ARA Review by Bona10nder of VieVie La Fontaine

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Bona10nder
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ARA Review by Bona10nder of VieVie La Fontaine

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[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, VieVie La Fontaine.]
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2 out of 5 stars
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VieVie La Fontaine by Linda Heavner Gerald tells the story of a young German Jew sent to live in Paris as Adolf Hitler comes to power and the world goes to war.

The Trouble with the Start

We begin this review with the Acknowledgements, where we learn that the author donated an auction item to a fundraiser for the Humane Society. So far, so good. The item, it turns out, was that “a book be written about [the person with the highest bid]” in which that person might be “a saint or a prostitute.” So, before we even get off the ground in this book, we’re told the basic origins of the titular character. Granted, we already know this is a work of fiction and we already know how fiction works but learning this on page four is a buzzkill for the suspension of disbelief. It makes the book feel all that more contrived. That goes for the information provided in the Introduction as well. This material belongs at the end, not the beginning.

The Trouble with History

A problem with fictional stories set within real-world historical events is that we already know the ending of those events. In this case, we know that the French Resistance plays a key role in helping the Allies retake France, and ultimately Hitler loses. We don’t know the fate of the book’s characters, but the tension of not knowing the ultimate outcome of the war is never there. So, there must be some other outcome that we care about and that is unknown, or why keep reading? In this book, we learn some vital things concerning major characters far too early on, leaving us doing little more than waiting to confirm that unsubtle foreshadowing.

The Trouble with the Narrator

The narrator is spoiled, self-obsessed, melodramatic, and unsympathetic. Despite the book’s title, this is his story. Why was he written this way? The fact that he is a Jew in the era of World War Two automatically confers upon him a degree of sympathy, but this isn’t enough. He carries plenty of guilt over his circumstances, though they favor him dramatically, living the high life in occupied Paris.

Everyone around him seems to make extreme sacrifices for his sake; this despite the fact that he’s so unlikeable.

He is also evidently a male but seems lacking a masculine aspect. This is fine, there’s nothing wrong with that. VieVie however is drafted as a kind of feminine goddess, perfect beyond believability. She is a tulip of indescribable beauty. He is a turnip.

His neuroses are on full display when he relates having had sex for the first time:

We made love slowly for the longest time. The beauty of the moment erased any guilt or shame from us for a short period.
Today I am now an old man incapable of such actions …


What do you mean, you have erectile dysfunction? Explain why this was necessary information. Why ruin a great memory like that?

The Trouble with the Facts

The author has done her research on Germany’s changing social policies dating from the placement of Hitler as Chancellor in 1933 and it shows. Often, not in a good way. For instance, we learn that:
Prior to the First World War, exactly nine percent of the Austrian population was Jewish.
On 7 March 1936 Hitler violated two treaties and took the Rhineland.
On 25 November 1936 Germany joined with Japan in signing the Anti-Comintern Pact.
On 6 November 1937 Spain and Italy also signed it.
The date of Kristallnacht, 9 November 1938.
On 10 March 1939 the city of Paris begins to issue gas masks.

Is there gonna be a quiz on this?

If the rest of the novel relied on specific days of the year, and thus they held some relevance, ok I would get it. But instead the fictional narrative moves along not by specific days, but by amorphous weeks, months, and in some cases years.

In other words, we don’t need those historical dates, and in the text, they stand out like ‘proof’ that the author did her homework. This date-dropping only works to throw sticks into the spokes of the narrative flow.

2 out of 5
The novel overcomplicates itself with too much history and not enough fiction. The narrator is unsympathetic, and overall the novel lacks tension. Readers of YA novels deserve better.

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