Lizzi & Fredl: A Perilous Journey of Love and Faith: 01/30/10

Lizzi & Fredl: A Perilous Journey of Love and Faith by William B. Stanford chronicles the seven year journey his parents made from Austria to the United States by way of France. It's a WWII memoir covering the terror of surviving the Nazi occupation of France and the aftermath.

The events in the book are by themselves fascinating, terrifying and awe inspiring. The included photographs give a glimpse into an era that came before my parents were born.

Unfortunately the narrative falls short of presenting their "journey of love and faith" in a compelling and consistent manner. Sometimes it's written as historical fiction with dialogue, internal monologue and dramatic confrontations. Other times it's done as over-written lengthy paragraphs that read like propaganda from the Allies. Without that consistency the book failed to pull me into the lives of Lizzi and Fredl.

Comments (2)

Comment #1: Sunday, January, 31, 2010 at 11:41:50

Marie

I have this book in my TBR pile and I almost regret requesting it, because I don't think I'm ever going to get around to reading it and your review has basically confirmed my fears. I'm almost to the point where I'm not interested in reading self published books anymore — too many turkeys. Thanks for your frank appraisal! I'm glad to finally see it reviewed somewhere.

Comment #2: Tuesday, February 2, 2010 at 11:22:14

Pussreboots

It has gotten postive reviews on GoodReads but the inconsistency of the writing was a deal breaker for me. There are enough turkeys in both the self publishing and traditionally published spheres that I'm still willing to give the self-pubs a chance.