Carnival Girl – Book Review
Post world war 2, life is still difficult and the people are very poor in Germany. Sonja Herbert tells her true story about being raised in a traveling carnival by her parents, who used the carnival to hide from the Nazi’s during the war.
I started out reading this book expecting it to be about Mutti (the mother). As much as Mutti had a hard life that I can’t even comprehend, I found her attitude towards her children a wake up call. Sonja’s every memory is of her mother whining about being too cramped inside their trailer. Whining about kids being around all the time, and being poor. As a mother it makes me realize how aware our children are of what our attitudes are and we need to be positive and loving towards them no matter the circumstances. I get the impression from Sonja’s point of view that she wasn’t treated nicely by her siblings (what kids ever are) but that it impacted her self esteem in a major way. Whenever she doubts herself she thinks, well my siblings think I am stupid, so it must be true. As a mother this makes me want to cry.
I love stories about world war 2 but I have never read a story that begins where the war story ends. We always view it as a happy ending when in reality it was still very hard to build their lives back up again. I can’t imagine growing up wondering what the inside of a house looked like. A world where birth control didn’t exist and another child meant another mouth to desperately try to feed. Sonja and her siblings would attend a new school every week in whatever town they visited. I imagine her shock at finding free books to read in a youth center. Like her, I would find that as a personal haven as well.
I liked the perspective of the post war story and it was an interesting take. I wish that Sonja told more about her life as an adult. I would have loved to hear about how she moved to America and what her thoughts were about life there. I would like to know about her getting married, going to school, having kids.
Sonja believes the story to be about her mother, but I believe the story is more about her. I think the cover is beautiful, I would buy it on that basis alone. This is truly a unique story not for the weak at heart. I would love to be able to talk to Sonja more about her life.
Sounds like another good one I'll add it to my list
Thanks for your great review. The book is actually a memoir, so it's about me, but Mutti had such a large influence on my life that she is the second important person in the story.