soon knows he loves Rose and Joe's daughter; although he assumes she does not return his feelings, Charlie persuades Rose to marry him, which she does.

In the present history repeats itself as their granddaughter Liz is expecting a child while her spouse Matt is in Iraq. This, as they celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of their marriage, leads Rose and Charlie to reflect on their life together. He believes his cherished wife never loved him as he could never compete with the ghost of Joe although in truth he never wanted to as Joe was his buddy.

This engaging relationship drama contains two strong lead characters and an incredibly developed support cast, mostly family members. Charlie's muse of loving his wife for sixty years through not believing she returned his feelings and Rose's thoughts on how she feels about her caring second husband and her first A Guy Named Joe make for a deep character study. Although the action is limited, fans who appreciate a deep introspective tale will enjoy the SOLDIER AND THE ROSE.

Harriet Klausner