Review: A Romp Through Wartime Paris
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 11, 2011
Michael Wallace only gets better each time I read his writing. Red Rooster is my third Wallace novel. I cannot attest to the chronology of which stories were written first,The Righteous,Mighty and Strong (The Righteous), orThe Red Rooster, but each one has a unique touch from this talented author and seemed to improve as I went along.For many people the WWII era and stories of survival during those dangerous time in Europe never lose their appeal. Rooster will only add to their enjoyment of the period. Wallace has a unique way of encompassing the entire scene through the eyes of the characters he portrays. He takes us to a 40's era train station and not only do we board the train, we notice the baggage cart, the throng of people on the platform, the steam of departing or arriving engines, the complete ambiance of the primary transportation hub of the European continent during those years.Perhaps most intriguing - and distressing to the reader - he makes us consider our own actions were we to find ourselves in similar circumstances.  Everyone likes to believe that they would be brave, strong, and honorable if faced with dangerous, even life threatening conditions. But few actually are, notwithstanding our view of such characters from the Hollywood version of courage. Relatively few people have actually been so hungry, so terrified, that they would do anything, literally anything, to survive.  Who would admit - even to themselves - that they might sell out their friends, colleagues, even deeply loved family to enable personal survival? Is that not the central point of many who survived the death camps? Is that not the burden they carry the remainder of their lives?  This is not a holocaust novel, but without revealing anything about this driving plot, suffice it to say that Michael Wallace requires us to consider our own actions under such desperate circumstances.Highly recommended reading. I have not finished with Mr. Wallace and probably will not until I read my way through his entire publication list.Gordon Ryan, Author