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bsmorris's review against another edition
3.0
The characters are well developed and the omniscient narration means readers get a lot of perspectives on what life was like for soldiers fighting in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. The climax of the book involves a visit to Dachau as American troops and the outside world are just beginning to realize the horrors of the Holocaust. The impact of the ending is increased because of the rich character development.
yvo_about_books's review against another edition
4.0
Finished reading: December 30th 2016
“He had no other life and no other knowledge; he knew that he could not live anywhere now because in his mind, slyly, there was nothing but horror.”
*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Open Road Media in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***
Spoiler
Those who follow my blog are probably already aware of the fact that I enjoy reading historical fiction and have a special interest in stories set during or around WWII. I'm actually quite surprised I hadn't heard about Point Of No Return before, especially since Martha Gellhorn is considered to be one of the greatest war correspondents of the 20th century. The story was actually first published in 1948, only a few years after the war ended, and has been republished last month. There is no doubt that Point Of No Return is a powerful read and I admire the author for her courage and what she was able to achieve during her life. The plot itself is intriguing and follows an American Jewish soldier during the war up until his 'point of no return'. The story is without doubt well written and well researched, although it did read a bit slow and I personally thought there would be more focus on the concentration camps... There was a little too much focus on the romance to my taste, but that might just have been me. The final part also felt a bit rushed, especially since it's the part I felt would have been most interesting. Still, there is no doubt this is a very solid WWII historical fiction read.
Jacob Levy grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and is a typical American boy. He doesn't give his Jewish heritage or the world affairs much thought, but when the United States joins the war in order to stop Hitler, Jacob joins the cause. As a soldier during the last months of WWII, Jacob lives through the Battle of the Bulge and the discovery of Nazi concentration camps. This experiences have a big impact on his life, and witnessing the liberation of Dachau forces him to confront a level of cruelty beyond his own imaginations...
After reading the blurb of Point Of No Return, I honestly thought the discovery of the concentration camps and its impact would have played a bigger role in the story. It was only mentioned near the end and that part actually felt a bit rushed. Rather than developing this angle, Point Of No Return is about the experiences of an US Jewish soldier and how the war has changed him forever in general. Still a solid enough read, but not as good as I was expecting.
P.S. Find more of my reviews here.
hmurphy's review against another edition
5.0
It's hard to mark a book 'amazing' when it's a book like POINT OF NO RETURN. For me, this was one of the most important novels of the 20th century and I had never heard of it until I read a biography of Martha Gellhorn. I think it is one of the definitive fictional account of the last days of Hitler's Germany as seen through the eyes of two American soldiers, Jacob Levy and Lieutenant Colonel John Smithers. It talks of boredom, longing for home, dreams of the end of a long conflict, love (real and imagined), the longing for belonging and differentness we all have within us. Mostly it's about what the war was really like for the men who lived through the Battle of the Bulge, not heroes just people wanting to survive one more hour, one more day in an unbearable situation, and what was hidden in plain sight in the placid countryside outside Munich, Germany; Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp.
This portion of the book is brief but for me brought all the horror of the 'Final Solution' into clear and concise focus. It is a reminder that these stories must be told because it will happen again if we don't remember what one group of humans can do to another. My edition of the book was a reprint from 1989 with an afterward by Martha Gellhorn - the book is worthy of a read if just for those last few pages. Gellhorn, having smuggled herself aboard a ship landing on D-Day she followed these soldiers, knew the battles and she, herself, went into Dachau. She saw the piles of corpses, the living dead, the detailed records, the clothes, the trains full of bodies, the mad, the sick and the dying first hand and knew that the story must be told. - I went to Dachau 34 years after the camp was liberated. People tried to dissuade me from going, saying there was nothing to see, it was a waste of a day, better to go to a beer garden. It has been many years since that trip but what I saw there has stayed with me. A cold calculated system to annihilate an entire race of people. We have not advanced as much as we should have since this book was written but along side literature like THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, I think that this book should be required reading.
The book is out of print but well worth a search for second hand copies to read.
This portion of the book is brief but for me brought all the horror of the 'Final Solution' into clear and concise focus. It is a reminder that these stories must be told because it will happen again if we don't remember what one group of humans can do to another. My edition of the book was a reprint from 1989 with an afterward by Martha Gellhorn - the book is worthy of a read if just for those last few pages. Gellhorn, having smuggled herself aboard a ship landing on D-Day she followed these soldiers, knew the battles and she, herself, went into Dachau. She saw the piles of corpses, the living dead, the detailed records, the clothes, the trains full of bodies, the mad, the sick and the dying first hand and knew that the story must be told. - I went to Dachau 34 years after the camp was liberated. People tried to dissuade me from going, saying there was nothing to see, it was a waste of a day, better to go to a beer garden. It has been many years since that trip but what I saw there has stayed with me. A cold calculated system to annihilate an entire race of people. We have not advanced as much as we should have since this book was written but along side literature like THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, I think that this book should be required reading.
The book is out of print but well worth a search for second hand copies to read.
sarahscire's review against another edition
2.0
The first war novel written by a woman but widely recognized as incredibly realistic. Historians, assuming Gellhorn had written this as part of her journalistic coverage of WWII, even contacted her about details of the specific battles she wrote about before realizing they had been made up.
li3an1na4's review
4.0
I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
The book was initially published in 1948 under a different title, republished in 1988 under the title the author wanted, and now the digital version released in 2016.
I think some background for the author is important for this book. Specifically, because I think many people who read books like this would question a female author. Martha Gellhorn was one of the first journalists in Normandy on DDay. As she couldn't get press credentials (her ex-husband Hemmingway got it for their magazine) so she hid in the bathroom of a hospital ship. From then until the end of the war she was AWOL from her news agency with risk of deportation back to the US. She traveled as a journalist with different regiments, staying clear of the Americans so she wouldn't get caught. She was in Dachau the week after it was liberated and heard about the ceasefire while there. She wrote this book to try to free herself from the horrors of Dachau. She's a badass and this book deserves an audience.
This book has 3 distinct acts. The first 2 are a solid 3 stars and the last act deserves 4.5. The first act involves romance in a town that's been freed by the Americans. It's a bit slow to say the least. It develops characters, but it's been done better. [a:Remarque, Erich Maria|15035629|Remarque, Erich Maria|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s [b:A Time to Love and a Time to Die|132749|A Time to Love and a Time to Die|Erich Maria Remarque|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387736914s/132749.jpg|3176772] is a book I'd recommend for that. The battle in the 2nd act is a bit lacking. But the 3rd act which involves Dachau, the reason Gellhorn wrote this book, is fully fleshed out and disturbing. I can see why she wanted it out of her mind. Reading the news and watching interviews, I've seen people say things like "maybe the Nazis had the right idea" or "it wasn't too bad in the long run". Have we learned nothing?
There's a unique writing style used here in that different characters will have POVs in one scene, but there won't be any notice given. If you don't pay attention to what you read, you'll get lost.
While the characters are distinct in their back story and motivations, they tend to have similar thought processes. It's somewhat offputting. Or perhaps it's an example of like attracting like. What is interesting about the book is while the male characters are sexist within their time, the female characters are more "progressive ". I hesitate to use the word progressive, as they are regressive compared to modern times, but their inner dialogues do have more of a bite than you see in books of this genre from this time period. I do think that is the benefit of having a female author.
It's a 4 star book, brought up because of the last act. Not only with how vivid it gets, but asking moral questions and asking you to think.
The book was initially published in 1948 under a different title, republished in 1988 under the title the author wanted, and now the digital version released in 2016.
I think some background for the author is important for this book. Specifically, because I think many people who read books like this would question a female author. Martha Gellhorn was one of the first journalists in Normandy on DDay. As she couldn't get press credentials (her ex-husband Hemmingway got it for their magazine) so she hid in the bathroom of a hospital ship. From then until the end of the war she was AWOL from her news agency with risk of deportation back to the US. She traveled as a journalist with different regiments, staying clear of the Americans so she wouldn't get caught. She was in Dachau the week after it was liberated and heard about the ceasefire while there. She wrote this book to try to free herself from the horrors of Dachau. She's a badass and this book deserves an audience.
This book has 3 distinct acts. The first 2 are a solid 3 stars and the last act deserves 4.5. The first act involves romance in a town that's been freed by the Americans. It's a bit slow to say the least. It develops characters, but it's been done better. [a:Remarque, Erich Maria|15035629|Remarque, Erich Maria|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s [b:A Time to Love and a Time to Die|132749|A Time to Love and a Time to Die|Erich Maria Remarque|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387736914s/132749.jpg|3176772] is a book I'd recommend for that. The battle in the 2nd act is a bit lacking. But the 3rd act which involves Dachau, the reason Gellhorn wrote this book, is fully fleshed out and disturbing. I can see why she wanted it out of her mind. Reading the news and watching interviews, I've seen people say things like "maybe the Nazis had the right idea" or "it wasn't too bad in the long run". Have we learned nothing?
There's a unique writing style used here in that different characters will have POVs in one scene, but there won't be any notice given. If you don't pay attention to what you read, you'll get lost.
While the characters are distinct in their back story and motivations, they tend to have similar thought processes. It's somewhat offputting. Or perhaps it's an example of like attracting like. What is interesting about the book is while the male characters are sexist within their time, the female characters are more "progressive ". I hesitate to use the word progressive, as they are regressive compared to modern times, but their inner dialogues do have more of a bite than you see in books of this genre from this time period. I do think that is the benefit of having a female author.
It's a 4 star book, brought up because of the last act. Not only with how vivid it gets, but asking moral questions and asking you to think.
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