Reunion

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Reunion (eBook) Pub. Date: 9/25/2009 Publisher: M P Publishing Limited
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Reunion Pub. Date: 4/27/2004 Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
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Reunion Pub. Date: 5/1/2003 Publisher: MacAdam/Cage

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Overview

In December 1944, entrenched in the Battle of the Bulge, the 138th Infantry Battalionfought a brutal, last-ditch assault by the Nazis. Sixty years later, the men of the 138th reunite at the battleground in Belgium's Ardennes Forest for one last chance to relive their youth, bury old ghosts, and try to find answers to the mystery that has haunted them for more than half a century.

Weaving his father's real experiences in World War II throughout the story, bestselling author Michael Oren brings the 138th to life in his debut novel. Through the disparate and vivid characters, we learn the other story of this battalion—a story of the lingering effects of war, the potency of the human spirit, and the courage that even simple men can muster, both at the beginning and the end of their lives.

Author Biography: Michael B. Oren is the New York Times bestselling author of Six Days of War. A graduate of Princeton and Columbia, he is a Senior Fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, and served as a paratrooper in the Israeli Army and as an advisor to the government of Yitzhak Rabin. This is his first novel.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

In his fiction debut, nonfiction author Oren (Six Days of War) delivers historical detail with quiet, convincing authority. Five decades after an unforgettable winter at Saint-Vith in Belgium's Ardennes Forest, the surviving members of the 133rd Infantry Battalion receive invitations out of the blue to an on-site reunion. None of the men, despite age and its array of related obstacles, believes that it's an offer he can refuse. And in every case, the invitation opens a Pandora's box of guilty memories and recriminations. Oren captures the rhythms of these melancholy reveries with nicely observed portraits of lives nearing completion. There's Buddy Hill, stoically facing increased infirmity with the support of his devoted wife, Kaye; tough Jersey City vet Francis Spagniola; shy, rural Pieter Martinson; frighteningly vigorous Major Walker, who commanded the men and commanded their respect, if not their admiration; and others. Battalion member Leonard Perlmutter, a historian, engineers the reunion. But somewhat mysteriously, his son Richard (also a historian) shows up instead, with a not entirely truthful explanation for his own presence and his father's absence. Oren incrementally reveals the battalion members' haunting secrets, secrets that explain both their compulsion to attend and nervousness about doing so. Stolen riches, latent homosexuality and military atrocities top the list. At times, it feels as if the novel is veering into conventional thriller territory, but the restraint of Oren's prose and the depth of his characters add another dimension. The end result is disturbing and memorable. (May) Forecast: A first printing of 40,000 indicates that this small but increasingly significant press thinks this book has potential. Oren's experience as a journalist specializing in the Middle East may make him a good candidate for television interviews. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

KLIATT

"On this ridge, in December 1944, we, the men of B Company of the 138th Infantry Battalion of the United States Army, fought for six days and nights against superior enemy forces. We did our duty. We gave it our best. Remember us." So it was carved in granite and ceremoniously unveiled the last day of the last reunion of the 138th. Oren uses his father's war stories to construct his first work of fiction, relaying the poignancy and humanity of a group of men in all their eccentricities and disparities, forever linked in subtle and obvious ways because of their participation in the Battle of the Bulge. The characters include a nurse, a son, a sister, various wives, and 18 surviving members of the battle. We get to know them as they gather in the rebuilt hotel in Saint-Vith, Belgium, and through interviews with a young reporter from Paris looking for a big story. Reminiscences allow us glimpses of deceased members. The plot develops mysteriously on several levels. The company clerk, a professional historian and organizer of all their reunions, is unable to attend; and his son, carrying out his final wishes, is wondering what is eluding him in the carefully kept files. One member of B Company, believed to have been killed in action, has never been found. Oren's frank portrayal of the vagaries of aging, its effects on the spirit and mobility of the characters, and his knowledge of his subject make interesting fiction. The juxtaposition of the vitality of youth and the imminent end of these characters' lives is reinforced by the death of several of them during the course of the story. Their courage is revealed by their willingness to face who they are and what the future brings. A timely work,considering recent observances and anniversaries. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2003, Penguin, Plume, 353p., Ages 15 to adult.
—Ann Hart

More Reviews (2) Fewer Reviews

Library Journal

Fifty years after the Battle of the Bulge, the dwindling number of survivors of B Company, the 133rd Infantry Battalion, make a pilgrimage to St. Vith, the Belgian village where they did their fighting over Christmas 1944. Aging, frail, and sometimes very ill, they come for many reasons. Some want to see again the land that had been soaked with their blood and that of their dead comrades, while others want closure or redemption from emotional and physical pain. Still others want one last adventure as well as answers to questions buried in the chaos of that World War II battle. This first novel by the author of Six Days of War, the nonfiction best seller about the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, is a realistic, grim, poignant, horrific, fascinating, and sometimes humorous portrait of ordinary people in extraordinary times. Both a war story and a mystery, it is a well-written tale of men in the twilight of their lives confronting their terrible past. Recommended for most fiction collections.-Robert Conroy, Warren, MI Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

First fiction from a bestselling Middle East historian: a story, based in part on his father’s WWII reminiscences, of an army reunion commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. Oren (Six Days of War, 2002, etc.) takes us along with the remnants of the 133rd Infantry Battalion, who meet up in the tiny Belgian village of St.-Vith to catch up on what they’ve been doing since the Ardennes offensive of 1944. Like most army units, the 133rd is a mixed bag. There’s Colonel Rifesnider, a blueblood preppie who served as headmaster at several tony prep schools after the war until his fondness for young boys became too blatant. Major Walker, who ran most of the daily operations of the unit, was a wild Texas rancher who became an even wilder Texas oilman after he inherited his Daddy’s spread and struck it rich in the 1950s. Lieutenant Hill was a no-nonsense officer who settled quietly into life as a bank manager in Iowa, while Corporal Perlmutter, the company clerk, went on to become a respected historian. Most have put the war far behind them, but for some it is the wound that never heals. Francis Spagnola, racked with guilt over his cowardice under fire, still attends weekly sessions of a veterans support group, while the stolid Wisconsin stonecutter Pieter Martinson continues to dream of the girl he forsook 50 years ago out of shame over his battle-fatigue discharge. More than a few ghosts are put to rest by story’s end--and several new skeletons exhumed from their closets. What kind of scheme, for example, was Rifesnider running with Perlmutter when the two stayed on after the hostilities to locate the corpses of American MIAs--corpses that were never officially found, thoughpeople claimed to have seen them? And what exactly has the town butcher (who served as a local errand boy for Rifesnider) got hidden in his cellar? A standard cast-of-characters tale, formulaic but decently done.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781931561266
Publisher: MacAdam/Cage
Publication date: 5/1/2003
Pages: 353
Product dimensions: 6.54 (w) x 9.80 (h) x 1.27 (d)

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