Teen Book Review: Here’s a book review from Eva.
Forty Autumns by Nina Willner is a heartfelt true story that details the lives of Willner’s extended family in young East Germany. The book follows the large family of Willner’s grandparents, Oma and Opa, and their nine children partly raised under communist rule. Their eldest, Hanna, escapes the East before it becomes a firm socialist prison. She soon moves to America where she gives birth to the author and her five siblings. In conveying the isolation of East Germany, Willner writes how Hanna suffers the cutting of ties with her family as few letters get in and out of the country. While Hanna painfully watches the events that unfold on her family half a world away on TV, the Communist Party tightens its grip on information leaked to the outside world. Willner pulls back the Iron Curtain to stunningly narrate the good and the bad under communist rule from both sides of the Berlin Wall.
This narrative is intoxicating, knowing Willner later became the first American woman to run U.S. Army intelligence in East Berlin during the Cold War. After viewing life in both East and West Germany, she could cleverly pair personal stories of the bordering countries with factual memos about world events and East Germany’s historical interpretations of them. As a result, the book deals with serious matters of war and conflict as well as delicate themes of family and interconnectedness. For anyone looking to personally understand a sliver of East Germany’s history beyond the cold pages of a textbook, Forty Autumns would be a worthwhile read and perhaps earn you some brownie points in history class.
Greenwich Library is a place for teens in grades 6-12 to find and read books that reflect themselves and their experiences, get college or job ready, tinker with emerging technologies, and ace their next test. Plus, monthly programs and workshops allow teens to develop their skill sets, dive into new hobbies, and make friends with others in the community. Learn more about offerings for Teens at greenwichlibrary.org/teens.
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Questions? Contact:
Amy, Teen Librarian
(203) 625-6549
alaughlin@greenwichlibrary.org