Mixed Blessings: An Almost Ordinary Life in Hitler's Germany

Rating:
Summary: Literary Masterpiece
Review: I am a student at a local high school, and after learning about WWII and the horrendous accounts of the Holocaust I read this book to continue to feed the growing hunger of interest for the topic. Mixed Blessings by Heinz Kuehn is a fantastically written and EXTREMELY interesting account of a half-Jewish young man in a Nazi Germany. From the explanation of his intriguing family to the force and hardship of being a drafted Jew, this book can make the toughest of the tough realize how hard life truly was and, at times, force them to break down and cry. Seeing an actual person going through such hateful treatment just blows my mind. I recommend fully to anyone who has a heart or an interest in WWII: READ THIS CAPTIVATING AND BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN NOVEL!

Rating:
Summary: Extremely well-written account of a witness to history
Review: It is difficult to believe that this book was written by someone whose native language was not English, becauseit flows so well and its rhetoric is firmly on the ground of American English (and Kuehn discusses this in the book). A very engaging account of a young man's coming of age during the rise of Hitler as a "Mischling," or one who had one Jewish parent, and how he slipped through the cracks of the German bureaucracy--up to a point. This autobiographical work has all the suspense of a murder mystery, and follows the author's life up until the time he forsakes a successful writing/editing career in Germany for a new life in America in the 1950s. I loved it!

Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary and enthralling
Review: The author came to adulthood in Germany in the late 1930s, but because his mother was Jewish he was not allowed in the German Army, so he was a civilain during most of the war. He himself was Catholic and his account of the life he led is extraordinarily interesting. I found this book utterly absorbing and one of the very best books I have read in a long time.

Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary and enthralling
Review: The author came to adulthood in Germany in the late 1930s, but because his mother was Jewish he was not allowed in the German Army, so he was a civilain during most of the war. He himself was Catholic and his account of the life he led is extraordinarily interesting. I found this book utterly absorbing and one of the very best books I have read in a long time.