Half Blood Blues & WW2

World War Two has an interesting significance for me in my reading history.  When I was younger I found a lull around the ages of 12-14 when books were either too young or too old for me either in content or writing style.  It was around that time that I found a number of books about World War Two and started devouring them -- the dynamic between the Nazis and the Jewish population; the realities of people living in England; the way Canadians and Americans reacted all started to enthrall my young imagination.  Years later, I still love history and even studied history at school.  A lot of that love is rooted in the readings I did as a preteen: I was engaged by the material and wanted to understand more.  

Today, WW2 still looms large on the literary scene and provides a fascinating back drop for telling the stories of marginalized and persecuted people as well as people with tremendous power.  Half Blood Blues  lives in WW2 Europe -- Paris and Berlin -- and modern day Poland, weaving the tale of a group of jazz musicians who found a community in Europe between the wars.  An eclectic group of American, Jewish, Black and German musicians, they find themselves living in the spaces between legal and illegal, legitimate and illegitimate, accepted and yet dismissed.  

I was lucky enough to be in Berlin a few years ago and it was so great to read about places I had been, seen and experienced.  Guess I'll just have to get to Paris sometime soon!  

Before I talk about what I thought of this book, I have to admit something: I'm not quite sure if it is ever important to answer the question: "Did I like this book?"  After all, is any book really about me 'liking' it or are the books about themselves?  The stories being told might be more important than whether or not I enjoyed myself.  Given, I am drawn to stories, places and characters I enjoy but when it comes to important content and important ideas that push my boundaries and challenge my assumptions, well, then I am willing to put myself aside and be pushed.  Half Blood Blues forced me to do some of that.  I found the language hard to understand at first.  Some of the slang wasn't clear and it took me a few chapters to get into the way the story was being told.  By the time I got through most of the book, I was dying for a full sentence.  And by the end, I felt that the emphasis on the past and modern story lines was out of balance.  But (and more to the point) I think the story is good and important -- there are people living in these crevices still today, on the edge of society and they need to be seen.  As the story is told, you get the sense that the gang was only noticed by a few reputable people or the law.  Most 'self-respecting' people steered clear.  Why?  Because they looked different, because their music was different and because they were told to.  It is an on-going goal in my life that I try to see beyond what I am being told to see, but books like this one remind me to open my eyes and notices the places in between.  The spots where no one is looking.  The spots where great music and great tragedy can meet.  Because it is in those small spaces that life happens.   


Coming soon: other WW2 books that are well worth reading!