Jack 1939 by Francine Mathews

First Line: "...patient's 6000 cell count at intake," Dr. George Taylor wrote, "has dropped to 3500."

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt has secretly decided to run for an unprecedented third term in office. He knows that Europe is on the brink of another world war, and he believes more in his own abilities to carry the United States through than he does in any of his likely successors. But he does need someone he can trust to find out what the Nazis are up to. Since the United States does not have an intelligence service (spies), Roosevelt chooses his own-- twenty-two-year-old John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

The young Jack Kennedy is in ill health more often than not, and of all the Kennedy children, he's considered to be the least promising, the black sheep. But he's also the son of Roosevelt's ambassador to Great Britain, he's a well-traveled young man with a diplomatic passport, and he knows many people. Roosevelt sees something in Jack, something that reminds him of himself. Jack agrees to Roosevelt's proposal, and in the spring of 1939, he's off to Europe aboard the Queen Mary, ostensibly to gather material for his senior thesis at Harvard. Only Roosevelt, Jack, and the president's most trusted bodyguard know that Jack is looking for the people responsible for a flood of German money into the United States-- a monetary tsunami intended to buy the 1940 presidential election... an election that Hitler is determined Roosevelt will lose.

Former CIA intelligence analyst Francine Mathews has crafted a terrific blend of fact and fiction that drew me in from the very first page. I loved how Roosevelt skillfully tapdances around the slimy, secretive J. Edgar Hoover, who spends most of his time trying to compile blackmail-worthy dossiers on all the powerful people in the country. When the action is in Europe, time and time again the British pop up with some needed help, showing us all that they know plenty about the spy business.

But of course, the focus of the book is on the young Jack Kennedy. His constant, mysterious illnesses have made him unafraid of death and determined to live fully during the time he has got. He knows how to think on his feet, how to observe, and he learns very quickly. He falls in love with a beautiful woman during the Atlantic crossing aboard the Queen Mary, and he shadows Diana Playfair from place to place until they finally hook up to get the information that Roosevelt needs. And when the information begins to fall into place, Jack learns that his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, is right in the middle of things. Which is going to be more important to Jack-- his mission for Roosevelt or his family's integrity?

I found Jack's love interest, Diana Playfair, too cold and brittle to ever really care about, so that part of the story palled a bit for me. Besides the scenes in which Roosevelt shone, the best often showed Jack interacting with his brothers and sisters. At times it seemed that Mathews' portrayal of Rose Kennedy and Jack's elder brother Joe was too one-sided, but I have read a lot about the family, and everything that's said about all the Kennedys in Jack 1939 is pretty accurate. I think Rose and Joe Jr. were painted with the saint brush after their deaths: Joe the Golden Boy, killed too young and not allowed to fulfill his promise, and Rose, the bereaved mother who lost two sons so tragically in the 1960s.

While I'm speaking of the Kennedys, one scene that did not ring true for me at all was the scene at the end where Jack lays down the law to his father, Joe. No way, no how would that scene ever happen. However, this scene and the character of the icy Diana Playfair were not enough to ruin my enjoyment of this book.

This was a fun read from beginning to end, and I enjoyed Mathews' skillful blend of history and the storytelling art. Seeing a young JFK spying his way around a Europe on the edge of war, as a young man falling in love, learning how to use cyphers and radios, being followed by a psychotic Nazi killer, and getting himself out of one close call only to fall right into another... I read this book in a little over a day, and when I came up for air, I had a big smile on my face. 

Jack 1939 by Francine Mathews

ISBN: 9781594487194

Riverhead Books ©2012

Hardcover, 368 pages

Genre: Historical Thriller

Rating: A

Source: Publisher

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne

Title: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Author: John Boyne
ISBN: 0385610319, David Fickling Books, 2006
Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction
Rating: C

First Line: One afternoon, when Bruno came home from school, he was surprised to find Maria, the family's maid-- who always kept her head bowed and never looked up from the carpet-- standing in his bedroom, pulling all his belongings out of the wardrobe and packing them in four large wooden crates, even the things he'd hidden at the back that belonged to him and were nobody else's business.

Bruno is the son of a high-ranking SS officer in Nazi Germany. He and his older sister, Gretel, are growing up in luxury in Berlin when Hitler promotes their father and they find themselves moving to "Out-With" in Poland. Neither of the children have any idea what sort of place Out-With (Auschwitz) is, and they wonder what in the world all the people dressed in striped pajamas are doing on the other side of that tall fence. One day Bruno goes exploring and meets Shmuel, a young boy wearing striped pajamas who lives on the other side of the fence. They become friends.

I had heard many good things about this book, and I looked forward to reading it. If it's read at face value and as if it's a fable, it can be a very powerful book indeed. However, I had problems with it. 99% of the time I have no trouble with my "willing suspension of disbelief." I can turn off my judgement and let the writer tell me a story, and I'll believe it... as long as nothing throws me out of the narrative. I kept getting tossed out of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, and I still have a few scrapes and bruises from the experience.

The character who kept kicking me in the shins was Bruno. I found it impossible to believe that the nine-year-old son of a high-ranking Nazi would be so totally naive about Jews, Hitler, and almost everything else going on in the world around him. Putting that aside, Bruno was a spoiled, petty little brat who-- on rare occasions-- showed a glimmer of humanity, but when push came to shove, he did and said anything in his power to save his own neck. His air of entitlement made him impossible for me to like. (In fact the only character in the book that truly came to life for me was Pavel, the prisoner forced to peel potatoes and wait on the family at table.)

The ending of the book is indeed powerful. Since I normally try my best not to give plot details away, I won't say anything about it here. I'll only mention my own reaction:

You reap what you sow.

Although I did have problems with The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, I am glad that I read the book. I have a feeling that, in this particular case, Boyne's novel would've worked better if I had been a tween or a teenager with less baggage and fewer firmly held beliefs.