Sooo backstory: Will's War by Janice Woods Windle was a book that I picked up years ago because the picture on the front cover caught my eye and the blurb sounded interesting. Unfortunately, since I had just transferred from the children's library to the adult library, I hadn't yet realized that I couldn't grab an enormous stack of books and read them all before they were due as I had formerly been accustomed to doing. Will's War (along with several others whose covers were just not as appealing and blurbs were just not as interesting as the others in my pile) got returned, unread, and relegated to my to-read list to moulder away until some event out of the usual sphere should bring it back to my attention.
Luckily, it was selected as a choice for the book club I'm in and I was forced, more or less, to pluck it off the shelf again.
Synopsis: Will Bergfeld is a brash, high-spirited young man born and raised in Seguin (pronounced Sea-geen), one of Texas's oldest German-settled towns. After moving west to Weinert, a new immigrant community, Will becomes a rural mail character. He is also a devoted advocate of workers' and farmers' rights at a time when robber barons such as Vanderbilt and Rockefeller trampled freely on the little man. As American involvement in the war in Europe became inevitable, its citizens back home began to turn a suspicious eye to anyone potentially involved in the conflict. This included anyone with a German surname or anyone supposedly involved in anti-government activities. It is no wonder, then, that the outspoken Will Bergfeld soon became a prime suspect.
The story of Will's trial is largely told through the eyes of the women who love him: his wife Virginia, his mother-in-law Bettie King, and his sister Louise...Also in the mix are Anna Bennett, the lonely woman Will once jilted whose anger threatens to send him to his death; Bill Atwell, Will's dapper defense attorney who must match wits with a formidable foe to make sure justice is done; and Tom Grimes, the brooding Texas Ranger whose conscience may help save Will's life.
Plot: My journal, which contains many things other than a record of my semi-normal life, contains a line about this book that I wrote when I was about halfway through it. "This book has the potential to be incredibly dull, but somehow it isn't." I know you're wondering why I write book reviews in my journal, but that's not something we really need to get into right now. Haha. Anyway, it's a book about a trial, and I'm not really into law and courts and juries and all that let's-get-together-and-talk-for-days-and-months-about-opposing-sides-of-this-issue stuff. Not every writer can take that plot - especially in dealing with real people (Will Bergfeld is Janice Woods Windle's grandfather) - and turn it into a book that's not only interesting, but has chapter endings that make you almost unable to put it down. I always make the mistake of getting into a book a few hours before I should go to bed and then fudge it later and later to read just one more chapter. Every time I would get a little bored by the legal badgering and arguments, I would glance at the clock and say "I'll just finish the chapter and then go to bed" and then the chapter would end on a suspenseful note and off I'd go to the next one.
Characters: I'm not going to dissect these people because they're real and what they did really happened.
Likes: The story was compelling - and though it dragged at times - it was engrossing. It was downright frustrating to see the lies and treachery that went on and surrounded these poor people who had done nothing worse than founded or joined a farmer's union and bore a German surname. I had never even heard of these trials or was even aware that there was so large and so violent a movement against American-Germans during the beginning of WWI. Men arrested without warrants in front of their wives and young children? Forced to stay in prison for months for crimes they didn't commit as their homes fell into ruins and their families suffered? Made to stand trial and defend themselves for only wanting to make life better for their beloved wives and children? How could this stuff have missed the history books? I couldn't believe what I was reading.
I loved the fact that my stomach was actually knotted up with suspense at the last few pages. It's that dramatic and that good.
The fact that in places it was almost a Christian novel. These women were staunch and God-fearing and they didn't turn against God because of the trouble- they prayed to Him. And they were willing to sacrifice so much - health, family, home, comfort - to stay with Will and help him and the others who were arrested with him.
Will himself is a very interesting and capricious character. I like unpredictable people and enjoy reading about them. I don't like knowing what to expect or being able to predict what someone is about to do. And, I also have a character of my own named Will, and I like to compare and contrast.
The dialogue and observations of the characters. They are well-written. The whole book is well-written.
Dislikes: The flashbacks can be a bit confusing until you realize that you must look at every chapter heading to ascertain the place and date in which the said chapter is taking place and understand that pretty much every other chapter is a volley from the present to the past. I rearranged the family who knows how many times before I grasped these two pertinent bits of information.
There were instances when interest lapsed and the legal jabber got, well, long. I had to skim to get through some of it. But since I was expecting most of the book to be skim-worthy, I suppose I oughtn't complain about two or three spots.
Conclusion: Will's War is sad, happy, funny, dramatic, inspiring, depressing, infuriating, frustrating, turns your faith in the goodness of man upside-down and then back up again. It's a tough read, but it's a good one. You get a history lesson and a story in a single dose. It could almost be a novel for the drama it contains. Truth is stranger than fiction. It really is.
One thing I would caution is that it does contain some adult content, but it's handled delicately (even more so than I have often found in Christian fiction) and only used to make a point or highlight a character's actions or thoughts. I highly doubt this review will make any of you (except for those who are members of the book club) read this book, but if you ever happen to see it, keep in mind that I say it's good!
Till next time!
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