you know, you -- i'm thinking of camu, of sartra and existentialism which is all about choice, and that's what this novel was to me, choices people make. if you decide to do nothing against a regime that is maniacal, that's a choice, you are, in a sense, an enabler and we are made by our choices, that's who we are. and that's what this book is all about. it's also a book that doesn't condemn it's a book about understanding and that was very subtly done as well. and yet magically jessica manages to intermix this with some really fine history. you learn about dp camps, displaced persons camps, refugee camps, you learn about german logger camps for young -- for the german youth. that was one of the chapters that had the most pull for me, what is the pull of hitler? not, you know, hitler the monster, but hitler as they see it the idealist, people join this cause because they believe in a different kind of germany. they believe in the future and you get a sense of the pull of fascism. you get refugees in berlin with the red army there, you get people under the bombs. you get this wonderful pan