The Aftermath Book Review

War, by the nature of the beast, is messy and complicated. So is the aftermath of war.

Rhidian Brook’s 2014 novel, The Aftermath, is set in Hamburg, Germany in 1946. Rachael Morgan’s husband, Lewis is a Colonel in the British army. His job is to rebuild the city was destroyed during the war. Rachael’s reunion with Lewis looks to be a happy one, especially for their surviving son, Edmund.

Their new home is a shocker for Rachael, a mansion that belongs to Stephan Lubert, a widower with a teenage daughter. Instead of sending father and daughter away, Lewis has offered to let them stay in the house. As tensions outside of the house flare up, tensions within the house threaten to burn up all involved.

Before I go any further, I have to state that I saw the movie before I read the book. As with many books when they are made into films, there are changes to narrative and/or characters.

As with the movie, I wanted to like the book. I wanted to get sucked into the story and the drama. Unfortunately, I found the book to be dull at points and was nearly ready to throw in the towel part way in.

Do I recommend it? Not really.

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Thoughts On Star Wars Day

For some of us, May 4th is just May 4th. But for Star Wars fans, May 4th is a momentous day.

Today is Star Wars Day, or as fans refer to today, May The Fourth Be With You.

What makes Star Wars special for me is that underneath the special effects and other-worldly story is the fight against tyranny and oppression. It is a story that is as old as humanity itself and a fight that still continues to this day.

Though George Lucas may have mucked up the narrative with the prequels, the basic narrative still holds up decades later for a reason. The story of farm boy, a princess and a pirate coming together to fight for freedom is still as emotionally and politically relevant as it was in 1977.

Though the narrative is a basic one, Lucas (at least in the 70’s), knew how to expand on the expand on this basic premise. He knew that Princess Leia (the late and still very missed Carrie Fisher) had to be more than the standard damsel in distress. There had to be something more to Han Solo (Harrison Ford) that just a space pirate who is looking for the next job. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) had to have a future other than running his Uncle and Aunt’s farm.

To my fellow Star Wars fans around the world, May The 4th Be With You!

Grow Up and Stop Blaming the Jews For Your Problems

As I have gotten older, I have come to realize that there is a major distinction between the emotional maturity of a child and the emotional maturity of an adult. A child, when accused of doing something wrong, may blame someone else. An adult, when accused of the same act, will hopefully put on their big boy or big girl pants and accept that they have made a mistake.

The issue here is that some adults have the maturity of a child and not an adult.

In Tarnow, Bishop Andrzej Jeż accused the Jews of plotting to divide the Church and claim that priests sexually abused congregants.

This accusation pisses me off for two reasons:

1. Yom Hashoah was earlier this week. The same lies that were responsible for the murder of six million Jews are the same lies that are coming out of this man’s mouth.
2. The cover up of the priests who sexually assaulted their congregants has nothing to do with the Jews. This was a systematic cover up by Church officials. Grow up, put on your big boy pants and admit that the mistake rests solely on the shoulders of those who covered up the crimes.

There are those who say that antisemitism does not exist. It is a thing of the past. From my perspective, this article is just another example that antisemitism is still unfortunately alive and well in this world.