Reunion by Fred Uhlman - Book Review
Reunion by Fred Uhlman - Book Review
This isn't so much a novel as a novella, and a brief one at that, being just 93 small pages in length. But don't let that put you off, for this is a superb read and a great little book.
It opens in 1930's Germany in a smart senior school where 15/16 year old boys, young men, are making friends, ostensibly for life. How were they to know that so many lives would be cut so tragically short?
After a hesitant beginning the shy Hans Schwarz becomes pals with the more confident and aristocratic Konradin. Hans comes from a Jewish background and that factor eventually invades their friendship.
This period of history has been chronicled a million times before, and rightly so, for there are lessons there that resonate down to the present day. All the characters are sharply drawn and memorable and for the most part, decent human beings. So where did it all go so terribly wrong?
The book also contains a two page introduction written by the late and much missed Arthur Koestler, and that is well worth reading on its own.
Reunion is beautifully written and easy to read, and this is certainly a book for anyone who can't abide the huge tomes that so often dominate the bookstores. It isn't a new book either, but don't let that put you off either because it is a very memorable one, and a story that lives long in the memory.
Jeffrey Archer wrote of Reunion: "I wish I had written this". He certainly is not alone in thinking that, not least from your own correspondent.
Reunion is published by Fontana books on ISBN: 0006151647 and is available from most internet and high street book shops.
Reunion by Fred Uhlman
Sadly, the film clips I had here of Fred Uhlman's Reunion are no longer available, but here is a video book review instead that will give you some idea as to the power of this superb slimline book
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Thank you for reading.
