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Advantages:
A wonderfull book
Disadvantages:
none !
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Occasionally, you come across a book you feel privileged to have read. You want to share it with your family and friends. This is one such book. I only hope I can do justice to it with my review.
The Author….
James McBride was born, one of twelve siblings, to a black minister and a white Jewish mother, who considered herself black. His first book, “The colour of Water” was his tribute to his mother. It stayed on the New York Times best-seller list for over two years. Apart from his literary career as a staff writer for numerous American newspapers and magazines, he is a musician, composer and performer of some note. Miracle at Sant’Anna is his first novel, inspired by tales told to him by his Uncle Henry, a 2nd world war survivor and the true events of the 92nd Infantry Division’s participation in world war two.
The Buffalo Soldiers….
Established in 1886, after the end of the civil war, the Buffalo soldiers were a mixture of African Americans. Their original duty was to protect white settlers from outlaws and the Native American Indians. Many myths are attached to their name, but it is most probable, that the Indians gave them this name for their dark skin and curly black hair that resembled the revered Buffalo. Drafted into the army, the 92nd regiment were composed of all black or coloured people, the only black unit of their size serving in the 2nd World War. All the officers were white, coloured soldiers had no rank or command over their own men. This diversity of conscripts, many illiterate, some with college degrees and some officer material, served throughout the war in Italy, pitted against the fierce resistance of the elite German troops. Much of the action was centred on the cold, barren, bleak slopes of the Tuscan mountains, populated by Italian peasants, partisans, fascists, outlaws and other foreign divisions. After the rest of the war only a quarter of the division was left. Popular war films treated the blacks as cooks, drivers and general skivvies, the reality tells a different story, used as “cannon fodder” by the white commanders, yet loved and respected by the Italian people, they served their country with their lives and their pride.
Prologue 1983.
An elderly black Porta Rican postal clerk changed a habit of thirty years, by looking into the face of a customer. Hector Negron, pulled a gun from his pocket and fired it into the customers face. He stayed silent on the subject, not offering any word in his defence. A search of Hector’s apartment found a marble head of a statue. Submitted to the National Museum, it was identified as the missing head of the Primevera, the story went nationwide.
The book unfolds through the eyes of Sam Train, a huge Negro called Diesel by his friends. Commanded to cross the Cinquale Canal, Train thinks he is invisible. Heavily outnumbered by the Germans, Train blindly runs through the water, he remembers his first day in Florence and finding a marble head of a goddess which he carries around as a good luck charm. He is one of the “good niggers”, slow and dumb, he is exactly what the army needs, a simple man who obeys orders. Just before he reaches the other side, he sustains a head injury and thinks he will die. His comrade, Bishop, gives him mouth to mouth resuscitation, Train, still dizzy by his experience, is ordered by Bishop to rescue what appears to be a white boy, trapped in the rubble of a barn, with only his feet sticking out. Unearthing the rubble, Train finds a small boy trapped by a huge beam. With colossal effort, he releases the boy, who is delirious with pain. The Italian boy sees Train as a huge chocolate giant, when Train lies by the boys side to see if he is still breathing, the boy traumatised by fear and loss of memory, licks his chocolate giants face. Train has never been touched by a white person before; this small gesture ultimately leads to a love that will transcend race, speech and loyalty.
Meanwhile, cast-off from recrossing the canal, by the ineptitude of a white captain, Nokes, who refuses to give covering fire to the four trapped survivors, the Germans closing in fast, Stamps, the college graduate has to take charge. With no options left and Train desperate to get the boy some help, Stamps, Bishop, Hector and Train, head off deep into the Serchio valley.
Back at the base, Colonel John Driscoll is left with no reliable information, just a fuzzy aerial photo and the dubious report by an Italian priest, who informs him that there are several German regiments closing in. Driscoll is aware that somewhere there is a fearsome troop of Albert Kessellings 168th Panzer SS division, where and when they strike leaves him awaiting further information.
The four uneasy comarades are, by now, lost and desparate to find shelter of some kind. The boy is near to death and needs medical help. During this long trek, each character is brought to life by their thoughts. Reaching the church of Sant’Anna, they find no refuge, clearly some tragedy has happened here. The burnt pews, the rambling of a madmen and the large expanse of soil leaves an atmosphere of fear. The sudden ringing of the church bells, send them flying down the mountain to find refuge in the little town of Bornacchi.Here, in the home of Ludovico, Hector, who can speak some Italian, tries to find help for the boy. Ludovico seems reluclent to help, until his daughter, Renata, offers to lead the comrades to another village. He gives them shelter in an abandoned house, whilst Renata looks after the boy. The Partisans, under the leadership of a freedom fighter known as the Black Butterfly, are watching closely, there is a traitor and Ludovico is a known Fascist. He has a small supply of electricity, which enables Stamps to reach HQ. Commanded to capture a German prisoner, they have to sit tight for reinforcements. The radio packs up and the stay is prolonged.
Nobody else except for Train can get the boy to eat, everyone expects the boy to die, but Train keeps a bedside vigil, his soft singing, though no Italian understands, soothes the boy and after a few days, the boy is up and about. The town has accepted the black men as friends; they share their rations, though the Germans had taken most of their livestock and food. Amongst the Italian peasantry there is no prejudice, for the first time the four soldiers know what it is like to be touched and touch back a white person in return. They are accepted for what they are; the four will never be the same again.
When the Partisans bring in a German prisoner, the idyllic life is shattered; the boy’s fragmented memory has something to do with the prisoner and the partisan left to watch over him.
Faced by the imminent arrival of the German troops, the four try to get the villagers to flee, the partisan tries to kill Hector and runs away, the boys memories become clearer and the true horror of Sant’Anna is revealed.
Can the four comrades get to safety, what of the boy and what is the Miracle of Sant’Anna? To learn more, you must read the book. The ending is far to gripping to even hint at.
Summary……….
I read this book in one go, at 270 pages; the action was continuous and never flagged. Keen to reach the outcome, I read it as a good story. A lapse of two weeks and I had to read it again, there was so much I missed the first time. It haunted my mind; so much so, that I felt compelled to find out more. The last part of the story is based on a real event, but I cannot give it away. The only reference I knew of the “Buffalo” soldiers, was from a Bob Marley song. I wanted to know more. There are many true accounts of this regiment, I surfed the net and came up with my own synopsis. The characters intrigued me; the era of the story is set in the days when, not only the whites, but the coloured too had their own prejudices. This sent me off on another tangent, McBride has done so much detailed research, but that is another story. This book embodies the communality of the human experience. It is as true today, as the era it was set in. The miracle happens on two planes, 1). The miraculous. 2). The spirit of ordinary people to rise above the chains of oppression to become better people. I highly recommend this book. It left me profoundly moved, I laughed, I cried, but most of all I felt glad to belong to the human race and all it aspires to be. Thank you for reading Lisa. Note. Any references to "blacks" are as they appear in the book. I have never and never will be predudiced. .
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