Bonus: Once We Were Brothers

St. Martin's Griffin

Once We Were Brothers
Ronald H. Balson
2013

The Summary
"Elliot Rosenzweig, a respected civic leader and wealthy philanthropist, is attending a fundraiswer when he is suddenly accosted and accused of being a former Nazi SS officer named Otto Piatek.  Although the charges are denounced as preposterous, his accuser, Ben Solomon, is convinced he is right.  Solomon urges attorney Catherine Lockhart to take his case, revealing that Otto Piatek was abandoned as a child and raised by Solomon's family only to betray them during the Nazi occupation.  But has he accused the right man?

"Once We Were Brothers is the compelling tale of two boys and a family that struggles to survive in war-torn Poland.  It is also the story of a young lawyer who must face not only a powerful adversary, but her own self-doubt.

"Two lives, two worlds and sixty years all on course to collide in a fast-paced legal thriller."

The Good
Once We Were Brothers has an intriguing premise:  two men, who were once as close as brothers, are suddenly separated by war and political ideology.  It certainly has the bones to make a good story, and I was definitely intrigued when I first set out to read the book.

For the most part, I liked Ronald Balson's novel.  I liked the way Ben began his story, sinking into his history, recounting his experiences and his environment.  And Once We Were Brothers is packed full of comprehensive information.  It gives you a vision of the enormity of the Holocaust, while simultaneously revealing the effects of Nazi occupation in Poland on individuals.  It shows the impact of World War II on an emotional, individual level and a larger, international level.

Moreover, Ben and Hannah's romance is spectacularly sweet.  I was constantly hanging on his words, wondering what would happen to him and Hannah, what would happen to his family after surviving the Holocaust and the war.  I never really expected the ending I received.

The Bad
When I'm reading Ben's words, listening to his tale along with Catherine and everyone else, I can sometimes sink into his story; however, after a certain point, I struggled with the tone of his voice.  I imagine him to have an accent, considering he lived in Poland for a very large portion of his life, and he slips in and out of it, but I can't focus for the interruptions.

Yes, I understand his narrative is an interview, but I don't need to be reminded each and every chapter.  I would like to hear his story in one, cohesive unit, not parsed into bite-size pieces with lots of legal jargon stuffed in between.

Furthermore, I wasn't ecstatic with the character development of Balson's novel.  Sometimes, I thought it seemed rushed, like Catherine's life.  Her story is condensed into a few, quick paragraphs and brief snippets of information, and I personally didn't see very much growth.  Any changes she underwent, any changes to her relationship with Ben always seemed abrupt.

The Ugly
The main story of Once We Were Brothers occurs during World War II.  With a Jewish family.  In Poland.

You can see where I'm leading with this.