| Category: | Books |
| Genre: | Literature & Fiction |
| Rating: | 5 Stars |
If you had ridden a motorcycle running at about 120 mph in a road so wide without any other vehicles around while on both sides is a majestic scenery of nature, then you'd have felt the same feeling I've felt while reading Lois Lowry's "Number the Stars."
The novel may have in no way certain relations to the aforementioned experience but "Number the Stars" is such a fast-read, a worthy one to spend the most solemn hours of the day to turn its illustrious pages and one that possess a satisfying plot that may leave you hanging for a while chapter after chapter but does not leave you waiting for a century to unfold what is supposed to be hidden. Yes, each chapter is built on a climax where readers might find it a great loss to leave it for a while.
The compelling and tear-jerking nature of this novel structured to highlight the deeper meaning of friendship, love to one's neighbor and courage at the middle of danger made me admire Lowry even more as she did in her other novel, "The Giver."
Written in a somewhat shifting first person to third person participant-observer point of view, "Number the Stars" has for its background the Nazi occupation in Denmark, during the holocaust, tackling particularly the arrest of the German soldiers of Jewish families for "relocation" in concentration camps.
The Rosens, who are Jews and who are friends with the Johansens, decided to flee from their apartment in Copenhagen because the rabbi in the morning of the Jewish New Year, announced that there will be a widespread search for Jews in Denmark to detain them in concentration camps.
Knowing this plight of the Jews, Annemarie felt that all of the Danes should guard the Jews, the same way as they guard their King, Christian X. The Rosens, that night, left Ellen, their daughter with the Johansen since it would be dangerous for the Johansens to keep and hide the three of them from the Nazis though they are willing to do so if it isn't that dangerous.
Ellen was told to pretend as one of the Johansen girls which is not that hard since she and Annemarie seem more like sisters than friends. She was told to take Annemarie's sister's name, Lise who Annemarie later found died because she was also a member of the resistance group in Denmark.
The German soldiers did sought after Jews that night and both Ellen and Annemarie felt frightened when the soldiers noticed the difference of Ellen's hair from the two other Johansen girls. Thanks to Annemarie's father's quick thinking, he took his daughter's childhood pictures and showed it to the officer. The officer tore the pictures and disappointed, left the Johansens without another word.
Inge, Annemarie's mother brought Ellen the next day to his brother's house in Gillilije together with Annemarie and Kirsti, the youngest Johansen. In Uncle Henrik's house one night, there arrived a hearse with a coffin which the girls were convinced to be Great Aunt Birte's remains. But no dead body is inside the coffin but things to keep those gathered warm for the winter. The coffin was almost opened by the questioning Nazi officer but Inge gave him a sarcastic explanation.
In the same night, the Rosens were reunited all thanks to Peter Nielsen's ingenious tactics. Peter is supposed to be wed to Lise died two weeks before the wedding.
In the same night, the Rosens as well as the other people gathered that night were secretly hidden in the boats of the fishermen for them to be smuggled to Sweden as it was free from the hands of the Germans. They were to sail the moment the sun had risen.
But there's one thing that Mr. Rosen accidentally left in Uncle Henrik's house - an important package entrusted to him by Peter to be given to Uncle Henrik. It was Annemarie who brought the package to Uncle Henrik but she stumbled upon Nazi officers with trained dogs. They managed to see the package though it was hidden in the basket Annemarie's mother prepared for her for the package to be kept in secret. But when the officers tore it open, they only saw handkerchiefs and so they allowed Annemarie to pass, already crying. The officers were unaware that the handkerchiefs have a specially-formulated powder that numbs the dog's sense of smell for a short time. And so, if Annemarie failed to give the handkerchiefs to his Uncle in time, the Rosens would have been found by the Nazis hidden in Uncle Henrik's boat during their inspection.
Two years later, the Germans retreated and the war ended. Peter was executed by the Germans after being arrested in a mission and the Jewish families returned back to their own homes. Annemarie asked her father to fix Ellen's necklace, the star of David, which was broken when Annemarie forced it off Ellen's neck during the German's search and decided to wear it until they return.
Lowry also included an after word detailing the factual basis of her novel. The title itself was taken from Psalm 147 which goes:
O praise the Lord.
How good it is to sing psalms to our God.
How pleasant to praise him.
The Lord is rebuilding Jerusalem;
he gathers in the scattered sons of Israel,
It is he who heals the broken in spirit
and binds up their wounds,
he who number the stars one by one...
The novel may have in no way certain relations to the aforementioned experience but "Number the Stars" is such a fast-read, a worthy one to spend the most solemn hours of the day to turn its illustrious pages and one that possess a satisfying plot that may leave you hanging for a while chapter after chapter but does not leave you waiting for a century to unfold what is supposed to be hidden. Yes, each chapter is built on a climax where readers might find it a great loss to leave it for a while.
The compelling and tear-jerking nature of this novel structured to highlight the deeper meaning of friendship, love to one's neighbor and courage at the middle of danger made me admire Lowry even more as she did in her other novel, "The Giver."
Written in a somewhat shifting first person to third person participant-observer point of view, "Number the Stars" has for its background the Nazi occupation in Denmark, during the holocaust, tackling particularly the arrest of the German soldiers of Jewish families for "relocation" in concentration camps.
The Rosens, who are Jews and who are friends with the Johansens, decided to flee from their apartment in Copenhagen because the rabbi in the morning of the Jewish New Year, announced that there will be a widespread search for Jews in Denmark to detain them in concentration camps.
Knowing this plight of the Jews, Annemarie felt that all of the Danes should guard the Jews, the same way as they guard their King, Christian X. The Rosens, that night, left Ellen, their daughter with the Johansen since it would be dangerous for the Johansens to keep and hide the three of them from the Nazis though they are willing to do so if it isn't that dangerous.
Ellen was told to pretend as one of the Johansen girls which is not that hard since she and Annemarie seem more like sisters than friends. She was told to take Annemarie's sister's name, Lise who Annemarie later found died because she was also a member of the resistance group in Denmark.
The German soldiers did sought after Jews that night and both Ellen and Annemarie felt frightened when the soldiers noticed the difference of Ellen's hair from the two other Johansen girls. Thanks to Annemarie's father's quick thinking, he took his daughter's childhood pictures and showed it to the officer. The officer tore the pictures and disappointed, left the Johansens without another word.
Inge, Annemarie's mother brought Ellen the next day to his brother's house in Gillilije together with Annemarie and Kirsti, the youngest Johansen. In Uncle Henrik's house one night, there arrived a hearse with a coffin which the girls were convinced to be Great Aunt Birte's remains. But no dead body is inside the coffin but things to keep those gathered warm for the winter. The coffin was almost opened by the questioning Nazi officer but Inge gave him a sarcastic explanation.
In the same night, the Rosens were reunited all thanks to Peter Nielsen's ingenious tactics. Peter is supposed to be wed to Lise died two weeks before the wedding.
In the same night, the Rosens as well as the other people gathered that night were secretly hidden in the boats of the fishermen for them to be smuggled to Sweden as it was free from the hands of the Germans. They were to sail the moment the sun had risen.
But there's one thing that Mr. Rosen accidentally left in Uncle Henrik's house - an important package entrusted to him by Peter to be given to Uncle Henrik. It was Annemarie who brought the package to Uncle Henrik but she stumbled upon Nazi officers with trained dogs. They managed to see the package though it was hidden in the basket Annemarie's mother prepared for her for the package to be kept in secret. But when the officers tore it open, they only saw handkerchiefs and so they allowed Annemarie to pass, already crying. The officers were unaware that the handkerchiefs have a specially-formulated powder that numbs the dog's sense of smell for a short time. And so, if Annemarie failed to give the handkerchiefs to his Uncle in time, the Rosens would have been found by the Nazis hidden in Uncle Henrik's boat during their inspection.
Two years later, the Germans retreated and the war ended. Peter was executed by the Germans after being arrested in a mission and the Jewish families returned back to their own homes. Annemarie asked her father to fix Ellen's necklace, the star of David, which was broken when Annemarie forced it off Ellen's neck during the German's search and decided to wear it until they return.
Lowry also included an after word detailing the factual basis of her novel. The title itself was taken from Psalm 147 which goes:
O praise the Lord.
How good it is to sing psalms to our God.
How pleasant to praise him.
The Lord is rebuilding Jerusalem;
he gathers in the scattered sons of Israel,
It is he who heals the broken in spirit
and binds up their wounds,
he who number the stars one by one...
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