Gretel and the Great War by Adam Ehrlich Sachs

Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024--San Antonio

Gretel and the Great War by Adam Ehrlich Sachs has received notable recognition from major publications for its unique format, but it is not an easy book to understand.  It consists of a series of short stories.  Set in Vienna when the Austro-Hungarian Empire is collapsing just after WWI, a young girl is found wandering the streets.  Since she does not speak, it is determined that she has never developed any language skills.  But after an article is written about her, a man writes from a sanatorium stating that he is her father and that she has had a rich language background because of books that have been read to her.  He sends the series of short stories to be read to her.  They each tell a story of someone having problems in life.  Because there is chaos following the collapse of the empire, many characters in the stories find themselves eventually sent to the same sanatorium.  To truly understand the book, the reader must have a rather extensive background of knowledge related to what was happening in Austria at this time--a country where psychiatry was developing as a legitimate medical problem that is treatable, where conservatives such as Hitler were rising up, where Zionism was a topic being controversially discussed, etc.  The stories provide a picture of the atmosphere in the country at the time.  The stories were interesting, but like many other readers, I had difficulty understanding what they were truly about and how they were all linked.   I gave the book 3 stars out of 5.