This collection of Hesse's early short stories has been a solid read so far. It has been fun to see him develop as a writer - from early short stories that deal with issues of society and conforming to rules, to later stages that include aspects of coming of age and hints of existential angst. 

There were a couple of stories where I was reminded of the mindset of the protagonist of Unterm Rad (Beneath the Wheel), which was my gateway drug to Hesse. 

So, I have a fondness for these stories. 

Unfortunately, my reading enjoyment is suffering a little from the external circumstances at the moment. 

This is not a great time to read an author who specialises in portraying anxiety and existential despair. 

Still, I am not abandoning the book or setting it aside. I've come to the part where his stories are reflecting some of the major events of his time - i.e. WWI. - and I don't believe I have read anything by Hesse from that era before.

So, I am intrigued, but I am also approaching the last 160 pages of this collection with some hesitation.

Eighteen-year old Zofia Lederman has been liberated from Gross-Rosen concentration camp and has finally recovered enough to leave the hospital.  Zofia has been confused, she is forgetting things and has false memories.  Zofia desperately wants to find who she believes is the last living member of her family, her younger brother Abek.  Zofia promised Abek that she would find him after everything and that is exactly what she plans to do.  Upon returning to her home, Zofia finds it empty, looted with no sign of Abek.  Zofia learns that many people from concentration camps went to displaced persons camps, so Zofia makes her way to the camp her brother would most likely be in, Foehrenwald.   In Foehrenwald, Zofia meets many others just like her, confused and looking for  lost family members.  Zofia connects with Josef, who seems as damaged as her and with a secret.  As Zofia gets closer to finding Abek, her memories of the last time she saw him form.  

They Went Left is a poignant and heartfelt look at what happened to those who were liberated after World War II.  Often when I read books about World War II, the end of the book corresponds to the end of the War.  However, that was not the end of the hardship and suffering for anybody involved.  Zofia's story highlights the unique struggles that someone liberated from a concentration camp went through: displacement, searching for loved ones who may or may not be alive, not knowing who to trust including yourself and continued hatred.  The writing deftly conveys the dual feelings of hopefulness and sadness, uncertainty and confidence, bravery and fearfulness that people had in this time.  Through Zofia, Josef, Abek and the many people in Foehrenwald, the variety of trials and triumphs of the time are highlighted.  The story is told entirely through Zofia's point of view and is absolutely absorbing and fascinating to see her slowly transition from confused but committed to finding her brother to more sure of herself and accepting of what has happened.  I loved the device of the family alphabet that Zofia created in order to help her brother remember.  It served as a great way to get to know Zofia's family before the War.  Overall, They Went Left is a genuine and deeply affecting story of the world people faced after World War II.


This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

In June 1942, seven months after attacking Pearl Harbor, the Japanese navy invaded Alaska's Aleutian Islands. For nine thousand years the Aleut people had lived and thrived on these treeless, windswept lands. Within days of the first attack, the entire native population living west of Unimak Island was gathered up and evacuated to relocation centers in the dense forests of Alaska's Southeast. With resilience, compassion, and humor, the Aleuts responded to the sorrows of upheaval and dislocation. This is the story of Vera, a young Aleut caught up in the turmoil of war. It chronicles her struggles to survive and to keep community and heritage intact despite harsh conditions in an alien environment.

Amazon.com

Aleutian Sparrow is another verse novel from Karen Hesse, similar in style to her Dust Bowl story, Out of the Dust. Starting in June of 1942, just months after the Pearl Harbor attack, Aleutian Sparrow tells the story of how within days of that attack, all the Aleut people were evacuated from their villages and moved to relocation centers, the government fearful of fishing contract disagreements between the Aleut and the Japanese. They are assured the move is only temporary, but detainment carries on into 1945. The story follows this tribe of people as they are repeatedly moved more and more inland, far from the rocky, windswept coastline they call home. 

The collective experiences of the Aleut people are centralized in the character of young Vera. Vera is mixed race --- her mother Aleut, her father Caucasian, but the father never returned from sea one day so over the course of her childhood, the "raising" of Vera has had her circulating around various family members. Vera has spent much of the year of 1945 living in Unalaska Village, working as a home aide to elderly couple Alexie and Fekla Golodoff. Once summer comes around, Vera takes off to spend time in her hometown of Kashega, hanging out with best friends Pari (also mixed race) and Alfred.

Japan carried out an air attack on Unalaska Island in June 1942 because they were interested in gaining control of the North Pacific, but they ultimately found the Alaskan climate too challenging. Still, the Aleut people continued to be moved around... Vera and her family sent along with the rest of the community to these various detainment camps. The Aleut, a proud people with rich traditions, now found themselves crammed into canvas tents on rainy terrain, forced to live off bread and fish scraps. The drastic changes in environment, along with poor sanitation, soon led to rampant sickness throughout the tribe, many being plagued with skin boils and lung infections, among other ailments. But for the longest time, the government offered the sick no medical assistance. NONE. After much pleading, when a doctor finally does arrive, he takes in the scene, brushes it off with a "they're not sick, they're just adjusting." and goes back home! 

Some of the elders take to telling ancient legends to keep morale up. Vera takes it upon herself to get a job at the hospital in Ketchikan, but even with her connections it is still a slow process getting medical aid back to the camps. Eventually, a news story is done about the poor treatment of the Aleut people. Shortly after, the camps are quick to see donations from newspaper readers who wish to help. 

I'm sad to say this is not a part of history I was ever taught in school, so I'm happy to be informed of it now. Tragic as the truth is, Vera's story is a moving one and, if you think about it, still plenty relevant, what with all the discussion back and forth about immigration issues and poorly equipped / run border detainment facilities. It's not an easy read in subject matter, but there is ease in the verse format Hesse does so well. Her way of weaving together sparse but also evocative imagery with so few words is quite the treat for readers of all ages, those new to poetry form or even longtime fans. Prepare to dip into lines such as "the old ways steeped like tea in a cup of hours" or "laughter crackled on winter nights like sugar frosting". Then there's the ones to make you stop and think: "We never thought who we were was so dependent on where we were."

Author Sharon Creech gets a shout out in Hesse's acknowledgements page for "patient and wise council".

A terrible accident has transformed Billie Jo's life, scarring her inside and out. Her mother is gone. Her father can't talk about it. And the one thing that might make her feel better -- playing the piano -- is impossible with her wounded hands. To make matters worse, dust storms are devastating the family farm and all the farms nearby. While others flee from the dust bowl, Billie Jo is left to find peace in the bleak landscape of Oklahoma -- and in the surprising landscape of her own heart.

~ from back cover

In this verse novel set in the Oklahoma Panhandle during the Dust Bowl years, we meet Billie Jo Kelby.  Billie's parents had always hoped for a boy, but her mother, Pol, struggled to get pregnant again after Billie's birth. 

Daddy named me Billie Jo.

He wanted a boy. 

Instead, he got a long-legged girl

with a wide mouth

and cheekbones like bicycle handles.

He got a red-headed, freckle-faced, narrow-hipped girl

with a fondness for apples

and a hunger for playing fierce piano.

Billie Jo's father, Bayard, is a World War 1 veteran turned wheat farmer, but the last few years the crop has been a lean one, to say the least. This year has been especially poor. Pol offers a number of solutions -- everything from digging a well to trying a different type of crop --- but Bayard stubbornly wants to stick to what he knows. 

The winter of 1934 Billie is thirteen and her mother is pregnant once again. Billie's well aware how tight money is, so she can't help but worry about how her parents will find the means to care for the baby. When Billie is offered a job playing piano at the Palace Theater, she mainly wants it because she just loves playing so much, but the promise of even a few extra coins in the house is certainly a nice bonus! 

Then comes the day of the fateful accident. The day Bayard decides to set a full bucket of kerosene next to the stove. Pol, mistaking it for water, pours it in a container over the stove when she goes to make coffee one morning. You can guess what happens next. Yep, a wall of flame. Pol catches on fire, Billie tries to put out the flames. The flames are extinguished, Pol survives. At least that day. She is sent into early labor, which ends up taking not only her life but the baby's as well.

Billie's hands are destroyed from trying to put out the flames on her mother. She's heartbroken at the loss of her mother and she assumes she'll never play piano again. All at once, virtually everything that brought Billie any little bit of joy has been snatched away from her in an instant. To make matters worse, the night before Pol died, Bayard ended up bailing on her in her time of need. While she cries for water, he takes the little bit of household money Pol had saved up and takes off to go get drunk. At this point in the story, it's hard not to see Bayard as a pretty trash husband.

After her mother's death, Billie and her father pretty much stop speaking with each other, beyond the essential phrases. Though at first Billie had figured her piano playing days were behind her, she eventually convinces herself to start practicing again, working through the pain and stiffness, retraining her fingers to feel the keys the way they used to. Over time, Billie and her father learn to communicate again, acknowledging that despite this horrific loss, they're still a family and still very much need each other. 

I have a hunger, 

for more than food.

I have a hunger

bigger than Joyce City.

I want tongues to tie, and

eyes to shine at me

like they do at Mad Dog Craddock.

Course they never will,

not with my hands all scarred up,

looking like the earth itself,

all parched and cracking,

but if I played right enough,

maybe they would see past my hands. 

Maybe they could feel at ease with me again,

and maybe then,

I could feel at ease with myself.

First reading the accident scene, it seemed natural to be angry with the father at his carelessness. This completely avoidable moment irrevocably forever altered all these lives! To my surprise, Hesse in her afterword writes that that scene was not from her imagination but instead pulled from actual news reports she came across in a 1934 edition of the Boise City newspaper!

Not only does this little verse novel effectively bring forth the historical elements of the Dust Bowl years for the intended middle grade audience (and beyond) but also incorporates the powerful lesson that running away from disappointments or hardships won't necessarily make them go away. Sometimes you have to stay put and tackle the unpleasant environment to get to the other side. But once on that other side, you might find that everything you were longing for actually already exists right where you are, if you just shift to a different perspective.