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Miracle at St. Anna By James McBride ( RIVERHEAD BOOKS )
Release Date: 2001-12-31
Average Customer Rating:
List Price: $24.95
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Product Description
Inspired by a historical incident that took place in the village of St. Anna di Stazzema in Tuscany and by the experiences of the famed Buffalo Soldiers of the 92nd Division in Italy during World War 11, Miracle at St. Anna is a singular evocation of war, cruelty, passion, heroism, and love. It is the story of four American soldiers, the villagers among whom they take refuge, a band of partisans, and an Italian boy, all of whom encounter a miracle -- though perhaps the true miracle lies in themselves. Traversing class, race, and geography, Miracle at St. Anna is above,, all a hymn to the brotherhood of man and the power to do good that lives in each of us. It reveals a little-known but fascinating moment in history through the eyes and imagination of a gifted writer. Like The Color of Water, James McBride's stunning' first novel will change the way we perceive ourselves and our world.
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Amazon.com Review
In Miracle at St. Anna, James McBride, author of the bestselling memoir The Color of Water, tells a war story that, like all great tales of conflict, connects the enormous tragedy of war with the intimate stories of individual soldiers. Miracle at St. Anna vividly follows four of the U.S. Army's 92nd Division of all-black buffalo soldiers as they become trapped between forces beyond their control and between worlds. Three of the soldiers have bolted behind enemy lines to rescue their comrade, the colossal, but simple, Private Sam Train. They find themselves stranded between worlds in a remote central Italian village, with the German Army hidden on one side and their racist and largely mismanaged American commanding officers on the other. The strange world of the village floats between myth and reality, where belief in magic coexists with the most horrific acts of war. In the melee that opens the book, the giant Sam Train suddenly comes to believe he can turn invisible, the local miser believes he is cursed with a wealth of rabbits, and each of the other soldiers also exists in a mythical world of his own. But they are all about to be shattered by the Miracle. McBride illuminates an ironic moment in American history, a time when black soldiers fought bravely for the country whose "freedoms" included Jim Crow laws, segregation, and institutional and widespread personal racism. Miracle at St. Anna puts these intimate stories at the center of the much larger story of the struggle of people of color in this country. Each character is trapped and forced to act as nobly and as bravely as he can in the midst of forces beyond not only his control, but beyond his world. --Paul Ford
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A nice read...
McBride does a good job of keeping us engaged with characters who find themselves in a desperate situation. This one made me buy The Color of Water (which is a wonderful read--truly inspirational). Miracle's characters are confronted with tough choices from start to finish and ultimately, none of them falter. A nice read and well worth the price of admission.
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 Miracle At St. Anna
The book is well written and an easy read. I was drawn to the book with the new release of Spike Lee's movie of the same name. I wanted to read the book before I saw the movie. The book gave voice to the forgotten black soldiers of World War II. I highly recommend the book.
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 Pretty much pure racism
The problem with this book, aside from the fact that it's totally fictitious in most of its details, is that it is as racist a volume as one might find written by Goebbles about the Jews. Made to order for Spike Lee, a man who never forgets that Black is always beautiful, white evil. Another problem with the book is that it misrepresents reality - here the Black man is supposedly fighting for a country that he supposedly should hate. Problem is that American soldiers were actually fighting to destroy the evils of three totalitarian governments bent of subjugating a goodly portion of the planet. Perhaps even the US after Asia and Europe were conquered. And quite frankly, during that era, segregation was accepted by both sides of the race line. Polling statistics at the time clearly show that to be fact. McBride is interjecting 21st century concepts into a period during which he probably wasn't even alive. I see that Spike Lee is shooting off his mouth again, this time claiming, as per usual, that his race was shortchanged in the appreciation department, with respect to their combat acomplishments during WWII. One thing he can't do, other than talk stupidly, is to produce facts to back up that complaint. Mainly because they don't exist.
The fact is that locating a combat Black soldier during WWI is not easy. They seldom were in combat units, and they seldom volunteered for combat units. They were found mostly in manual jobs loading or unloading supplies at the docks and were part of Comm Z, the service segment of US troops in Europe. Histories of WWII that highlight the contribution of soldiers do so by name and unit, not by race, which aparently, the very unhistoric Lee doesn't comprehend. I've also yet to heat anyone complain that histories don't point out that whites did all the fighting and dying in WWII. But of course, they did. Spike Lee is the quintessential racist, as is this book. Lee claims that the Italians have difficulties with their version of WWII history. May be, but Lee and McBride have a WHOLE lot more.
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Engaging Tale, Confusing Ending ( memccauley6 )
MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA tells the story of four Buffalo Soldiers trapped behind enemy lines in 1944 Tuscany. The story opens in Manhattan, where a postal employee kills a customer, and a search of his apartment reveals a priceless statue head. The story is unfolded in flashbacks (and forwards) and sometimes the digressions are disorienting. The narrative starts out strong and vivid, then loses steam as the reader is mired in the back stories of minor characters. I freely admit that I finished reading this very late at night, but I found the end very confusing - I'm still not entirely sure what the "miracle" was, or if it was two or more things, and one or more of them was a metaphor.
McBride's writing is excellent, and he does a good job portraying the soldiers' interactions with each other and with the Italian villagers, however... I know I'm going to get flamed for this....
While I was reading, I couldn't shake the feeling that the four soldiers were stereotypes. I really would have liked it if the characters could have stood on their own, without the constant need to remind us that 1) Bishop was a juke-joint loving, flim-flam man, 2) Sam was the northern, college-educated one who looked down on his less sophisticated companions, 3) Hector was the Puerto Rican from Spanish Harlem, and 4) Train was the enormous, illiterate, good-hearted one - basically John Coffey from THE GREEN MILE.
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Amazing Grace ( coet29 )
This story sings to the human soul with the power of timeless poetry. The author has artfully entwined gritty realism and surreal divinity.
It will enjoy a permanent place in our family library.
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Addiction
