An Enemy Like Me

A German American’s decision to enlist in the Army during WWII impacts his family for multiple generations in the stimulating if uneven latest from Brown (Sunflowers Beneath the Snow). Jacob Miller is raised by his German immigrant parents in New Berlin, Ohio, where he starts a family in the 1930s with his wife, Bonnie. When their son, William, is nearly four, Jacob enlists, determined to fight fascism and show his allegiance to the U.S. Though reluctant to leave Bonnie and William, Jacob fears it would be worse to stay, especially after a friend is arrested under suspicion of sympathizing with the Nazis and placed in an internment camp. The narrative alternates between Jacob’s nerve-wracking combat experience (an evocative scene describes him awaiting German fire while hiding in a foxhole) and young William’s fear that he might have to become man of the house if Jacob doesn’t return. In the present-day framing device, set several years after Jacob’s death, William recalls his mother’s pain at being separated from his father and how the war made Jacob emotionally distant, an effect William struggles against repeating with his own children. Though the plot skews melodramatic and draws obvious parallels between father and son, Brown offers a well-rounded portrait of German American life during the period. Fans of WWII fiction will want to check this out. (Self-published)