I was really pleasantly surprised from this book. From all the Shreve novels I've read so far, there is always some tawdry affair. The affair concept is completely tiresome. I keep reading her books because I bought a whole lot of them off Ebay and had read an excerpt and noted that I really loved how she wrote. I've started getting really agitated because EVERY single book, so far, there has been an affair. This one wasn't an exception...but I guess it's accepted knowledge that there is going to be an affair somewhere in a Shreve book. I get it. Literature for adulterers. Yay.Okay, so that's not me, but what I did really love about this book was the setting and the nearly-palpable tension she creates wondering if Claire will be discovered caring for the American pilot that she and a boy from a small village in Belgium rescue after his plane crashes nearby. There is an urgency in the beginning of the book - who will get to them first? The Germans? Or will they be taken to shelters in the homes of daring Maquis (Resistance) supporters? In this case, a young pilot (Ted - why am I reminded of Ted the pilot from the Airplane movie?) is rescued and hidden in the attic of a Resistance supporter and unofficial nurse, Claire. They develop an attraction, which thankfully, isn't the central focus of the story or it would be really boring to read about love scene after love scene in someone's attic.Instead, Shreve targets the fear of discovery and the horror that falls upon the village in which an American plane happened to fall near after being shot down by Germans. There are betrayals and a few chilling moments in the end where you have to put the book down and hope you're not about to read of the untimely ending of the characters. I won't spoil it for you. Then, it's wrapped up at the end, which most readers seem to like. There is no open-ended ending. You do get to hear more about the effects of the story long after the main story has ended, which is a nice touch. Overall, it was a pretty good read. I liked it even though Ted's character, as someone else already noted, just didn't sound like a farmboy from Ohio. I'm from Ohio so I know those types, too...and this guy just doesn't sound like one of them. Farmboys from Ohio could give a rat's butt about English poetry. I'd love to see Shreve's writing applied to more realistic, lively characters. I didn't shed tears, as some say they did - I wasn't that much in love with the characters - but I did find myself very wrapped up in the story and reading quickly to find out if they would be discovered.It was kind of like 'A Farewell To Arms'...only with characters that weren't quite so endearing.
It took me a while to get into this book, which was a very different style to the book I had just been reading. This novel began with very short sentences, very different to the subtle nuanced writing of the Polished Hoe that it came as a shock! I felt the staccato effect used when writing about the bomber fighting was hard to follow and the short sentences moved me on as if I was darting from object to object or person to plane. For example, 'Tail to pilot. Our wingman is about three hundred yards back and down off the right wing. Two other 17 s about a quarter mile out to your right. Thanks, tail gunner. Ball turret to pilot. contrails. Roger, ball turret.Ted thought of Warren in the turret.' Page 36. I didn't really u dear stand what was going on, and actually found I didn't want to try to understand. It was like gobbledegook to me!It continues in this style for a number of pages, which I found slightly off-putting. However, after the description in the air, I got into the style it became a very easy read.It is the story of a bomber coming down in the village of Delahaut in Belgium, near the French border towards the end of World War 2 and his rescue by the Belgian Maquis, or resistance. It brings our attention, as Anita Shreve writes, into the homes of the Belgian people: 'The war was being fought in kitchens and attics all over Belgium'. I like to read about the war from angles I never learnt in history lessons at school. I never even thought about the risks of resistance workers during my history lessons, but here we have their lives, the risks they took and their quiet bravery laid bare for us to see. It humbles the reader.It is also a simple, sad love story.I enjoyed reading this novel, but was not longing to get a quiet moment to read it.
What do You think about Resistance (2006)?
Belgium in the Second World War. My grandmother was Flemish, and it never even occurred to me that she and her family lived through the war in occupied territory. I approached this book as a window onto my own blurry family history, and this personal connection to the subject matter drew me in. Belgian collaborators, Belgian resistance fighters, Belgian children caught in the middle, and every one of them changed forever. What I would give to sit my grandmother down and have a chat with her over a good, strong beer. Sadly, we never met.The war is the backdrop to the story Anita Shreve wants to tell which, according to the blurb on the back, is one of "impossible love" and "forbidden passions". I would mark this as a spoiler if it weren't scrawled across every summary, since those "forbidden passions" graciously aren't ignited until the second half of the novel. Romance is not my usual genre, so forgive me for admitting that I didn't have the stomach for the long descriptions of shapely mouths and gratuitously long looks where reams of meaning leap through the universe and lock their souls together. The characters seemed like cartoon shadows of themselves, stumbling along a predictable story line riddled with improbable events. There is a constant narration of their (simple) thoughts that smacks of lazy writing. I want an author to show me what they're thinking, I want to feel the novel seeping through my pores, I want the ideas to leap off the page at me and send my mind reeling. But alas, this is not great literature.A vaguely satisfying but ultimately forgettable literary bag of chips that I ate compulsively even as my lips started to smart at the excessive salt and my stomach yawned at the lack of substance.
—Lisa
I've unintentionally read a few novels lately set during WWII, and this is another one. A somewhat sad story, but engrossing nonetheless. For the most part, I liked Shreve's writing style. It started out a bit slow, but I did eventually start to care about the characters and how everything played out. I thought she created some diverse characters, though I did find the American pilot, Ted, to be a bit flat. Occasionally, I also didn't like how she wrote out dialogue scenes involving more than two people. It was just words without quotation marks and it wasn't always clear who was saying what. That being said, I also noticed that overall she writes fairly tersely; the narration and various characters don't waste words getting points across. The language isn't frilly or frivolous, but is effective in setting tone and stirring emotions in the reader.
—Megan
Having read several of Anita Shreves novels previously I ordered Resistance online. If I had looked at this book in a store I probably wouldnt have purchased it. Its a short book but I felt that Shreve has tried a differemt writing style which just didnt work for me. Whilst the concept of the book is good the story didnt really flow and was a little staccato. I struggled to relate to the characters and one of the ressons for this may be the way she refers at times to characters in the third person rather than name. The story jumps at times leaving the feeling you have missed out somehow on details whilst some parts seemed irrelevamt. This could have been an emotional story but the narrative and the way it was told let it down. if this had been the first book I had read from this author I wouldnt have read any more which would be a shame given the standard of the other novels. Not her best work but readable.
—Jacqui Mccann
