Review by Katy_A -- VieVie La Fontaine

[Katy_A]

[Following is a volunteer review of "VieVie La Fontaine" by Linda Heavner Gerald.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Vie Vie La Fontaine tells the story of a young German-Jew, Mark Lichter, and his life in France during WW2. It begins with Mark’s wise parents sensing trouble early on and sending Mark to live with some friends of theirs in France, General la Fontaine and his wife, Vie Vie La Fontaine. Mark enjoys life with the general and his beautiful wife, and soon develops a close relationship with Vie Vie. He also discovers the not so pleasant history between the La Fontaine’s and his parents. Despite being a Jew, Mark is relatively safe in France until trouble begins to stir there too. Mark and Vie Vie have many trials and romances throughout the war, and anxiously anticipate its end.

Linda Heavner Gerald did a really wonderful job describing what someone’s personal life would be like in France during Hitler’s reign. Although she mostly stayed focused on Mark’s personal life and feelings, once in a while, she explained the big picture events that were really going on in the world at that time. What I liked most about the book was the foreshadowing that Gerald used. Several times throughout the book, she wrote in little tidbits that suggested importance later on.

What I liked least about the book were some of Mark and Vie Vie’s romantic relationships. They were exciting and lovely to read about at first, but after a while, they became almost overbearing and repetitive. The history between Vie Vie and Mark’s father along with Vie Vie’s unfaithfulness to her husband made her and Mark’s relationship feel sort of uncomfortable to me.

I would rate Vie Vie La Fontaine 3 out of 4 stars. It was very well edited, and there weren’t really any noticeable mistakes. The aspect that keeps it from 4 stars was the occasional jump from Mark’s personal life to what was going on in the rest of the world. It was wonderful to get that greater understanding of how the big picture intertwined with Mark’s experiences, but they seemed sort of abrupt sometimes. The ending as well, felt sort of abrupt and rushed. However, I still did thoroughly enjoy the touching end to this delightful book.

I would recommend this book for anyone interested in the history of the Holocaust and a different perspective from the German or Jewish prospective you normally see. However, I would not recommend it for anyone under high school age because of the romance involved. Otherwise, I think almost anyone would enjoy this book!

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VieVie La Fontaine
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