The Guardian’s Son

3 reviews for The Guardian’s Son

1. 

   Shrabastee – November 2, 2021

   Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of “The Guardian’s Son” by Anita Tiemeyer.

   The Guardian’s Son by Anita Tiemeyer is a historical fiction set in 1945, in the aftermath of World War II. When Major Grayson Pierce, an army doctor from America, inspected the Buchenwald concentration camp, the last thing he expected was to find a malnourished, flea-bitten child hiding under the sleeping quarters. He adopts the child and brings him home, asking his family to accept Joseph as their own. However, introducing a German-speaking Jewish child to an English-speaking family of devout Catholics raises intense cultural and religious conflict. Although Grayson insists on raising Joe as a Jew, his mother and sister want to convert him into a Christian. A civil war ensues inside the Pierce household, catching Joe in the crossfires. Will he have to leave the only safe refuge he had known ever since the war began?

   Like most books from this period, this novel also had vivid, gruesome descriptions of the concentration camps that chilled me to the core. Joe’s unembellished accounts of the appalling incidents horrified me. An innocent child’s perspective made the fact even more dreadful that a group of fanatics had so callously squandered precious human lives.

   In Tiemeyer’s competent hands, Joe’s character reached the pinnacle of perfection. As a survivor of the Buchenwald camp, severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder plagued his days, manifesting as night terrors and frequent bedwetting incidents. He refused to trust even the kindest gestures, fearing punishments for every misstep. The sight of a kitchen knife or a BB gun invoked his trauma, making him frightened and inconsolable. At the same time, his language barrier and communication gap to the Pierce family frustrated him. With a higher-than-average level of intelligence, this sensitive and aware child could perceive everything going on in the family. However, the years under extreme brutality skewed his perceptions. The title itself alluded to this. While Grayson accepted him as his son, Joe viewed him as his guardian. While reading, my heart went out to the poor child; I wanted to hug and soothe him.

   Characterization was the strongest suit of this novel. Grayson’s natural compassion, along with the terrible scenes he had witnessed in the camp, generated a rare empathy. He was extremely patient with Joe, guiding him through his new life with loving care. Even with Joe as his charge, he never neglected his daughter, Irene, who was often resentful of the intrusion in her family. Mildred, Grayson’s sister, had a caring nature, too. However, her stern demeanor kept it obscure. On the other hand, Tiemeyer made Grayson’s mother so despicable that I couldn’t help hating the matriarch’s dogmatic and prejudiced views.

   Religious and cultural differences played a prominent role in the story. The Pierce ladies were reluctant to accept anything that did not conform to their idea of civilized behavior. They stubbornly refused to let Joe use the German-to-English dictionary yet demanded he talked in English. They even concocted devious plans to convert Joe to Christianity against Grayson’s will. Their insensitive, uptight personalities infuriated me. I would credit Tiemeyer for creating these negative characters who could evoke such strong reactions in the reader.

   I didn’t have any complaints at all. From a technical aspect, there were very few errors. Therefore, I rate this book a thoroughly deserved 4 out of 4 stars. I would recommend this novel to anyone who loves character-driven historical fiction, especially those based on World War II. However, the concentration camp scenes were graphic, so I would urge the readers to exercise caution. Consequently, this book would require a mature audience.

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   DK Marley – November 3, 2021

   An American army doctor, Major Grayson Pierce, finds a little boy hiding in a stench-filled barrack
   at the Buchenwald concentration camp in April 1945. A devout Catholic, Pierce realizes that God is
   allowing him to save one precious life among the ubiquitous piles of naked corpses in this notorious Nazi slave labor camp. After the war, the doctor, a widower, brings Joe to his home in Ithaca, New York, and becomes his guardian. At the Pierce mansion, Joe struggles with his nightmares of Buchenwald and with three old women who see him as an intrusion – Grayson’s “fire-breathing” mother, Nina Cassandra, his “drill sergeant” older sister, Mildred, and a benign but indifferent Aunt Elvie. Making things worse is Grayson’s eight-year-old insolent daughter, Irene, who refuses to accept Joe as her new “brother.”

   Grayson nearly comes to blows with his mother and sister when he chooses to rear his ward as a
   Jew while they insist that the boy must be converted to Catholicism. To escape the family “pressure
   cooker,” Grayson and Joe take a two-week excursion around New York State. Joe learns English
   and bonds with his guardian in trust and love. Back at the mansion, he is better prepared to deal
   with the old women, but the bitter fight over his soul continues for the next several months, coming to an acrimonious conclusion at Christmastime. The Guardian’s Son is a story of how the devastating memories of Buchenwald affect a young boy and his guardian, and how religious intolerance, hypocrisy, and racism poison a deeply religious family. In the end, hatred, bigotry, and anti-Semitism are overcome in Christian values of benevolence, kindness, charity, and compassion in this powerful story.

   At the end of WWII, the 6th armored division of the American army rolls into the wasteland of
   Buchenwald, along with the 76th armored medical battalion of doctors to assess and care for the
   prisoners who survived the horrors of the Shoah. When Grayson Pierce discovers a young boy
   hiding in a dirt pit beneath the germ-infested beds in one of the buildings of the concentration camp, after already finding the boy’s father lying dead near the electrified fences, he hears his calling in becoming the boy’s savior and guardian. But the trip back home to New York, and bringing the boy into a world of Catholic devotees, is more than he bargained for. Joe, the Jewish boy, suffers from horrible nightmares, extreme post-traumatic stress disorder including bed-wetting, hoarding food in his closet, and an overwhelming sense of distrust of every new person he meets.

   The women in Grayson’s life – his mother, sister, aunt, and daughter – all have their own agenda in
   regards to this little boy, and all having to do with their own selfish disregard and prejudices based
   on their Catholic upbringing and ideals. This little boy goes from one extreme to the other, and both housed in outright racial injustice. As a Jew, he feels worthless. Already having to feel ashamed of his heritage in the hell of Buchenwald, these supposed “Christian” women display another type of inhumanity. The grandmother, staunchly set in her ways, demands the boy be converted from Judaism if he is to live in her house; the sister, with her dead fish eyes, pushes her own will upon the boy, even doing things in secret behind Grayson’s back, to assure the boy’s conversion; the aunt, whose inaction at a moment when the grandmother takes matters into her own hands exudes indifference; and Irene, Grayson’s daughter, displays the spoiled attitude of a girl unaffected by the harsh realities of the German war. Actually, all of the women appear cushioned within their formidable ‘castle’, and quite unwilling to understand the trauma this little boy has gone through at the hands of the Reichmonster.

   But Grayson, Joe’s savior, is the epitome of Christian kindness, even with his own trauma of seeing
   the horrors of the concentration camp and his human failings of not knowing exactly how to deal
   with PTSD. He is determined to allow Joe to know his Jewish heritage and practise his religion.
   Grayson rises above the mire of bigotry and hypocrisy, taking Joe on a journey of self-discovery
   and love, and helps him to find a measure of peace in this brand new world devoid of his parents, of any other blood relative, or any semblance of the life he knew before the war. Grayson’s patience helps Joe to blossom, and soon he discovers the brilliant mind behind the sad eyes. The boy is a genius, learning English with incredible speed, and a hunger for knowledge and books.
   And yet, after this enlightening trip of guardian and son, reality settles back when they both must
   face the ‘dragon ladies’ back home, all coming to a head during the holidays from Thanksgiving to
   Christmas.

   This is a truly heartbreaking book, and Ms Tiemeyer does an exquisite job of weaving a story that
   pulls on every heart string in your body. More than once I was in tears. So often, I wanted to take
   Joe into my own arms and rock him to sleep – and for a book, for words, to cause that kind of
   reaction is simply phenomenal. Incredibly believable, as if you are reading a true-life story, and the
   saddest part is that this probably is reality for many of the orphans who lost their entire families
   during the Holocaust. As heart-wrenching as this book is to read, I feel strongly that it needs to be
   made into a movie – the story of the children of the Shoah, and the realities that prejudice and
   injustice continued to shadow over many of their lives even after the war… even to today. Grayson
   and Joe’s story is one of incredible sacrifice and ultimate love, true qualities of a professed
   Christian.

   As the quote from the novel states: “But Grayson wouldn’t accept any of these reasons. After being
   driven out of the Garden of Eden, God gave man free will. And with that came culpability of the
   worst disaster of the twentieth century. The choice to do good or harm lay at man’s feet.”
   Each character, so artfully fleshed out, had a choice to do good or harm to this innocent little boy,
   who already suffered from Hitler’s choice of free will. As you read the story, you cannot help but
   turn inward into your own heart and question the choices you make in your own life in dealing with
   others. The Guardian’s Son is a beautiful book of morality, and the full disclosure of the inhumanity
   of man.

   Five stars from The Historical Fiction Company – Highly Recommended!!

3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Donna T – November 4, 2021

   Kudos to the author for this raw and emotional historical fiction. I have read quite a few books that described WWII scenes or concentration camp scenes, but the vivid descriptions here moved me to tears. The very first scene where Grayson counts the legs jolted me, making me realize this book won’t be an easy ride. Yes, the author made the readers face harsh truths at every line.

   I cannot stress enough how well Joe’s character was sketched. His every reaction was depicted so realistically. His PTSD, night terrors, bedwetting, scampering to the closets or hiding under the bed, and removing food from the table for future use- everything showed just how affected this innocent child was by the brutalities of war. The sight of the knife or the BB gun served as triggers, making him inconsolable. Even the kindest gestures would raise his suspicions. I so wanted to soothe him, to tell him everything would be okay! I loved how the title perfectly captured both Joe and Grayson’s characters. Grayson thought of him as his son, while Joe was afraid to think of him as anything more than a guardian.

   Grayson was easily my hero. Although I believe he should have tried harder to learn German or teach Joe English so that he could communicate easily. However, he later realizes that Joe needs more of his attention, especially after he tried to escape by jumping from a window.
   I felt so incensed with the Pierce ladies. Yes, they were educated, cultured, and of course, devout Catholics. That did not mean everyone in the world had to conform to their idea of civilized behavior. What is the value of education if it makes you intolerant of differences and diversities? Yes, I am looking at you, Nina Cassandra. Could you be any more despicable? Insulting the child, abusing him, belittling him, and finally sneaking him out of the house and dumping him at a facility? Did you have no heart? Seriously, I couldn’t possibly hate her more.

   Mildred shares much of the blame, too. Even if I agree that she loved Joe and accepted him, I really couldn’t believe she would try so hard to convert him into a Christian, going against her brother’s express instructions. Even though her character changed later, she also abused Joe. Why would you stop the child from reading the dictionary and still expect him to talk in English?

   I loved the moments of subtle humor amidst these dark times. The monikers “Frau dead fish eyes” or “Clown” were hilarious, as was the time when Joe eagerly supplied too much information to Grayson about the Civil War.

   When Cassandra packed Joe off to a faraway place, I honestly felt this would be the end for him and Grayson wouldn’t even get to know. I was so relieved that the Pierce siblings rescued him. It heartened me to see that they let Joe observe all the holidays, both the Jewish and the Christian ones, because a child wouldn’t even understand the squabble between different religious views, he would simply want to be a part of the festivities.