Saving Amelie

By Cathy Gohlke
Hennepin County Library paperback 429 pages
genre: Christian historical fiction

Since I was only halfway done with this when my book club discussed it, I missed out on a lot of meaning. Then I've had to force myself to finish reading it. Set during WWII, this book takes a look at the eugenics programs at the time. Main character Rachel Kramer was adopted as an infant and raised in the United States.

If you want a summary - visit Amazon. I don't think I can do a good job with this blog entry.

Pages that stood out and I put post-its on:
117 - "Even with the Nazis' heavy censoring, enough came through to New York that it should have infuriated the country. Where was his 'Christian nation,' anyway? Weren't they supposed to help the oppressed and needy?" I cannot imagine what it was like for people in 1939 in America . . . or why so many of us aren't outraged at current-day atrocities around the globe. It makes me sad and curious about humanity.

136 - "She lifted her head. But it's not the end. No, I have the children's choir and I have Oma, and I will hold this day." Lea amazes me with her courage and strength! I need to work on having this kind of deep faith and hope. It's so hard when you're feeling discouraged by things in life.

138 - Lea feels as though things are going *too* well and something is wrong. Her grandmother is an encourager! "Joy is the gift of God, and you are His child. He loves you so."

163 - I love the inclusion of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the story. "But we've come to practice cheap grace - grace that appears as a godly form but costs us nothing - and that is an abomination, a stench in the nostrils of God!" I have started reading a book about Bonhoeffer, but would like to read the book he wrote on grace sometime . . .

208 - "It was dangerous to be an individual in the Reich today - dangerous to be committed to or allied with anyone but Hitler and the Nazi Party. And that made aligning yourself with the radical Jesus dangerous." This made me think of the song "Rabble-rousing radical man" . . . I love thinking of Jesus this way. The radical Jesus is someone my mom would have loved! (And perhaps she got to know him before the end of her physical life.)

301 - I just love the language here: "So much craziness, so many lies to sort out, and all of them woven, like plaits, into her mind." Sometimes lately, I wonder how much my thinking can change. So much of what's in my head is in how I was raised. (In addition to nature and nurture, aging and conscious choices shape us.)

303 - "Such a vast network to keep straight and so many lives at stake - Curate Bauer spent more time than ever on his knees." Prayer is so important! I should be spending more time praying, not less, when I feel busy and stressed out!

401 - "Amelie sighed. It was happiness to be loved and wanted." Yes.