Yes, this is another book about WWII but The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner is developed in a much different way than others I have read. The story begins when we meet our elderly narrator, Elise, who is suffering from Alzheimer's, a disease she personifies and refers to as her childhood nemesis “Agnes”. However, if not for “Agnes”, Elise would not have been given the iPad to help her remember people and contacts and without the iPad she would not have learned that a Google search would find people anywhere in the world and if not for the search she would not have found Mariko her oldest and dearest childhood friend. Memories of Mariko have been a constant throughout Elise’s long life, but more so now that “Agnes” had come to steal everything that was important, especially her memories. Elise realized that if she was ever going to see Mariko again, she needed to go find her now before Agnes destroyed her ability to do so. Finding Mariko, even if it meant traveling across the country, was the only thing Elise could think to do in order to fill this hole in her life story. Seeing Mariko and finishing their “book” would allow Elise to feel that her life was complete and that it had meaning. Of course, this journey would not easily be accomplished. Elise was old and she was not well and she was sure to be thwarted by “Agnes”. Even with all these obstacles, Elise was determined and so her quest begins.
Traveling to California, Elise’s memories of childhood emerge. We learn she was born and raised in Iowa where her father had come to work after leaving Germany as a young man. There she was living the life of any ordinary American teenager when WWII began. But this conflict was far away and nothing that really impacted her life. All this changed suddenly when the FBI agents arrived at her home and arrested her father after accusing him of being a German spy. Nothing could have been further from the truth, but much like with Japanese Americans, German immigrants and their families living in the USA were shunned and in some cases sent to internment camps without trials or even to chance to defend themselves. Elise and her family were eventually sent to the internment camp at Crystal City, Texas and it was there that she met Mariko and they became best friends.
The story about these two teenagers and their ordeal in the internment camp is eye opening and disturbing because we learn that the families in this camp were not released at the end of the war but instead were exchanged for prisoners of war being held in the parent’s home country. This country was Germany in Elise’s case, a country she had visited once, knew little about and that was nearly destroyed by the war. The reality was that these American girls were sent to foreign countries to survive the devastation of the war even though they were born in America and were citizens here. This piece of US history is not one that makes me proud even though I understand that the fear that permeated the time brought on decisions that can only be seen as cruel in hindsight and that would not normally have been tolerated.
This story within a story is a unique look at WWII; it is engaging and and informative, but more than anything it is a story of friendship and redemption and one that reinforces the idea that regardless of time and distance and even people who make terrible decisions, life will find a way and the heart will find its home.
