Book Description: In 1938, seventeen-year-old Beatrice, an Irish Protestant lace maker, finds herself at the center of a fairy tale when she is whisked away from her dreary life to join the Berlin household of Felix and Dorothea Metzenburg. Art collectors, and friends to the most fascinating men and women in Europe, the Metzenburgs introduce Beatrice to a world in which she finds more to desire than she ever imagined.
But Germany has launched its campaign of aggression across Europe, and, before long, the conflict reaches the Metzenburgs’ threshold. Retreating with Beatrice to their country estate, Felix and Dorothea do their best to preserve the traditions of the old world. But the realities of hunger and illness, as well as the even graver threats of Nazi terror, the deportation and murder of Jews, and the hordes of refugees fleeing the advancing Red Army begin to threaten their existence. When the Metzenburgs are forced to join a growing population of men and women in hiding, Beatrice, increasingly attached to the family and its unlikely wartime community, bears heartrending witness to the atrocities of the age and to the human capacity for strength in the face of irrevocable loss.
In searing physical and emotional detail, The Life of Objects illuminates Beatrice’s journey from childhood to womanhood, from naïveté to wisdom, as a continent collapses into darkness around her. It is Susanna Moore’s most powerful and haunting novel yet.
I have read more historical fiction set in and around World War II than any other time period. I’ve read books about England before the war, Americans in Germany after the war, the occupation of the Channel Islands, Jews in Paris, Jews in Kraków, Americans on D-Day, the Battle of Britain. I have even read a novel narrated by Death. What all of these have in common, besides being about World War II, is they are not from the German point of view. If there is a German POV in the story they are either the villain or a German working against the Nazi regime. I’ve always wondered about the other people. The Germans who kept their heads down and tried to survive without harming anyone or being harmed. In The Life of Objects, Susanna Moore comes the closest to hitting this mark by focusing on a wealthy aesthete, his wife and their servants. Though, by isolating them from the everyday horrors of other people’s actions on a remote estate she does not give her characters the opportunity to be noble. Their isolation as well as their obsession with protecting their valuable artwork, seems at first glance to be a form of cowardice. As the war progresses and the wealthy Metzenbergs begin to go hungry and are bombed out of their home by the British, the artwork is the only thing that keeps them, and others, alive and it is what keeps Frau Metzenberg, part Jewish but with a family Certificate of True Belief, from being taken away by the Germans.
Narrated by Beatrice, a lace maker from Ireland who matures as she endures the war with the Metzenbergs, her voice starts out as innocent ignorance and grows and expands to intelligent resilience. Beatrice’s transformation is subtle, believable and brilliantly crafted by Moore. The matter of fact tone and spare language Beatrice uses means a horrific event – two actually – sneaks up and past you before you realize what has happened. Once you do, you will return to make sure you read what you thought you read. Beatrice, for her part, keeps going because to stop and face the horror will mean death.
At 256 pages, The Life of Objects is tightly written, though it isn’t necessarily a quick read. However, it is well worth whatever amount of time and effort it requires. This was the first book of Susanna Moore’s I have read but it will not be the last.
BOOK GIVEAWAY
I am giving away one copy of The Life of Objects – either hardback or e-book, depending on the winner’s preference. To enter, leave a comment answering the question:
What is your favorite novel centered on World War II?
Winner will be announced on Friday, January 11.
- The Life of Objects (★★★★) by Susanna Moore
- Hardcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: Knopf (September 18, 2012)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0307268438
- ISBN-13: 978-0307268433
- Amazon Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
