The World Beneath (Joe Tesla Series Book 1) Kindle Edition by Rebecca Cantrell

WWII, a medical project gone bad. Post-war leftover tests, are they possible? are they safe? will they help or kill? This is a fascinating book that goes in many directions but the biggest concern at this point in time is an infected monkey, but just how deadly and what is the infection?

Looking for a safe place to work or store the paperwork on this infection, those in the know have reached a strong possibility; a location holding information on the war, and possibly the various testings, labs, no doubt even the doctors and patients involved. This location is probably not where these people expect to spend their last days.

There is a train car, a piece of history underground, a particularly interesting train car, the very car that US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt innocently traveled across the country in, a trip meant to buoy up the people at home during the war. Why is it here?

How is it here? Soldiers start bricking up walls in front and behind the famous train. It doesn't take long to realize the people and a caged monkey currently in the train that has just arrived are doomed as the last bricks are placed.

The author then jumps to present day New York Grand Central Station. In the present there seem to be some leftovers. Are these people with mental and physical problems infected? Were they given the infection all those years ago? The symptoms are all wrong, no two seem to be capable of a "normal" life, but they seem to have small differences of reactions to the infection. Could it be the result of how long ago infection occurred, or has the original been manipulated?

Joe Tesla lives his life in the subterranean tunnels with his psychriatic rescue dog, a probable victim years before and is trying desperately avoid becoming a victim again. This part of the story is fascinating and terrifying. This is one book I can truly say has lots of twists and surprises, especially where our psychologically handicapped hero and rescue dog live. Fantastic story, I could happily read it again! Rebecca Cantrell is a force to be reckoned with, well-researched, I loved this book.

The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman

Originally posted Wednesday, November 26, 2008

An amazing story of the ability of the mind to access the survival instincts we don't even know we possess. One woman's story of utilizing the Warsaw Zoo after semi-destruction and the loss of animals to German zoos or outright shooting, to rescue hundreds of Jews as a part of the Underground. Chapter 1 takes place in 1935 and gives a jump-off point of life at the zoo before the horrors to follow.

While Diane Ackerman has obviously done a great deal of research and interviewed many witnesses, her book occasionally appears to get sidetracked. In one section the war is going on and suddenly it is over as she discusses Hasidism and seems to switch into the time after the war (e.g. 1960s) and talks about the results of the war in the past tense although the chapter is actually in 1941. Over these few pages there is almost a calm, and then we are taken back into the war. I felt these instances could have possibly been brought out in notes rather than interrupting the flow. However, perhaps there was a feeling of necessity to the plot that I didn't see at the time. It may simply have been a quieter time in the course of what was going on in Warsaw before another heavy bombardment of war, dehumanization, the beginning of the "liquidation" of the Ghetto and the nearing of the Allies (some of whom apparently were not allies to Poland).

I love the way the author portrays the life at the villa, going along its own unique way. A new kind of normal to most inhabitants, permanent or traveling through. The most amazing mixture of people and animals interacting as one is wonderful to see, both heartwarming and indicative of how humans and animals learn to survive. The lessons given on how to appear normal when caught out on the street, taking on the subtle characteristics of the perceived purer class apparently worked very well. Antonina seems to have the gift of communicating with the animals to such an extent she has learned how to be invisible, when to be still, how to observe, and many other animal instincts which she draws upon quite naturally in times of danger.

It would appear that Diane Ackerman has become Antonina in her writing at times, a part of her character; she seems so completely a part of the story, possibly because the foundation of her writing is based on Antonina's journals and diaries. Antonina appears to be a dark horse, outwardly appearing calm when she is "frightened to death" for her family, husband Jan, who is in the Underground Army, her son Rys, and later the birth of her daughter Teresa. While frightened when stopped by German soldiers, she thinks in her mind over and over such things as "put away your gun" while coming up with a plausible answer in a normal voice, and almost as though she were a hypnotist, the gun would be put away and she would be on her way unscathed.

This is a very interesting book, I learned a great deal about Polish and Jewish customs and history, and certainly I learned how devastated life and the country itself was during and at the end of WWII. I knew little about Poland and this was a very important book to me. There was enough softening and humor in the telling of the antics at the villa, but still the horror comes through of the Jewish Quarter, the Ghetto, the bombings, the deliberate burnings, the annihilation of not just the Jews, but the Polish people were also to be annihilated. This book is a must-read if we are ever to find an end to racism and despotism. I highly recommend this book to anyone.