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Under the Apple Tree: A Novel of the Home Front
Imagine a past you must have known, even if you weren't there. Birney, Illinois. Population 4,742 -- Moose and Odd Fellows -- Welcome! It is December 7,1941. Ten year-old Artie Garber is our guide. His brother Roy is the hero and Roy's girl Shirley is the love interest. Artie's mother and father are midwestern parents of the best kind. Roy goes to war; Artie is charged with keeping an eye on Shirley. He and his friends watch the skies for German planes, and the streets for spies. Shirley falls for another guy. Artie tries to intervene, and understand. Roy comes home from the war. Life is no longer a small-town basketball game. It is a simple story (perhaps) of awakening and loss and growth. The scenes, the sounds and images, the ambiance of Birney, are at once lost in time and with us today, over 50 years later, for here is a nearly perfect work of art.
342 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1982
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 4, 2019
Brings one back to those Wartime years and what a kids life must have been like in the midwest.
February 17, 2016
Under the Apple Tree is a story about World War II, but not the military battle kind or the kind that takes place in foreign lands, but this is the Garber family's fictional story about what happens on the home front while their brother/son, Roy, is away at war. And this is Roy's story too, as it relates to his experiences from just before he goes to war and after his return, as seen through his family's eyes. Mostly, however, this is a story about Roy's younger brother, Artie, just a young boy when Pearl Harbor is attacked, who grows up during the war and does what he can to keep the 'home fires burning'.
When I first began to read this book, I presumed it was a book for younger readers interested in learning about WWII from a pre-teen perspective. However, in my opinion, this is a book for adult readers. It does not gloss over adolescent desires and sexual exploration. The book is rich in WWII spirit and the sacrifices made, both in lives and in austerity on the home front. The language and look of the WWII period in small town America comes to life, as does the spirit, hope and faithfulness of family and community.
Books related to WWII, fiction or nonfiction, are almost always fascinating reads for me because this is one of my favorite periods in United States and world history. The reason I rated this book at four stars is because I thought there was too much focus and description with respect to Artie's sexual exploration and maturation for my taste, which I feel detracted from the story. All-in-all, however, I enjoyed the book a great deal.
When I first began to read this book, I presumed it was a book for younger readers interested in learning about WWII from a pre-teen perspective. However, in my opinion, this is a book for adult readers. It does not gloss over adolescent desires and sexual exploration. The book is rich in WWII spirit and the sacrifices made, both in lives and in austerity on the home front. The language and look of the WWII period in small town America comes to life, as does the spirit, hope and faithfulness of family and community.
Books related to WWII, fiction or nonfiction, are almost always fascinating reads for me because this is one of my favorite periods in United States and world history. The reason I rated this book at four stars is because I thought there was too much focus and description with respect to Artie's sexual exploration and maturation for my taste, which I feel detracted from the story. All-in-all, however, I enjoyed the book a great deal.
February 15, 2017
3-1/2 stars
April 24, 2018
Heart warming
This is a sweet story of a young boy awaiting his older brother’s return from WW II. He did his best keeping up morale at the home front and working the war effort. This will truly play at your heart strings as you feel the family’s pain awaiting the return of a loved one.
This is a sweet story of a young boy awaiting his older brother’s return from WW II. He did his best keeping up morale at the home front and working the war effort. This will truly play at your heart strings as you feel the family’s pain awaiting the return of a loved one.
September 4, 2012
This book captures the innocence of the Homefront during World War II through the eyes of an adolescent boy. Funny, poignant, and sad, Under the Apple Tree creates a compelling picture of a midwestern life during that.
November 28, 2015
Probably going to use this for book club. Possibility of getting Dan Wakefield to our book club...if we buy 10 copies. I would call this mens' fiction. I was ok with the coming of age story, but i wonder how sexual awakening of protagonist will play with my book club.
February 16, 2016
Close to being a five-star. Read it in just about 48 hours. Great "home front" novel of WW2 told from the perspective of the younger brother of a young man fighting in the Japanese theater and all the complications of those times and of adolescence.
April 20, 2018
A good depiction of the home front of World War II.
This book shares the home front reality of World War II. What it was like to be in the family of a boy gone to war and what it was like to remain at home.
This book shares the home front reality of World War II. What it was like to be in the family of a boy gone to war and what it was like to remain at home.
October 14, 2008
"Like turtles in a snow storm!"
That's all I have to say. Just fun~
That's all I have to say. Just fun~
February 4, 2014
Charming, though it's nostalgia, while it served to put you in the era, was a bit overplayed.
June 6, 2016
Book club pick. I was surprised I really enjoyed it. We get to meet Dan Wakefield 6/8th and discuss his book.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews