Simone Zelitch: Judenstaat (2016, Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom)
320 pages
English language
Published Dec. 25, 2016 by Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom.
On April 4, 1948, the sovereign state of Judenstaat was created in the territory of Saxony bordering Germany, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. Forty years later, Jewish historian Judit Klemmer is making a documentary film outlining the direction that Judenstaat has taken as a country on the world stage, from the Nazi atrocities of World War II to their liberation by Soviet troops. She is haunted by memories of her dead husband, who was shot by a sniper as he conducted for the National Symphony. Still grieving, she is confronted by a mysterious flesh-and-blood ghost from her past who leaves her controversial footage on one of Judenstaat's founding fathers--and a note: "They lied about the murder." Judit's research into the footage, as well as what really happened to her husband, embroils her in controversy and conspiracy, collective memory and national amnesia, and answers far more horrific than she imagined.--
Gave up after 3/4s... I enjoyed the world building quite a bit, but the story and characters just didn't hold together very well for me. There's a weird pivot about half way through that didn't make sense, and by then I didn't care enough to back up and figure it out.
