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Something to Remember You By: A Perilous Romance
From the author of Kiss Me Like a Stranger and My French Whore, comes this romantic, dramatic fiction set during World War II. Beloved actor and author Gene Wilder's novella, SOMETHING TO REMEMBER YOU BY, begins on Christmas, 1944. In a foxhole in Bastogne, Belgium, the innocent yet charmingly clever protagonist, Corporal Tom Cole, is injured. Wilder moves the action to a romantic wartime London with dimly lit blackout-compliant restaurants and mad dashes to the Tube station at the sound of the air raid sirens where Cole convalesces and falls in love for the first time. But is the mysterious Danish girl he meets at the Shepherdess Café on the up and up? Cole is a cellist back home in the States, and Anna says she's a monitor at the War Office, scanning radio waves for incoming German planes. But is she? When Cole goes to the War Office one day to surprise his new lover, she's nowhere to be found. Wilder's story takes Cole on a quest for the woman he loves but no longer trusts, and ultimately parachutes him, a newly minted intelligence officer, behind enemy lines into a concentration camp to save her life and discover the truth.
176 pages, Hardcover
First published April 2, 2013
9 people are currently reading
489 people want to read
About the author
Gene Wilder
26 books193 followersGene Wilder was an American Emmy Award-winning and twice Academy Award-nominated stage and screen comic actor, screenwriter, film director, and author.
Wilder began his career on stage, making his screen debut in the film Bonnie and Clyde in 1967. His first major role was as Leo Bloom in the 1968 film, The Producers. This was the first in a series of prolific collaborations with writer/director Mel Brooks, including 1974's Young Frankenstein, the script of which garnered the pair an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Wilder was known for his portrayal of Willy Wonka on Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) and for his four films with Richard Pryor: Silver Streak (1976), Stir Crazy (1980), See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989), and Another You (1991). Wilder directed and wrote several of his films, including The Woman in Red (1984).
His marriage to actress Gilda Radner, who died from ovarian cancer, led to his active involvement in promoting cancer awareness and treatment, helping found the Gilda Radner Ovarian Cancer Detection Center in Los Angeles and co-founding Gilda's Club.
In more recent years, Wilder turned his attention to writing, producing a memoir in 2005, Kiss Me Like A Stranger: My Search for Love and Art, and the novels My French Whore (2007) and The Woman Who Wouldn't (2008).
Wilder began his career on stage, making his screen debut in the film Bonnie and Clyde in 1967. His first major role was as Leo Bloom in the 1968 film, The Producers. This was the first in a series of prolific collaborations with writer/director Mel Brooks, including 1974's Young Frankenstein, the script of which garnered the pair an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Wilder was known for his portrayal of Willy Wonka on Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) and for his four films with Richard Pryor: Silver Streak (1976), Stir Crazy (1980), See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989), and Another You (1991). Wilder directed and wrote several of his films, including The Woman in Red (1984).
His marriage to actress Gilda Radner, who died from ovarian cancer, led to his active involvement in promoting cancer awareness and treatment, helping found the Gilda Radner Ovarian Cancer Detection Center in Los Angeles and co-founding Gilda's Club.
In more recent years, Wilder turned his attention to writing, producing a memoir in 2005, Kiss Me Like A Stranger: My Search for Love and Art, and the novels My French Whore (2007) and The Woman Who Wouldn't (2008).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
June 3, 2013
The plot was great however to me the writing (which consisted of mostly dialogue), was simple. And as others have said, "choppy." Any middle schooler could have written something similar. Or even better. Sometimes I'm overwhelmed by the amounts of description that authors use however, as this book had practically none (hence was only 163 pages), I see that description is what I crave and is most necessary. I'm giving the 2 stars instead of 1 merely because I liked the plot.
August 9, 2016
I remember when I first listened to and enjoyed an unabridged audiobook presentation of Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo. It was 45 hours long. It was not at all too long, and was a wonderful book! My other option at the time for listening to this book would have been an abridged 2.5 hour version. What the heck would the story be like if you trimmed more than 90% of it?? Well, I think if you transcribed it on to a book of its own, the pacing and structure might very much resemble Gene Wilder's book here. Someone should tell Gene that while it's nice to have a nice story to tell, it's not a finished/publication-worthy project if you keep it in summary form. A good book needs plot development, character backgrounds, and some description. This book is dialog heavy, and speeds from point to point. The main character, Tom, goes from being a musician-turned-war medic to a capable intelligence officer in the time it takes to change clothes. If you're going to write a plot point this unbelievable, take time with it. Conflicts should not go from formed to fully resolved in five minutes of reading time. This is the start of a good story, but it needs a lot of work.
August 14, 2013
Do I really have to give it one star - pity negatives aren't allowed here. The only saving grace for this book is that it is short. There is not character development, no feeling for the setting or the times (perhaps as a playwrite Wilder hoped the director would provide these). The plot is something a 10 year old boy would be ashamed of: really, an enlisted medic is injured and then promoted to an officer, given a couple of weeks training as a spy and then leads 2 rescue missions into France - but since the SS is extremely stupid he survives by cramming 6 passengers into a Lysander (1 pilot and 1 passenger). To add insult to injury this was supposed to be a romance (I spun romance on the library reading game): Teenage Ninja Turtles provides better romance.
April 14, 2013
Gene Wilder creates a love story filled with bravado and mystery. Everything falls into place for our hero, but wouldn't it be something if our hero loses the love of his life on the way to learning a painful life lesson? Such endings are not pursued by writers who are infatuated with building up the hero and forcing him to succeed against all odds. Prepare yourself for the A-Team meets Inglorious Bastards.
May 22, 2013
Something to Remember You by is absolutely wonderful. Gene Wilder takes a look at a devastating period of time and transforms it into a beautiful Romance! I am quite impressed. Never before have I read such a continuously heart wrenching book about the time of Hitlers reign. From the beginning to the end this book draws your attention gracefully from page one. I would definitely recommend this book!
August 6, 2014
While not a particular fan of this writer's film work, I was curious about his writing--did not realize that this was his fourth or fifth book. This is a novella about wartime activity in Europe
in 1944. Seems simplistic, not much room for description--a short story about a romance in precarious times. I was not very interested in how it would end!
in 1944. Seems simplistic, not much room for description--a short story about a romance in precarious times. I was not very interested in how it would end!
January 4, 2014
Very charming little book. Well written and smart. It would make a nice film. I can imagine Mr. Wilder in it, playing the hero. I liked it very much. Witty and sweet.
March 26, 2018
Basically, a novella where an ordinary soldier has the greatest of luck in everything he he is assigned to do, to the point of nausea.
October 12, 2018
Sweet war time romance. The most common threads I see throughout Gene Wilder's novels is love, someone in need of rescue, hero who accomplishes the rescue easy in, easy out and things move fast. All his books are short ,contain the before mentioned and end happy. Gene's talent was more in front of the camera and with screen plays. He wrote, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Smarter Brother" and " Young Frankenstein" I believe he wrote "The Worlds Greatest Lover" as well. All screen plays made into his special brand of comedic movies.
July 21, 2019
Summary: The main character who is at war in WWII meets a girl at a dinner. This girl ends up being an undercover spy. One day the girl goes missing and the main character is determined to look for her. Long story short they both do a lot of things that almost get them killed and live happily ever after.
Reason for removing a star: The plot was a bit too predictable for me.
Overall: This book was a decent but fast read. In my opinion it is an underrated book.
Reason for removing a star: The plot was a bit too predictable for me.
Overall: This book was a decent but fast read. In my opinion it is an underrated book.
August 10, 2018
An extremely quick read (and short). It's an old-fashioned tale of love and danger in WWII. It definitely has the feel of that time period. I looked up Wilder and realized he would have been a teen by the end of the war, so he knows the attitudes and style.
It may not be great literature, but it's a fun, light read. It's length would make it a good choice on a plane trip.
It may not be great literature, but it's a fun, light read. It's length would make it a good choice on a plane trip.
November 8, 2020
The last work by Gene Wilder, a short romance/historical novel set during WW2, lacks the wittiness and the sweetness of his previous works. But I've read the translation into Italian, so maybe those features got really lost in translation: that's why I still rate it 4 stars, and also for the sake of Gene Wilder. RIP.
May 16, 2017
Wilder wrote a trilogy of quaint little romance novellas. They are brisk reading with an understated sentimentality. Entertaining enough. This one breaks the mold. It becomes a wartime espionage thriller. I think it could have been developed into a great film at the height of Wilder's career.
August 27, 2019
I enjoyed how quick of a read this was. And it was fairly easy to read. The reason I gave this 3 stars is that I feel like there was so much missing, like it was the treatment sent to the publisher to get them to actually publish the book.
December 25, 2019
Years ago I swore off WWII books, this wasn't a bad way to re-enter. That said, it's a nice story but if it wasn't Gene Wilder a good editor would have sent it back with notes to flesh out the characters. They're almost relatable, a little more work and it'd be a great book.
June 13, 2024
loved this book. Wilder is like a digestible Hemingway. he writes a bit bluntly but it’s much more fluid and entertaining. can’t wait read more. Only 4/5 and not 5/5 because it did remind me of Hemingway (not a fan lol) and it was too short
August 31, 2017
I lived the story but it just seemed as though it was too short.
February 24, 2018
I liked this short little book set in WWII. It was quite violent in places but had a lovely romantic element that offset the violence somewhat.
April 21, 2020
This was a quick and fun read. It was similar to the plot of a good movie—a little mystery, some courageous protagonists, a bit of romance, and a far-fetched but satisfying plot.
December 30, 2024
Picked this up in a Little Free Library and I'll be sure to return it to one. This was an ok quick read. Needed a stronger editors hand. Buy, eh, Gene Wilder wrote it. It'll do.
January 5, 2025
Sweet story, easy read, only slightly improbable and fantasy-esque. Lots of tease before any please.
November 16, 2020
A fun little story, but very choppy and uneven.
August 17, 2021
Who told Gene he could write?? His evil "friends" lied to him!
May 15, 2024
Visit JetBlackDragonfly (The Man Who Read Too Much) at www.edenthompson.ca/blog
Something To Remember You By ~ A Perilous Romance is the third novel from actor Gene Wilder. The title does a disservice to the book, as it deals with the French Resistance in the Second World War, and the Nazi concentration camps where they forced Jews and other prisoners to construct gas chambers. There is a serious thriller here disguised as a light romance.
Tom Cole was a medic in the trenches outside Bastogne when the Germans attack and several of his unit die. Recovering in London he meets Anna, a beautiful girl in a cafe and they fall in love. One day she doesn't appear at the usual time, he finds she has completely disappeared. A Danish Jew, she works for the French resistance and has slipped into Copenhagen undercover to teach bomb making. Persistently trying government contacts he finds she has been captured with three other Jewish women and sent to the Natzweiler death camp. A newly minted Intelligence Officer, Tom enacts a plan to enter the camp disguised as a high ranking Nazi and rescue the women. It's audacious and chilling - there are tense scenes of violence and heavy moments when the piles of Jewish women's bodies are being cleaned out of the gas chambers that are in contrast to the nostalgic title. This is not the only time Tom will risk his life, as he decides to go back into the camp again, undercover as a French prisoner to endure tortures in the hope of rescuing others from certain death.
The tone is as light as Casablanca, and Wilder's simplistic style keeps the action moving along, I think to the detriment of the story. I felt it would have benefited with a longer length - there is enough intrigue and subterfuge to be written as an intense spy thriller. Certainly the presentation of a paperback size in a hardcover format, the title, and the cover art all form the opinion it only offers a wartime love affair - if it were presented as the serious novel it is, it would have won more readers. Though the writing is clean and simple, the affair he creates, the danger and tension, the offices of British Intelligence - are all spot on. I started reading before bed at eleven and stayed up reading it right through. Entertaining and engaging, I recommend it.
Something To Remember You By ~ A Perilous Romance is the third novel from actor Gene Wilder. The title does a disservice to the book, as it deals with the French Resistance in the Second World War, and the Nazi concentration camps where they forced Jews and other prisoners to construct gas chambers. There is a serious thriller here disguised as a light romance.
Tom Cole was a medic in the trenches outside Bastogne when the Germans attack and several of his unit die. Recovering in London he meets Anna, a beautiful girl in a cafe and they fall in love. One day she doesn't appear at the usual time, he finds she has completely disappeared. A Danish Jew, she works for the French resistance and has slipped into Copenhagen undercover to teach bomb making. Persistently trying government contacts he finds she has been captured with three other Jewish women and sent to the Natzweiler death camp. A newly minted Intelligence Officer, Tom enacts a plan to enter the camp disguised as a high ranking Nazi and rescue the women. It's audacious and chilling - there are tense scenes of violence and heavy moments when the piles of Jewish women's bodies are being cleaned out of the gas chambers that are in contrast to the nostalgic title. This is not the only time Tom will risk his life, as he decides to go back into the camp again, undercover as a French prisoner to endure tortures in the hope of rescuing others from certain death.
The tone is as light as Casablanca, and Wilder's simplistic style keeps the action moving along, I think to the detriment of the story. I felt it would have benefited with a longer length - there is enough intrigue and subterfuge to be written as an intense spy thriller. Certainly the presentation of a paperback size in a hardcover format, the title, and the cover art all form the opinion it only offers a wartime love affair - if it were presented as the serious novel it is, it would have won more readers. Though the writing is clean and simple, the affair he creates, the danger and tension, the offices of British Intelligence - are all spot on. I started reading before bed at eleven and stayed up reading it right through. Entertaining and engaging, I recommend it.
July 17, 2013
What a funny little novel this is. I am a huge fan of Gene Wilder and this definitely reads like the sort of thing the guy behind the screenplay for one of the greatest comedies in film history (Young Frankenstein) would write, but it has a twisted, broken darkness ribboned through it that at times almost made me think I was in the middle of a David Lynch fantasy.
"Something To Remember You By" is indeed "A perilous romance." Corporal Tom Cole, a heroic medic recently reassigned to special forces in the midst of WWII has fallen in love with the lovely Anna. Theirs is a delicate but deep courtship, almost love at first sight. But when Anna mysteriously disappears and none of the things she's told him about her life turn out to be true Tom is left with a broken heart and countless questions.
Will they find each other again and what is Anna's true story?
Honestly having read the book I can't tell what the answers are to these questions. Its a bit like "Radio Flyer" or "Shakespeare in Love." I want to believe that the little boy flew off in the wagon and Viola really did get shipwrecked at the end but something tells me that Mr. Wilder's tale of fanciful, romantic daring do in the midst of war torn Europe might be just that, a fantasy dreamed up by a man who has lost everything.
Definitely worth the read and hats off to Mr. Wilder for messing with my brain a bit while still making me long for the happy ending he may or may not have written.
"Something To Remember You By" is indeed "A perilous romance." Corporal Tom Cole, a heroic medic recently reassigned to special forces in the midst of WWII has fallen in love with the lovely Anna. Theirs is a delicate but deep courtship, almost love at first sight. But when Anna mysteriously disappears and none of the things she's told him about her life turn out to be true Tom is left with a broken heart and countless questions.
Will they find each other again and what is Anna's true story?
Honestly having read the book I can't tell what the answers are to these questions. Its a bit like "Radio Flyer" or "Shakespeare in Love." I want to believe that the little boy flew off in the wagon and Viola really did get shipwrecked at the end but something tells me that Mr. Wilder's tale of fanciful, romantic daring do in the midst of war torn Europe might be just that, a fantasy dreamed up by a man who has lost everything.
Definitely worth the read and hats off to Mr. Wilder for messing with my brain a bit while still making me long for the happy ending he may or may not have written.
October 3, 2013
I didn't know Willy Wonka wrote books! Easy, fast read with a plot similar to other World War II stories about a young soldier named Tom about to meet the love of his life before being caught up in the perils of the conflict that would become "The Good War".
Tom starts out like any other humble American soldier serving his country but ends up a little too good to be true by the last page. There's the old cliché of bedding the love interest only to have her disappear the next day. During the search for his lover, Tom then single handedly saves the world against the evil forces of Hitler just because he can speak two languages. I liked the nod to The Pianist when Tom avoids death by impressing his German captor with his superior cello playing. The pride Gene Wilder has for his Jewish heritage is evident throughout the story.
Overall, not a bad read. I enjoyed this short novella and will probably visit my local library for more books by this famous celebrity. Which reminds me, it's been a awhile since I've seen Young Frankenstein.
Tom starts out like any other humble American soldier serving his country but ends up a little too good to be true by the last page. There's the old cliché of bedding the love interest only to have her disappear the next day. During the search for his lover, Tom then single handedly saves the world against the evil forces of Hitler just because he can speak two languages. I liked the nod to The Pianist when Tom avoids death by impressing his German captor with his superior cello playing. The pride Gene Wilder has for his Jewish heritage is evident throughout the story.
Overall, not a bad read. I enjoyed this short novella and will probably visit my local library for more books by this famous celebrity. Which reminds me, it's been a awhile since I've seen Young Frankenstein.
September 12, 2016
written like a draft for a bigger story or a script.
darker than expected (concentration camps)
darker than expected (concentration camps)
June 27, 2017
This certainly isn't the best written book, but if you're a Gene Wilder fan, you'll get some enjoyment out of it. The storyline is a very stereotypical WWII love story; it feels as if it's written in a way to reflect an old black and white film. The writing is rather dry and cookie cutter. I wasn't head-over-heels for this one, but I don't think Wilder intended it to be a masterpiece. What I did enjoy about it is that Wilder's acting style is evident in it's content. I could've seen him playing some of these characters, and his sense of humor is also very evident.
If I'd read this without being familiar with Gene Wilder, I would've given it half a star. If you're in the mood for a very simple, quirky read, and are a fan of Wilder, I would give this a whirl.
If I'd read this without being familiar with Gene Wilder, I would've given it half a star. If you're in the mood for a very simple, quirky read, and are a fan of Wilder, I would give this a whirl.
February 23, 2015
SOMETHING TO REMEMBER YOU BY Lt. Tom Cole gets injured while fighting at war and his corporal gives him a week off during which he meets Anna in a local cafe where they enjoy dinner together, get passionate afterwards in Anna's apartment planning to meet at the cafe the following day. But the next day he does not find her at the cafe and spends time trying to figure out her whereabouts. The story tells of Tom's time at war and how he wonders if he'll ever see the woman he has fallen in love with again. He ends up working in a death camp and gets injured, ending up in a doctor's office with multiple injuries. In the last chapter, Tom and Anna have a meal together in the Shepherdess Cafe. The books short chapters made it quick reading and I will look for another book by Gene Wilder.
December 2, 2016
I had no idea Gene Wilder was an author until I saw this on a curated list of romance novels. Romances are not normally my thing, but I was drawn by curiosity about the author, and of course the 1940s setting appealed to me.
I enjoyed the story overall; it was quite a breezy read. The writing is very simplistic, and the whole thing played out a bit like a 1940s B-movie. The plot moves along rapidly, sometimes dizzyingly leaving you wondering how you got from one point to another. However, if you approach reading the story knowing what to expect, it can be quite enjoyable. I picture Tom played by a young Jimmy Stewart, and Anna is definitely Ingrid Bergman...
I enjoyed the story overall; it was quite a breezy read. The writing is very simplistic, and the whole thing played out a bit like a 1940s B-movie. The plot moves along rapidly, sometimes dizzyingly leaving you wondering how you got from one point to another. However, if you approach reading the story knowing what to expect, it can be quite enjoyable. I picture Tom played by a young Jimmy Stewart, and Anna is definitely Ingrid Bergman...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews