Reviewing: Things We Didn't Say by Amy Lynn Green

...from the publisher....

 

Headstrong Johanna Berglund, a linguistics student at the University of Minnesota, has very definite plans for her future . . . plans that do not include returning to her hometown and the secrets and heartaches she left behind there. But the US Army wants her to work as a translator at a nearby camp for German POWs.

Johanna arrives to find the once-sleepy town exploding with hostility. Most patriotic citizens want nothing to do with German soldiers laboring in their fields, and they're not afraid to criticize those who work at the camp as well. When Johanna describes the trouble to her friend Peter Ito, a language instructor at a school for military intelligence officers, he encourages her to give the town that rejected her a second chance.

As Johanna interacts with the men of the camp and censors their letters home, she begins to see the prisoners in a more sympathetic light. But advocating for better treatment makes her enemies in the community, especially when charismatic German spokesman Stefan Werner begins to show interest in Johanna and her work. The longer Johanna wages her home-front battle, the more the lines between compassion and treason become blurred--and it's no longer clear whom she can trust.

...my thoughts...

Things We Didn't Say is Amy Lynn Green's debut novel and I expect it to be the first of many.  I was intrigued by this story line because it seemed to be a well kept secret that there were as many German P.O.W. camps in our country during World War II.  At least, it was certainly never mentioned in any history books I had, and that was one subject I didn't slack off on my homework.  The first time I heard of these camps, I was an adult and heard someone tell of a relative whose father had spent time in a camp within my own state.  So, years later, I found myself intrigued by Amy's book I found myself not only enjoying the story but doing a little research, only to find there were many camps within our country.

Amy did a wonderful job on her research and her characters are well developed.  Johanna, and Peter's correspondence make up a lot of the story and it was intriguing to see the story from each viewpoint.  Johanna, a linguist specialist, strives to do the best she can at a job she clearly didn't want in the beginning of the book.  As time goes, she gets more and more involved in the lives of the prisoners as she translates their own correspondence from their families and does her best to improve their lot within the confines of the camp.  Stefan Werner, who seems to represent his fellow prisoners, seems to have a pulse on everything that goes on inside.  Johanna, for her part, seems to become more distant to her community, the more involved she becomes in her work.

Peter, Johanna's close friend, is my favorite character. He is a young, Japanese American, whose family was cruelly placed in an internment camp at the start of the war.  His desire to fight for his country is hampered by his being recruited to a Japanese language school.  His letters have a calming effect on Johanna and the true meaning of his friendship is mired in her desires to go study in Oxford, long her goal but now sidelined by this war and her job.  She is brilliant, but, as with many who are brilliant, there are some things she just didn't see.  This book is compelling, and gives you a ringside seat into a very real piece of our country's history.