Customer Reviews

Was God on Vacation? (Third Ed.)

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Jack van der Geest is what Odysseus, Private Ryan, and Forest Gump all pretend to be. His journey is amazing, his personal struggles staggering, and his contact with history is the stuff legends are made of. WAS GOD ON VACATION is sweeping the classrooms of America, and for good reason. We need heroes, badly.

From Nazi occupation to a concentration camp "medical" lab, from the French underground to D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge, and the post-war turmoil of South Asia, that this man survived to settle in America (and become an insurance salesman) gives new meaning and value to the American dream so often dismissed as too dull or banal to pass on to our kids.

Jack van der Geest endured World War II, but chose Main Street America, where he has personally re-defined citizenship and civic duty with his life.

Speilberg should have talked to Jack before he began his SAVING PRIVATE RYAN project. The story of this every-day Joe from South Dakota (by way of Holland) dwarfs anything Hollywood could ever contrive.

Don't ever believe the lie that heroes are a thing of the past. New ones are born every day. Just ask Jack van der Geest.

This book should be read by all high school children of this country. It is a powerful description of the conditions which existed in Europe until May 1945. As an emigrant from France I returned to Europe and was dropped into occupied France as an OSS/SOE agent. Jack's description of the French escape and evasion network is accurate. It is possible that we have known the same people because two of my uncles were involved with an escape route to Switzerland. The French resistance so often was penetrated by the Gestapo that my uncles never revealed their function to the local Maquis. My home town had several Jewish families, except for one, a school friend, all went to the gas chambers. With the help of the local population, all were taken to waiting cattle cars by the local French police, not the Gestapo, and shipped to Germany . I did not return to my home town for forty years. If Jack as a web page I will kink it to mine with pleasure... E-mail: rene@defourneaux.com

As a school assignment, I was supposed to read Was God On Vacation?, by Jack van der Geest. I thought that this book was amazing. Jack has certainly lived an amazing life from escaping from the Buchenwald concentration camp to storming the beaches of Normandy. He writes in detail all of his suffering. After reading the book I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. van der Geest. He is an amazing man with an amazing story. I think that this is a much better book than Night by Elie Wiesel that has won awards. Jack's book should have won some awards. This is an exciting book, I highly recommend it.

Jack van der Geest's chilling true story of his life during World War II should go up there with Elie Wiesel's Night and Kurt Vonnegut's Mother Night as must-reads for high school students. Since Mr. van der Geest resides in the same town as I, his book is required reading.
His story is one of wonder, fear, and terror, from his work in the Dutch Underground, to the betrayal of a neighbor woman that landed Jack and his mother and father in Nazi concentrations, to Jack's reluctant work as an aid to German doctors, to his escape from Buchenwald . . . And the book's not even half over. Once he's safely escaped, he takes the reader through western Europe, making trips through several countries guiding Allied soldiers to safety and working for the French Underground. In my high school history text book, an incident is reported in which Mr. van der Geest was involved in, while working with Allied forces in England. This book is a shocking account of both the cruelty of some humans, and also the strengh and compassion of others.

This is definitely one of the best and most well-written books I have ever read. The most chilling part of the book is, even after reading it several times, I have to stop and remind myself that everything in the book is real. I have personally met Mr. van der Geest, the author of this book, and it was a wonderful opportunity for me to discuss various facets of his experiences. For me, meeting someone who saw firsthand the terrible evil and hellish nightmare that was Nazism helps me from going the way of those who would prefer to think that it never happened instead of facing it and learning from the past. To quote Santayana: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

My father recently sent me this book as a present. It was probably the best book that I have read this past year. This story, of Jack Van Der Geest, life...really hit home for me. Recently, I became very sensitive to racism. Specifically, my fiances son was beaten by a group who believed him to be a white supremist.

I plan to buy this book on a regular basis and give it as a gift to those other parents that need it...to educate our youth on the tragic events of World War II.

Jack Van Der Geest...is an inspiration...

Rob Johnson

I just finished this book. It is an amazing story that proves fact is better than fiction. What an amazing life this man lead. His courage and fierce determination to survive brought him through the key places and major events of WWII. Buy this book and pass it around. I was fortunate enough to have this book passed to me.

I thought it was great. That is really what happend in his life. I also thing it was great because he came to out school and read it to us. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I makes you think about america more and how lucky we are to have such a great contry.

As a dutch girl, born after the war, I often heard warstories told by familymembers when they were together. I have seen the pain and the suffering from those who where in camps; I have seen the agony of their children too. This book might help understand the future generations to really know what happened and therefore never should be happening again. It filled my system with tears and recognition. I want my children and later my future grandchildren to read this book too.

Jack van der Geest does a great job telling an incredibly tragic, yet exciting story. It is his memoir of his experience in Buchenwald and elsewhere during the World War II. As a teacher, this is an especially good book for middle and high school students. You won't be able to put it down!