Dragons Teeth

I have put off writing this review for a couple of weeks because I've been unsure what to say about it. The first half of the 600+ page book seemed a little pointless and drawn out. I think that the author was trying to build the relationship between the main character, Lanny Budd, and his Jewish friend, Johannes Robin. It is a story of a well off American man, the before-mentioned Lanny Budd, who marries the richest woman in America, though I can't remember her name. They live in Europe and know lots of famous and rich people; one of them is Johannes Robin who is a wealthy Jewish businessman who lives in Berlin. The first half of the book tells of them going on a cruise with the Robin family (he has two sons, one is married to Lanny's sister, and they all have different political views which they talk about a lot). It also tells about parties they go to and people they meet. One of the people they meet is Adolf Hitler. This was the only interesting part of the first half: to learn a little bit about where Adolf Hitler came from and the kind of person he was. When they met him he was building up the Nazi party and starting to get a lot of support in Germany. He eventually does gain power and takes over Germany and then that's where it gets interesting.

They plan on taking a cruise on the Robin family yacht to get away from the terror of Germany and how the Jews were being treated, especially the sons of the Robin family. One of the sons was a Communist and the other a Socialist, both of which the Nazis hated, besides the fact that they were Jews. They waited a long time for Johannes to arrive with his yacht but he never came. They soon found out Johannes had been arrested and taken to a prison camp. Lanny and his wife decide to go into Germany and use their many contacts within the Nazi party to get Johannes out.

He meets with two high power Nazi officers, Paul Goebbels (these Nazi leaders were real men) and also Hermann Goring two of the most evil men on earth. He gets in good with them, even going on a hunting trip with Goring. He finds out from Goring that Johannes didn't submit the correct paperwork to take money out of Germany (which in fact he did) and that was why he was arrested. In order for Lanny to get Johannes out he had to give all his money, his palace and his yacht and Johannes would leave Germany with nothing but his life. They agree to this (they didn't have much of a choice) and got him out safely. While they were trying to free Johannes they were in contact with Freddi Robins, Johannes' son. They soon lost contact of him and found out after getting Johannes out of the country that Freddi had been arrested and taken to Dachau, one of the worst pre-war concentration camps there were.

Lanny felt a need to get him out. As he talks about it with his wife you find she is sort of a Nazi sympathizer and doesn't like the Robin family because they are Jews. She doesn't understand Lanny's hatred of the Nazi party. She is kind to the Robin family, but when it comes down to it she doesn't like them as much as her husband, even to a point where she doesn't want Freddi's son to play with their daughter. Lanny feels responsible and decides to go back to Germany and get Freddi out.

He gets in contact with some of his Nazi friends, those on the lower levels, and makes a plan with one of them to get Freddi out. I don't want to give the details in case you want to read the book, but their plan goes awry.

I enjoyed the second half of the book very much. I am not a history buff; to show my ignorance I didn't realize that Communists and Nazis weren't the same thing. This book was fascinating to me. I've read other books about WWII and concentrations camps, but they have all been from the Jewish point of view and usually they take place during the war. This book is from a complete outsider and ends before the war even begins. I learned a lot and even though at times I felt it was pointless to read, I'm glad I stuck with it, in the end it was worth it.

In This Our Life Review

I'm not quite sure what to say about this book. It wasn't the best or the worst book I've ever read, it was just so-so. It's a story of a family told from different points of view. Mostly it is from the viewpoint of the dad, Asa. He has been stuck in a loveless marriage for over 30 years and all that he wants is to escape from it and move out to a farm with his friend, Kate. His wife, Lavinia, is an overweight hypochondriac who delights in making her husband's life miserable. She never leaves her bedroom and complains and talks all the time. Asa feels that he needs to stay with her so that someone is there to take care of her and bring her food and medicine. The other thing keeping Asa around is his children. He has two daughters, Stanley and Roy, (yes that is right) and a son named Andrew. Andrew is married to Maggie and they have three kids. They have a great marriage and are fine and really aren't a big part of the book at all. When the book starts out Roy is married to Peter and Stanley is engaged to Craig and their wedding is coming up. A couple of days before the wedding Stanley and Peter run off together leaving Roy and Craig both heartbroken. They each take it in a different way. Roy is very strong and doesn't want to be pitied. When she is working or at home with her family she is fine, but at night she cries and doesn't sleep because of her dreams of Peter. Craig just kind of loses it, he becomes a wreck. When Roy and Craig meet up a few months later they begin to help each other over come their heart ache and soon fall in love.

Meanwhile, in Boston Stanley and Peter aren't doing so well. Stanley writes her mother telling her that she and Peter fight all the time. Soon Peter commits suicide and leaves Stanley heartbroken for a short time. Stanley is the kind of girl that demands things. She wants the best of everything and expects it to be handed to her. Lavinia (Stanley's mother) has an uncle, William, who is the wealthiest man in town and he kind of doted on Stanley and bought her whatever she wanted; this is where Stanley gets it. Stanley is a beautiful young woman and gets lots of attention for her good looks and she knows how to use them to get what she wants. She doesn't mourn long for Peter and is soon restless and wanting to go somewhere besides their city of Queensboro.

I don't want to give the book completely away but other sad and hard things happen with Stanley. The night Asa decides he's going to leave Lavinia and move out to Kate's farm something terrible happens with Stanley and Roy that makes him change his mind.

It was a good story, but the people in the story just think way to much. They can't get over things or move on with things because they just think and analyze WAY to much. I just wanted to say "stop thinking and go do something!" It kind of drove me crazy.

There was a paragraph in the book I wanted to quote only because it was funny and doesn't in any way reflect how I feel about my marriage. It is Uncle William's wife, Charlotte, who is analyzing her marriage and life. This is what it says "Charlotte, who knitted without looking at her needles, did not answer immediately. At the moment, she was busily wondering how women could have survived marriage throughout the ages if knitting had not been invented…" I just got a kick out of that. Again it doesn't reflect how I feel about my marriage or why I knit, just so we're clear on that.

I enjoyed the book but I am not anxious to read it again and like I said earlier there was too much thinking and analyzing and not enough action.