Half Notes From Berlin by B. V. Glants ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

 

Berlin, 1933. Hans believes he and his family are safe from persecution.

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September 2022; Glide Media; 979-8986598529
ebook, print (256 pages); historical fiction

Half Notes From Berlin begins in 1933 in Berlin and the persecution of the Jewish people by the Nazis is beginning to increase. Young men are encouraged to join the Hitler Youth and to continue the cruelty to Jewish people in their school.  Hans is 15 years old.  He isn't really concerned about what is happening to the Jews because he's a Christian and none of the anger is directed toward him.  He has loving parents and grandparents and lots of friends at school.  Hans has a crush on Rebecca, the classroom bookworm, and becomes upset when the other boys in the class make disparaging remarks about her because she's Jewish.  By trying to take care of her, he also becomes a target of his classmates' cruelty.  One day, he hears his parents talking and finds out that he is part Jewish. His grandparents were Jewish but converted to Christianity when they were younger and his mother had been raised as a Christian.  Unfortunately, the Nazis believed that a person with any Jewish blood would be considered Jewish and it didn't matter if they had converted years before the Nazis took power.  This information throws Hans's life into turmoil but he decides to keep his heritage a secret and to serve in the German Army

This book is a coming-of-age story for Hans that is made all that more dangerous because of what's going on in the world.  The first part of the book is interesting and well-written but I felt like the ending was very rushed and didn't go into enough detail of Hans learning to navigate his new life.

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Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is two hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west.  She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.

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