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Senhor Comandante (2011)

by Romain Slocombe(Favorite Author)

3.85 of 5 Votes: 2

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Bertrand

review 1: A fascinating but shocking read set before and during The Occupation at a time when France was a divided country, this is not a happy book. It is written as a (somewhat lengthy) letter of confession from a French academic and Nazi sympathiser to his local SS Officer. I would describe myself as being interested in this period in history, rather than fascinated by it, but I do enjoy reading books that inform and offer a different point of view and this was one of those books. As well as France being in turmoil, many families, like the one in this book, were also divided by their views and in addition this family has hidden secrets and forbidden love that threaten to destroy it.This was an eye opening book for me and I was often appalled by what I was reading, but had to keep... more turning the pages, fascinated to find out what his confession would be and what would happen to the family. Despite the sensitive nature and shocking revelations this was a fast read that kept my focus and although I may not have liked all that I read, I was glad I'd read it.
review 2: Monsiuer le Commandant is a letter, a confession, between Paul-Jean Husson, a relatively wealthy academic and writer, and the regional German Commandant. I was very curious to read Monsieur le Commandant as I know little about the Occupation of France during World War Two. I am very much aware of anti-semitism but less so about the prevailing, casual anti-Jewish attitudes of the time.I tried hard to approach this book with an open mind, but I'll be honest, the casualness of Paul-Jean's growing hatred of the Jews alongside his burgeoning and troubling love for his daughter-in-law was difficult reading. It is clear Paul-Jean's unhappiness at what befalls his family, partly from his own attitudes, transfers to his difficulty in coping with the change going on around him. That said, it is also a cover for his own anti-semitic behaviour masking as high-brow academic snobbery. The book traces the growing revulsion, and expulsion, of the Jews across France during the early parts of the war. It is a richly written, harrowing, starkly honest book, a story, I believe, that needed to be told. The author so unremittingly enters the thoughts of Paul-Jean, it is difficult to do anything but become drawn into the growing horror of his confession. less

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