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jodean's review
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
As a fledgling Jewish architect, I couldn't put this book down. Many say they would've helped the Jews during WWII, but this book attempts to tell the story of a normal man who was not a hero or particularly brave, but who had the skills and opportunity to help those in need.
Very light spoilers to follow:
Lucien in the beginning just wants to get a commission. He wants to be the great architect he knows he can be, he just needed the chance. But he's forced to confront the fact that his talents are not neutral in this war. He can build factories to make bombers and nooks to hide Jews. Does doing the latter absolve him of the former?
There are many ethical questions to face in architecture, as in any field. Today, many of them are environmental. There's also questions of sex and gender, with police and prisons, with property rights and with ownership. Lucien takes the jobs his clients give him, both for hiding Jews and building Nazi factories.
It goes deeper. He saves and houses a little Jewish boy while he befriends a Nazi Colonel.
He also goes from egotistical to humbled. There will always be issues a designer didn't, or perhaps even couldn't, forsee. What happens when someone's life depends on that detail? When a design fails, whose fault is it? And even if it's not yours, can you forget about it?
Other aspects of this book, like the dialogue and romance, are left wanting. But these questions and premises make it worth it, especially for me. I've always thought of myself as a person of morals. I've struggled with the question of what I would do if my job asked me to design a prison, or a building on sensitive land. There's definitely things I've had to do that I wish I hadn't - I don't think there should be any more gas infrastructure in buildings.
Lucien's character arc is a little heavy handed at times, but it's important that it is. He must go from someone who just cares about himself to someone who cares about others. It's the cautionary tale we need in this field, and perhaps many others.
The book also never addresses Manet's conflict of interest, helping and hurting. And while showing Herzog's humanity is important, what he does and the friend he is shouldn't overpower the system he's complicit in. It's a bit too forgiving of him.
But all in all I read this book in a literal day and wrote a long ass review of it, so what does that really say?
Very light spoilers to follow:
Lucien in the beginning just wants to get a commission. He wants to be the great architect he knows he can be, he just needed the chance. But he's forced to confront the fact that his talents are not neutral in this war. He can build factories to make bombers and nooks to hide Jews. Does doing the latter absolve him of the former?
There are many ethical questions to face in architecture, as in any field. Today, many of them are environmental. There's also questions of sex and gender, with police and prisons, with property rights and with ownership. Lucien takes the jobs his clients give him, both for hiding Jews and building Nazi factories.
It goes deeper. He saves and houses a little Jewish boy while he befriends a Nazi Colonel.
He also goes from egotistical to humbled. There will always be issues a designer didn't, or perhaps even couldn't, forsee. What happens when someone's life depends on that detail? When a design fails, whose fault is it? And even if it's not yours, can you forget about it?
Other aspects of this book, like the dialogue and romance, are left wanting. But these questions and premises make it worth it, especially for me. I've always thought of myself as a person of morals. I've struggled with the question of what I would do if my job asked me to design a prison, or a building on sensitive land. There's definitely things I've had to do that I wish I hadn't - I don't think there should be any more gas infrastructure in buildings.
Lucien's character arc is a little heavy handed at times, but it's important that it is. He must go from someone who just cares about himself to someone who cares about others. It's the cautionary tale we need in this field, and perhaps many others.
The book also never addresses Manet's conflict of interest, helping and hurting. And while showing Herzog's humanity is important, what he does and the friend he is shouldn't overpower the system he's complicit in. It's a bit too forgiving of him.
But all in all I read this book in a literal day and wrote a long ass review of it, so what does that really say?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Grief, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Antisemitism, Blood, Death of parent, Confinement, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Alcohol, Deportation, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Infertility, Sexual content, and War
Minor: Homophobia and Child death
This is WWII historical fiction and there's Nazis everywhere, including some whose perspectives we get. The Jewish people are treated more as achievements to get target than people with stories to tell -none are main characters. Be advised. I'm also not sure how historically accurate this book is. History isn't my forte.
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