Though ever cautious and fearful of the ubiquitous soldiers, she is largely unaware of the extent of the danger around her the Resistance kept even its participants safer by telling them as little as possible, and Annemarie has never been told that her older sister Lise died in its service. The author of the Anastasia books as well as more serious fiction ( Rabble Starkey, 1987) offers her first historical fiction-a story about the escape of the Jews from Denmark in 1943.įive years younger than Lisa in Carol Matas' Lisa's War (1989), Annemarie Johansen has, at 10, known three years of Nazi occupation. Immersive and witty, it illuminates as a historical piece yet falters when connecting the snapshots into a cohesive picture However, jarring transitions and a narrator who at times feels emotionally disconnected ultimately leave readers wanting. From Masons to McCarthy to Pall Malls, Camels and Lucky Strikes, the tale offers an intriguing insight into an important time in U.S. Flake’s incorporation of the social and political milestones of the era makes the story a veritable compendium. Then later, when the book shifts from vampires and talking to the dead to Octobia May’s desire to become a detective, the plot feels crowded and loses its emotional resonance. When she insists that she sees what others cannot, she becomes an unreliable narrator-and one who sounds desperate. But Octobia May’s passion begins to feel like compulsion, then obsession. It is a unique perspective, depicting a character of color during the 1950s who is more enraptured of horror-movie prototypes than anything else. With the help of her best friend, Jonah, Octobia May stalks the man, telling everyone of her suspicions. Davenport, a boarder in her aunt Shuma’s rooming house that she believes is a vampire. Like him.” The “him” Octobia May refers to is Mr. Sometimes it wears summer suits and fine hats, silk gloves, and handmade shoes.
“Death does not look like people think it should. With elegant prose and a spunky narrator, Flake’s latest offers detailed snapshots of African-American life in 1953.