book review: "The Boat Runner"...

... written by Devin Murphy, published in 2017 by Harper Collins. After the title page, there is a quote by Vladimir Nabokov: "Our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness." This fictional story is set at the beginning of World War II in Belgium. Jacob and his brother Edwin are teen aged sons of the Koopman family, their mother a musician, and their father an inventor/factory owner who manufactured light bulbs. Koopmans are highly respected, as the business is the largest employer in their small village.

The two sons are sent to a camp by their father, who is not aware the summer event is proselytizing and promoting Nazis and their political agenda. The boys are trained in war games: fighting, target practice, map reading, out door skills, indoctrinated by speeches and films from German officers. As the political situation devolves over weeks and months, the Nazis invade Poland, and gradually claim other areas in Europe. The Koopman family business is taken over by the army, where Jacob and his mother are forced to work in order to receive ration cards. His father has vanished, disappeared in an effort to avoid being captured, questioned by the Nazis after he sabotaged the assembly line in his factory.

The interesting aspect of the book, the thing that continues to stick in my head: the story was written from the viewpoint of a young man, so thoroughly brain-washed by the joy of summer camp, experiences of learning to handle explosives and weapons, the manliness of army officers in shiny boots and immaculate uniforms, he believes their agenda. As someone who has read a considerable number of non-fiction books about that era, all from the perspective of the Allies, it was interesting to consider how citizens of Europe could be convinced of the rightness of German philosophy. The desire, sparked by one charismatic man, to join all of those people in one state. With little consideration for many different cultures, and individuals who would be purged in the process. Plus the fact that the  military had total, complete, unquestioned control: you do not disagree with a man who is holding a gun to your head.

I would recommend the book to anyone interested in history of that era. The story, through the thoughts and eyes of a young man, of the age to be very impressed with the glory of the rise of Nazism, is very well written. Gives pause, making you realize how easily anyone can be deceived: hearts can be changed, minds can be beguiled and deluded. Though we look back and are horrified by the genocide that occurred in the 1940's while the conscience of the world was hoodwinked, the story shows how easily we are coerced by fear, ignorance and doubt into believing the unbelievable.