Book Review of Solimeos by Rhoda Lerman

 

Name of Book: Solimeos

Author: Rhoda Lerman

ISBN:9781637587638

Publisher: Wicked Son

Type of book: WWII, Germany, Brazil, 1941 or 1942 to 1961, father/son relationship, loyalty, Jewish woman/German male relationships, blood, language, race, family, yearning, forbidden love, taboo, loss 

Year it was published: 2023

Summary:

Fleeing post-World War II Germany, an aristocratic young man and his Nazi officer father are spirited away to the Brazilian jungle to help create a new, occult-obsessed, German Reich…but love, ambition, and vengeance interfere.

In the waning days of World War II, fourteen-year-old Axel, his family, and their servants are cold and hungry in Pappendorf Castle. Baron Dietrich von Pappendorf, Axel’s father, is away, having spent much of the war traveling the world in search of an ancient, pre-Babel language that his occult-obsessed, Nazi masters believed would solidify Aryans as the master race. But when the baron returns to the family castle, it’s not in triumph. Axel and his family must flee Germany and embrace a life of luxurious exile in the Brazilian jungle.

The von Pappendorfs take up residence in a gilded cage carved from the hallucinogenic wilds of Amazonia and originally built for Hitler. Protected from Nazi hunters, the baron prepares for the Fourth Reich while Axel is guided by a shaman into the wisdom of the jungle. It’s there the young man discovers ancient truths linking an Israelite king to a river known as Solimeos. Axel is also passionately in love with his father’s beautiful, Polish-Jewish Luba. He becomes torn between his love for his father, his desire for Luba, and the growing realization that he and his family can never atone for the past.

Utterly original, highly entertaining, and sometimes shocking, Rhoda Lerman’s Solimeos —a provocative parable about the sins of the father visited upon the son — is a powerful and elegantly written story of family, fanaticism, and fate.

Characters:

Main characters are Axel, Lyuba/Raven and Dietrich. At the start, Axel is an eleven year old who hasn't matured sexually yet and is quite often an innocent when it comes to life. He is best described as sheltered yet is also an untrained prodigy when it comes to languages. His strengths would be innocence and loyalty which he displays a lot throughout the book. Lyuba is of Jewish origin and a bit older than Axel and is antithesis to Axel's innocence. She is extremely prickly and tends to push people away from her and is also extremely jaded by life. There is also Axel's father, Dietrich von Pappendorf who is an aristocrat, proper and often refuses to see others as human beings. His relationship with Axel isn't close and nurturing, and I don't think he has good view of children. He has big unfulfilled dreams and is often bitter about them not being fulfilled. He is also very careful and protective of Axel as well as Lyuba. There are plenty of wonderful and memorable secondary characters but it would take me a long time to introduce them. 

Theme:

Patience is a virtue

Plot:

First person narrative from Axel's point of view. The story begins with Axel's family fleeing from Germany to Brazil and then going back to early days of WWII when Axel is eleven years old and changed destinies of two young Jewish women. The story then continues to end of WWII and then onto Brazil. (A quarter of the novel is in Germany, and rest is in Brazil.) Its definitely a gem to traverse and talk about. I think my favorite part is the character of Axel as my heart did go out to him a number of times. I also enjoyed Lyuba and Dietrich and often wished to know a bit more about Dietrich. I am not sure of accuracy of the culture of Brazil and of Germans living in Brazil during the time, or of King Solomon connection to the river as well as universal language, but it was definitely a lot of fun learning about it. 

Author Information:
(From goodreads)

N/A

Opinion:

I read this book twice; second time was to familiarize myself with the story and writing. For me there is a strange wildness about it, a sort of Wuthering Heights atmosphere featuring Cathy in form of Lyuba/Raven and Hareton in form of Axel as well as Heathcliff in form of Axel's father, Dietrich von Pappendorf. (In Wuthering Heights Hareton ends up marrying Catherine's daughter after her marriage with Heathcliff's son failed.) But instead of featuring the moors and wildness of England, SOLIMEOS features Germany and Brazil. Its a strange and pleasant read that literally check marked my requirements for a book I wish that existed or often fantasized about existing. There is also plenty of story to talk and ponder over, namely where language comes from, is there a unifying language or not, as well as Dietrich's treatment of his family and children and Lyuba. And Dietrich's strange morals. So yes, I personally loved it. 

This was given for review

5 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)