 "An excellent read" | 2007-09-25 |
| - Reviewed By User: A78ULMEGD7DXO |
This book is the very first book to ever make me cry, and I'm one of those people who've read all types of genres. It was captivating and compelling. Like many, I saw the movie first, but when I saw it was a true story, I simply had to have the book as well. I am glad I did. The book provided the background and meaning that the movie left out. Because of the book, I will probably have to rewatch the movie again.
The courage, bravery, and love shown in this novel is beyond compare. It's a read worth reading slowly. |
| |
 "an unorthodox but gripping book" | 2007-08-14 |
| - Reviewed By lifeboat4 |
I enjoyed the film version of "Aimee & Jaguar", but I think the book tells a much deeper story. We get to know the characters on a more profound level: I was especially charmed by the poems both women wrote, especially Jaguar's rhymed comments on her everyday life experiences. The book provides astonishing details about life for Jews who went "underground" in Berlin; somehow, the picture of the slow tightening of the Nazi noose was clearer to me from this book than from the many other works I've read on the period. And Aimee's fate after the war was unexpected--messy, frustrating, and human. A more timid author might have left some of this information out.
I do have a few complaints about Fischer's approach to writing history: I agree with some other reviewers that the story tended to get muddled in the constant mention of unimportant names and dates, and it's difficult to keep track of the minor characters. An index would have helped with this. The author included loads of love letters, which get a little repetitive. I also would have liked to see more photos of Aimee & Jaguar's friends, rather than so many pictures of just the two of them.
I don't have the knowledge to assess how successful Fischer was at capturing lesbian feelings: the love between the characters seemed believable to me, and there was one fairly explicit scene that many historians would not have dared to write, but which I think added to the emotion of the story. I did think it was odd--bordering on irresponsible, for a historian--that Fischer stated in an epilogue that she thought Jaguar would have left Aimee if they had been together longer. This is pure speculation. Though I appreciated Fischer's honest confession of her feelings about Aimee, it might have been fairer to the reader if the author had put this at the beginning of the book. After reading the epilogue, I remembered a number of incidents in the story that portrayed Aimee in a negative light, and I couldn't help but think that Fischer's personal attitude may have colored her telling of those events. For example, when Jaguar is sent to a concentration camp, Aimee tries unsuccessfully to demand her release from the camp authorities. This action is described as "irrational", and one onlooker comments that it may have even harmed Jaguar. But no evidence for this is given--letters from Jaguar after Aimee's visit say nothing about it. Aimee's attempt might just as easily have been described as a sign of her great love for Jaguar, or of her bravery in confronting the Nazis, but instead, a picture is painted of a woman behaving irrationally, a standard sexist stereotype.
I can understand why Fischer was offended that Aimee appropriated Jaguar's Jewish background after the war. I think some of Aimee's attitude might have come from the role of German women in the time that she lived: she would have expected to take on some of the attributes and beliefs of her "husband." Plus, she was disgusted at the system that had robbed her of her lover. And her action can also be looked at in a positive way: one of Aimee's sons became very interested in the Hebrew language, and ended up emigrating to Israel. Is that a bad thing? I thought it was strange that Fischer gave so little credit to Aimee for the risks she took to try and help Jaguar and a number of other Jews. It is true that Aimee was not always on "the good side", and Fischer did some hard work investigating her background. But shouldn't people who learn and change be given some respect?
Fischer closes the book with a description of her own husband's work, which will probably make every reader feel immensely guilty. Again, not something most historians would do, but it is another sign of Fischer's brave, though not always successful, attempts to get to the heart of humanity's struggle with its own dark side. |
| |
| "A great book!" | 2005-11-20 |
| - Reviewed By courtney_c_ |
| It is a great book about a love affair during the war. I love how it tells about how the continued writing to eachother even when apart. This story will make you cry but is very beautiful in many ways. |
| |
| "Flawed real females makes compelling reading" | 2005-09-24 |
| - Reviewed By purplepopple |
| I liked this book. Some of the pictures, I really wish I could blow up and have as prints in my room. The story gives a lot of insight into that era. The Amazon criticism is that the author really doesn't focus much on the lesbian aspect, instead focusing more on the era, the World War II Jewish persecution, etc. Given the setting and the individuals involved, this seems understandable. I really, really enjoyed this story. The problems and personality flaws of the women aren't glossed over either which is nice. |
| |
| "A facsinating book about that time" | 2004-01-27 |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
I am responding to previous reviews - I do not think this book is about romance, and I did not feel lack of personal "data".
This is an incredible documentry book that document a time (1943) and place (Berlin). Yes, it is about love story. More so, it is about the human tendency to except the current situation and ignore warning bells, the systematic Nazi optression etc. |
| |
| "worth the money" | 2003-06-24 |
| - Reviewed By vze2gcy7 |
I bought this after seeing the film. I think the book does fill in a lot of the gaps that the film might leave a subtitle-reader such as myself.
I loved that there are actual photos inside the book. Well researched.
I don't share the shock of some of the previous reviewers about the epilogue written by the author. The author is a German Jew and is upset. Who wouldn't be? |
| |
 "Recommended but with reservations" | 2003-03-06 |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
| I'm not entirely sure what the author's purpose was in writing this book, because it certainly wasn't approached with any objectivity. The story is a touching one, very moving and ultimately heartbreaking, and the love Lili and Felice shared seemed to me intense and sincere. But in the epilogue the author admits she dislikes Lili, and feels she can more easily identify with Felice, basically because they are both Jewish. She feels somehow insulted that Lili aligned herself more closely with Jewish people after the war, and it is here that the author's attitude really left a bad taste in my mouth. In the book Lili relates that after the war other Germans distanced themselves from her because she had helped Felice and others. By looking askance on Lili because she was a German woman married to a Nazi and who could therefore never really have been a victim is showing exactly the same kind of prejudice, just in a different form. As far as Fischer self-righteously refusing to recognize Lili as a victim, all I can say to that is that Lili lost the woman she loved, so I'd have to disagree. Also, by taking Felice into her home, and later sheltering other Jewish women, Lili did much more than most people during that time, people who in most cases simply chose to look the other way. In sum I'd say this book is definitely worth seeking out - but I'd rather it had been written by someone without an obviously prejudicial axe to grind. |
| |
| "Not as romantic as the film, but a worthy read." | 2003-01-31 |
| - Reviewed By emcentar |
If, like me, you picked up "Aimee and Jaguar" because you enjoyed the film -- be prepared that the book is quite a different animal.
Rather than a straightforward narrative film, the book is a histography -- more like a documentary using letters and interviews to reconstruct the story of Lilly and Felice. While not terribly satisfying for those seeking an experience similar to the film, it is nonetheless a worthy read, and satisfying for those seeking to find out 'what is true' in the film as well as more information on what happened to Felice after she was captured by the Gestapo.I tend to agree with the previous reviewers who were startled at the epilogue. I think information on her difficult relationship with Lilly would have been more honestly conveyed in a prologue and to simply denouce her simultaniously as Nazi sympathizer and Jew-wannabee seems unnecessarily harsh. As for her opinion that Felice would have likely left Lilly had she lived, there does seem some evidence that their relationship might not have had staying power (hinted at in the film as well), such as Felice's relative youth (21) and various attempted and successful daliances with other ladies while she and Lilly were together -- Lola for certain and quite possibly Inge as well. I don't think it's entirely unfair for the author to state her opinion on the longevity of their relationship, but it is in poor taste, particularly in the context of a general denoucement of Lilly's character. Overall, a quite a good book. Recommended. |
| |
| "not what I anticipated, still worth the time" | 2002-10-06 |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
| I came to the book after seeing the film a few times since it's release. Erica Fischer is not a lesbian and indeed her angle on the book is more historical. There is a distance the author keeps in reporting their feelings for one another. I got the feeling from reading the book that to focus more on the passion would perhaps trivialize the plight of Jews for Erica Fischer. The letters and quotes held great interest for me. And after adjusting to the fact that the narrative would feel a little cold and dry, I also found the backround information quite interesting. I did feel that there was a lack of objectivity on the authors part. But then we all have our particular perspective through which we see the world. Hers is as a Berlin heterosexual Jew. If you are a lesbian who has assumed the author is a lesbian and came to the book looking for a full bodied love story, there is an adjustment to make. You might want to skip the epilouge or at least brace yourself. This is the part of the book that I felt was inappropriate. Erica Fischer told me that more information has come forward since this English translation, and can be found in the later German version. This information helps further explain some of the obvious distaste she still holds for Lili. All said, this is a thought provoking book, though not a scintillating love story. I am thankful to the author for the enormous amount of research that went into this book and do recommend it. |
| |
 "Great movie, but terribly disappointing book" | 2002-01-23 |
| - Reviewed By micheleburns2 |
| The story of Aimee & Jaguar is a fascinating one -- deep passion set against the backdrop of WWII Berlin. Unfortunately, Erica Fischer has done little to capture the spark that brought these women to life. I can think of few subjects more compelling than that of Lilly, wife of a Nazi, who falls in love with a young, Jewish lesbian in the midst of WWII; nor that of Felice, a dangerously intelligent women so deeply in love that she remains in the center of Nazi Germany. Yet the author repeatedly fails to capture the story behind the details. Instead, she relentlessly chronicles fact after fact -- for example, the exact type of paper used for a love note -- rather than the emotions that crossed Lilly & Felice's faces, for example, or the sound of their voices, or a sense of what it was like for them to even hold hands under these horrific circumstances. Considering the raw power of this true story, this book is a profound disappointment. The information about the progession of the Nazi's efforts is fascinating, of course, but if that had been my interest, I would have sought a history book. In all, Aimee & Jaguar is an incredible story. Sadly, only the movie begins to convey its depth. |
| |
Expedited Available
