84 of 86 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Greatest Historical Novel Ever!, March 13, 2002
Herman Wouk is a great writer. With War and Remembrance and its predecessor, The Winds of War, He sealed his reputation as a great writer of historical fiction. Unlike such writers as Leon Uris, who tends to create heroic larger than life heroes and James Michener, who skimps on characterization altogether, Wouk creates brilliantly real figures who seem to live, breath and sometimes die. Whereas the Winds of War covers the period from just prior to the German invasion of Poland in Sept. 1939 through Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, War and Remembrance covers the period from after Pearl through the surrender of Japan in August 1945. As with the previous book, Wouk blends his fictional characters with real figures such as Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin and Hitler.
By exploring the experiences of the fictional Henry family and their extended acquaintances, Wouk manages to cover virtually every aspect of this sprawling epic struggle between good and evil. There is Victor "Pug" Henry, stoic Navy captain, his dutiful bound son Warren, a Navy flyer bound for action in the Pacific, his formerly wayward son Byron, now a submarine officer who marries the Jewish woman Natalie Jastrow in Europe. Natalie herself is trapped in Italy with her Uncle, the intellectual scholar Aaron Jastrow and her baby Louis. The Nazi vice that slowly closes on the American born Natalie is excruciating yet stunningly realistic. There is Leslie Slote, the callous foreign service officer who has an epiphany when he discovers the plans for the Final Solution and there are many many others. Wouk blends the personal stories of these characters with an expositional account of the war. He uses the device of a fictional memoir of an imprisoned German officer to prsent the war from the German perspective. It is bone-chilling reading. Finally, Wouk's stunning descriptions of Auschwitz are the most realistic and engrossing description of the Holocaust I have ever read. This book is moving, gripping and engrossing. It is also highly educational. The reader of War and Remembrance will learn a great deal about the Second World War and the War will be brought to life by this book better than any history. This novel should not be missed nor should The Winds of War.
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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A TOUR DE FORCE, May 15, 2000
When I read "The Winds of War", it was only after I had read the reviews of the book on Amazon.com that I realised that life would never be complete until I had read the sequel.
Trolling Nairobi's thrift shops at long last gave me access to one of the greatest books I have ever read. It is an epic novel, a great romance (and heaven knows how I hate those, but this one was a gem), and perhaps the best history lesson on the Second World War I have come across.
Without going into specifics about the book - which the other reviewers on the site have done so well, the things that stand out in the book are several:
One; it brings to life the Holocaust in a way that history books can never hope to compare. Auschwitz is no longer a footnote to horror - it is now a flesh and blood camp with horrifyingly banal commandants. The SS are not nameless, faceless sadists - they are normal people with an abnormal hatred.
Secondly, the philosophical-historical insights into European and German history, as seen through the mind of Aaron Jastrow, are superb.
I need not dwell on the sweeping historical views of the war of "Armin von Roon", that bring the bigger picture of the war into play.
Natalie Jastrow, in my opinion the most developed character in the book, is prepared to prostitute herself in order to save her life in Auschwitz that she may see her son again. That, to me, makes her all the more remarkable a person than if she had remained unbelievably pious. Natalie is a real human being. The only injustice Wouk does to her is not to develop her character after Auschwitz.
Finally, the most touching part of the book was the night that Udam, the theater man in Theresienstadt, decides to sing the haunting songs of the Jews under the threat of death. Of all the moments in the book, this one was the one that brought me closest to tears.
The longest book I have ever read (at 1389 pages in my version), and certainly a book I will read again. This is a rare gem.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sets the standard for historical fiction, July 13, 2005
WOW. Exceptional historical research, developed characters and subplots, great storytelling. A book for the ages. With Winds of War (read it first), this was a 2000+ page trek. Worth it and very satisfying. While being entertained, the reader receives an educational narrative of the progression of events, the atmosphere, and the personalities of WWII. Among the most enjoyable aspects for me was reading the face-to-face encounters with important personages of the war (at least Wouk's interpretation of them). It was the next best thing to having sat in a room with these people. By cleverly using a fictional family and its involvement in the war, Wouk takes the reader all over the world, providing a wonderful comprehensive overview of WWII. Finishing it meant saying goodbye to old and beloved friends. I repeat . . . WOW.
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