MARCH WRAP UP: What I Read This Month

Hi everyone! Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. Today, I’m reviewing the books I read in March. I apologize for such a late post, but here it is. I read 8 books last month. Here are my thoughts on all of them:

1. HISTORICAL FICTION AND WWI: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

This novel, written by Erich Maria Remarque and first published in 1928, “follows young German soldiers during World War I, focusing on the brutal reality of trench warfare and the profound disillusionment and trauma these young soldiers experience, stripping away patriotic ideals to reveal the futility and horror of war, loss of innocence, camaraderie between the men, and the psychological scars of combat.” The protagonist, Paul Bäumer, vividly describes that experience of war and how it ultimately had a “devastating effect” on an entire generation of men, now known as the “lost generation.”

This book is considered one of the greatest war novels, for its “stark portrayal of the war’s devastating effects on a generation,” and it is a “seminal anti-war novel”; the author drew from his own experience as a veteran to describe a “realistic, lived experience of war.”

I had to read this book slowly. WWI was the first war in history where the soldiers fought in trenches. Following the Battle of the Marne, a decisive Allied victory that halted the German advance on Paris, “armies failed to achieve quick maneuvers” and both sides were forced to dig shallow ditches to avoid machine gun fire and artillery. The German retreat forced a stalemate on the Western Front that changed the nature of combat. What began as temporary, shallow ditches though soon evolved into a complex system of permanent, concrete-reinforced, multi-line (frontline, support, reserve) trenches. The trenches, however, were perpetually muddy and filled with sewage. Rats, feeding off unburied bodies, were a massive infestation and body lice caused trench fever. Soldiers were also affected by “trench foot”, a fungal infection that caused numbness and rot from standing too long in cold water, as well as dysentery and cholera, due to poor hygiene and proximity to decaying corpses.

The effects that all this had on soldiers is undeniable.

Despite focusing on the traumatic experience of a German soldier, this novel was banned in Germany under the Nazi regime in 1933 because it contradicted the “Nazi desire to glorify war and project an image of honorable, heroic soldiers.” Likewise, in portraying a broken and losing army, the book contradicted the myth that the German army was undefeated on the battlefield and that it had been betrayed by internal enemies (the “stab in the back” theory). Ultimately, the book (and film) was deemed anti-German and banned by the government.

I highly recommend this book. Though it is not a book for everyone. Trigger warning for violence and gore, death of main characters, physical dismemberment, and trauma.

2. NONFICTION AND MEMOIR: The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee

This book is the memoir of a North Korean defector. The subtitle is “Escape from North Korea”, and yet the way she tells the story in the book―that she went to China one night because she wanted to “have fun” before starting college, not knowing that she was never going to be able to go back home after crossing the border―didn’t seem like the story of someone who wanted to escape North Korea to me. After all, she was planning to go back and start school; she herself said that she thought she’d live in North Korea all her life. And yet, we are told that she “was just 17 years old when she fled North Korea.” She did not flee, per her own words. Later, I watched a TED talk from the author and what she says about the night she left North Korea is completely different to what she says in the book. So, that made me wonder how much of what she relates in the book is true.

Granted, this is the story of a North Korean refugee and the story behind her exile is probably intentionally unreliable. However, “there is a fundamental question about heavily relying on defectors’ testimonies as credible evidence. The evidence used in the U.S. North Korea Human Rights Act and the United Nations Commission of Inquiry (COI), who accused North Korean leader Kim Jong Un of committing crimes against humanity in February 2014, is based mostly on former North Koreans’ oral accounts” (Why Some North Korean Defectors’ Stories Fall Apart). Yet, the quality (and accuracy) of the information obtained from defectors’ stories depends on the amount the interviewees were paid to provide said information. “The more exclusive stories they have, the higher fees are. When a significant amount of fees and expenses are paid for exposure to the media, Western parliaments and the UN, participants tend to produce more ‘saleable’ stories. Defectors’ testimonies are not just unverifiable but also occasionally imagined, false or mythical […]. Another issue is that one-on-one interviews often generate exaggerated stories and inaccurate information.

A further complication is that changing names, using false identities or even identity laundering is common among North Koreans who escape their home country” (Why Some North Korean Defectors’ Stories Fall Apart). Hyeonseo Lee herself did this, as she relates in her book (and is referred to in the title), pretending to be Chinese in order to survive. So, how much of what she relates is actually reliable and trustworthy? I am not saying here that everything Hyeonseo Lee tells in her book is a lie, but I do think that she does not always say the whole truth. There are intentional omissions, and those omissions shine throughout the entire text. “Choi Sung-chol, the head of the UK One Korea Association, emphasizes that ‘Most North Koreans do not worry about small factual mistakes as long as the big picture that North Korea violates human rights is right. We, North Koreans, know what is true and what is fake, but, at the same time, we do not want to ruin the bigger political moves like the UN COI or the U.S. Human Rights Act (Why Some North Korean Defectors’ Stories Fall Apart).’”

If you are interested in this issue and want to read this book, I recommend you do so with a grain of salt. I Will Not Read It Again.

3. PHILOSOPHY AND MILITARY HISTORY: The Art of War by Sun Tzu

The Art of War attributed to Sun Tzu, a military general and strategist, is an ancient Chinese military treatise that “offers timeless principles on strategy, leadership, and conflict resolution.” Key concepts of this small book (63 pages in the edition I picked up) include: “All warfare is based on deception; hence, when able to attack, you must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive”, “You need to know the enemy and know yourself”, and “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” The book emphasizes the importance of strategic thinking and planning before engaging in any battle or conflict. This includes military battle and conflicts in your personal life. I highly recommend this book.

4. GOTHIC AND HORROR: The Monk by Matthew Lewis

This book is a cornerstone of Gothic literature. Published in 1796, this novel is the story of the pious monk Ambrosio, “whose descent into depravity is triggered by temptation, leading him to lust, murder, and demonic pacts.” Ambrosio, a respected monk in Spain, falls into a spiral of sin that ultimately leads to his damnation when he is seduced by Matilda, a woman disguised as a boy monk. A subplot follows Agnes, a nun at a nearby convent, who also violates her vow of chastity.

The book explores themes such as sin (more specifically, the theme of women making men sin in a plot reminiscent to Eve making Adam eat from the tree of knowledge), corruption, temptation and the conflict between piety and desire, a conflict that has plagued the Church for centuries.

Yet, this novel is not without its share of the supernatural. Lewis himself subtitled his novel “A Romance” to highlight that the story depicted something “that is not likely to happen,” distinct from novels that depicted real life. This is the definition of romance from the 18^th Century, so it is significantly different from the current definition of the term. This is not a HEA romance novel. It is, on the other hand, a Gothic romance that focuses on terror, horror, and forbidden desires.

If you love Gothic literature, I highly recommend this novel.

5. PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER: Esta noche moriré (Tonight, I will die) by Fernando Marías

This short novel recounts how a deceased criminal plans his revenge against the policeman who caught him and threw him in prison. Sixteen years later, the dead man’s vengeance finally reaches its culmination. Today, this short novel is considered one of the strangest and most fascinating works of contemporary Spanish literature. Read my full review here.

6. LITERARY FICTION: Querido Diego, te abraza Quiela (Dear Diego) by Elena Poniatowska

Querido Diego, te abraza Quiela (Dear Diego) by Elena Poniatowska is a short novel (less than 100 pages) written as a series of letters from Russian painter Angelina (Quiela) Beloff to her (then) partner Diego Rivera. At the beginning of the novel, Diego has returned to Mexico after living in Paris for 10 years. He left Paris in 1921. However, his wife of 10 years, the Russian painter Angelina Beloff, stayed behind. And in Querido Diego, te abraza Quiela (Dear Diego), Elena Poniatowska recreates Beloff’s voice as she writes to Rivera detailing her struggles, memories, and longings while living in an impoverished post-war Paris. Read my full review for this short novel here.

7. EPIC FANTASY: The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne

This is the second time I read this novel (previously, I did so in 2022) and I enjoyed it, but I did not love it. This book is a multi-POV narrative, where the chapters alternate between three perspectives―Orka, a (retired) warrior who seeks vengeance after her husband is killed and her young son, Breca, is kidnapped; Varg, an escaped thrall who seeks the truth behind his sister’s murder; and Elvar, a young woman who flees her birthright in pursuit of glory. The Shadow of the Gods is the first book of the Bloodsworn Saga. It is a “tale of vengeance, loyalty, and survival” set in a world “scarred by the conflicts of the gods and where the main characters are each driven by their own quests for vengeance, justice, and glory.” Read my full review for this book here.

8. HISTORICAL FICTION AND ROMANCE: Homeseeking by Karissa Chen

This book is a historical fiction novel that follows the lives of Wang Haiwen and Zhang Suchi, childhood sweethearts who meet in Shanghai during the 1940s, are separated by the Chinese Civil War, live their lives, and are reunited once again in California during the 2000s. Haiwen’s POV is told from the present (2000s) to the past and Suchi’s from the past to the present. This narrative style gives the book an original twist and it highlights the (different) way in which each one of these characters dealt with their shared, traumatic past. The book explores topics such as the longing to belong and how the definition of “home” refers to people and not places. It also explores the profound impact that war can have on people’s individual lives; how one decision can change your life completely.

This book was the GMA Book Club pick for January 2025. Since then, it has become hugely popular and a lot of people love it. The story sets its characters through a period of Chinese history where people lived through the political upheaval of post-WWII, the second Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese Civil War, the Chinese Diaspora… up to the present. We see all this through the lens of the two main characters and how the decisions they make separate and tear them apart. Each one of these decisions has shaped the main characters differently so when they meet again in 2008, Haiwen is hopeful they will rekindle their romance; Suchi, however, does not want to dwell too much in the past. And her relationship with Haiwen belongs to the past.

I liked this novel, but I didn’t fall in love with it enough to root for this couple and hope that they get back together.

That is everything I read in March. My next post will be my best and worst reads of the month. Thank you for stopping by.