Wartime Lies: A Novel
by Louis Begley

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Book Reviews of Wartime Lies: A Novel

Book Review: Old Tale, New Twist
Summary: 5 Stars

It's not everyday I read about Poland. I've learned about World War II, and the atrocities of the Holocaust. I know about Germany's invasion of Poland and of Auschwitz, but it's all textbook knowledge and documentaries from the Discovery Channel. Most of the information I know is cold and sterile. As someone who wasn't born until 1981, the closest thing I can get to a first hand experience is usually from a survivor of a concentration camp. Rarely does myself-or anyone for that matter-get a fist hand look at what it was to live during these times, outside the nazi camps and Jewish ghettos. Bagley does a fine job in showing us what it meant to be a Jew in Poland during World War II from a perspective greatly different from those poor souls who ended up in Hitler's death camps.

Like Dante's pseudo-self in his Divine Comedy, Maciek-the hero of Bagley's tale-wanders around his own hell with his aunt Tania as a protector and guide. Just like Dante, Maciek is immune to the actual terrors of the German invasion, due to his forged documents stating he is of Aryan decent, and must travel through his ravished homeland as an outsider observing the atrocities committed by the Nazis. Since Maciek is only one person, the purpose of his journey isn't to change his homeland. His task is to inform the rest of his country, and the world, of what actually occurred in Poland, so that it can hopefully never happen again. He is merely a tool used to relate these horrors.

As I've already said, I know very little about Poland and its people. Most of what I do know centers around the county's tendency to be conquered by other nations, but probably the most widely known chapter in Poland's history occurred during the Nazi Holocaust. Bagley's novel is the first time I've every encountered these events related from an objective view. This book has given me a better understanding of what actually transpired during the German occupation then any other source I've ever encountered. Wartime Lies not only gives us a chronological history of events, but also an emotional history of a person who lived through them. This marriage of history and personal exploration paints a more vivid picture then any textbook or documentary could.

Even after the war, Maciek and the remains of his family still lived under false pretenses, fearing what still might occur if their Jewish heritage were discovered. While I have no fear of others knowing I'm Polish, in some ways I understand the feeling of not being true to ones background. While I don't attempt to hide my ethnic background, I make no strides in exposing it either. If anything, Bagley has not only kindled in me a desire to learn more about my own family and nationality, but his book has also given me a new perspective on events that I thought I knew all to well.

Summary of Wartime Lies: A Novel

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