V for Ventriloquists
I had the amazing opportunity over the past few weeks to read E.R. Ramzipoor's debut novel The Ventriloquists (thanks Netgalley!). You can pre-order the book here before it comes out in August!
This was a fascinating book. I am a huge fan of historical fiction--but even more so when it turns out that it is based on a true story. First, let me give a short summary.
The Ventriloquists has been described as "Ocean's 11 meets the Book Thief." The entire novel is framed by the story of a young girl named Eliza who is attempting to record the story of Helene, now an old woman, who lived in the streets disguised as a boy in Belgium during World War II. Helene tells much of the story from her own point of view but also relates the experiences of her friends from the third person point of view.
The novel centers on a group of journalists and resistance fighters who risk their lives to create a fake edition of Le Soir, a widely published newspaper, in an attempt to ridicule Hitler and the Nazis and lift the spirits of their fellow Belgians. They are led by Marc Aubrion, a journalist revered by little Helene. Their group also includes the owner of a brothel, a queer Jew, a professor, a judge, and various businessmen. This group of "ventriloquists" must create this fake newspaper all while under the watchful eye of the S.S. who have enlisted them to create a fake version of a resistance newspaper. What better cover for a fake newspaper than a fake newspaper! Unfortunately, they only have 18 days to accomplish this enormous task.
The "ventriloquism" does not refer to talking puppets in the book but comes into play thanks to the Jew, Spegielman, who is employed by the S.S. who has the uncanny ability to imitate not only any handwriting that he sees, but also their linguistic style and writing personality. In the novel, he writes letters from President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill that are passed off as the real thing! This also led me to learn about "gastromancy" or "a method of divination by use of stomach sounds to represent the voice of the dead." Who doesn't love a book that helps you learn new words?
I have to say that this book did take me longer to read than most. Part of the issue was that it was a pretty slow start. It took me a while to understand how the frame was working, who was narrating, etc. Also, each of the characters has a code name which is placed at the top of each chapter that is about them and since each one is known by their real name and their code name AND there are so many characters, I was about halfway through the book before I could remember who was who.
I enjoyed the book even more when I reached the Author's Note at the end that explains the origin of the novel and the amazing true story that led to it. When Ramzipoor was doing research for her thesis at UC Berkeley, she came across a document that detailed the publishing of 60,000 copies of this fake newspaper right under the noses of the Germans under the talented direction of Marc Aubrion. Many of the other characters are real or based on real people as well which makes this such a fun story! Copies of this newspaper have even survived into the present day.
Once I made it through the beginning of the book and got my reading legs underneath me, I really enjoyed the book. I found there was a lot of humor and irony throughout and it made for an interesting read. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is a fan of historical fiction, "based on true stories," or World War II literature. You can preorder the book here for when it comes out in August!
I do want to point out that although this book is mostly presented from the point of view of a 12-year-old orphan, it is not a YA book. Thanks to the brothel, there are some scenes that might be inappropriate for younger readers (though not distasteful). There is also some language so you may want to steer clear if that is something that bothers you.
The Ventriloquists has been described as "Ocean's 11 meets the Book Thief." The entire novel is framed by the story of a young girl named Eliza who is attempting to record the story of Helene, now an old woman, who lived in the streets disguised as a boy in Belgium during World War II. Helene tells much of the story from her own point of view but also relates the experiences of her friends from the third person point of view.
The novel centers on a group of journalists and resistance fighters who risk their lives to create a fake edition of Le Soir, a widely published newspaper, in an attempt to ridicule Hitler and the Nazis and lift the spirits of their fellow Belgians. They are led by Marc Aubrion, a journalist revered by little Helene. Their group also includes the owner of a brothel, a queer Jew, a professor, a judge, and various businessmen. This group of "ventriloquists" must create this fake newspaper all while under the watchful eye of the S.S. who have enlisted them to create a fake version of a resistance newspaper. What better cover for a fake newspaper than a fake newspaper! Unfortunately, they only have 18 days to accomplish this enormous task.
The "ventriloquism" does not refer to talking puppets in the book but comes into play thanks to the Jew, Spegielman, who is employed by the S.S. who has the uncanny ability to imitate not only any handwriting that he sees, but also their linguistic style and writing personality. In the novel, he writes letters from President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill that are passed off as the real thing! This also led me to learn about "gastromancy" or "a method of divination by use of stomach sounds to represent the voice of the dead." Who doesn't love a book that helps you learn new words?
I have to say that this book did take me longer to read than most. Part of the issue was that it was a pretty slow start. It took me a while to understand how the frame was working, who was narrating, etc. Also, each of the characters has a code name which is placed at the top of each chapter that is about them and since each one is known by their real name and their code name AND there are so many characters, I was about halfway through the book before I could remember who was who.
I enjoyed the book even more when I reached the Author's Note at the end that explains the origin of the novel and the amazing true story that led to it. When Ramzipoor was doing research for her thesis at UC Berkeley, she came across a document that detailed the publishing of 60,000 copies of this fake newspaper right under the noses of the Germans under the talented direction of Marc Aubrion. Many of the other characters are real or based on real people as well which makes this such a fun story! Copies of this newspaper have even survived into the present day.
Once I made it through the beginning of the book and got my reading legs underneath me, I really enjoyed the book. I found there was a lot of humor and irony throughout and it made for an interesting read. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is a fan of historical fiction, "based on true stories," or World War II literature. You can preorder the book here for when it comes out in August!
I do want to point out that although this book is mostly presented from the point of view of a 12-year-old orphan, it is not a YA book. Thanks to the brothel, there are some scenes that might be inappropriate for younger readers (though not distasteful). There is also some language so you may want to steer clear if that is something that bothers you.
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