Book Review: The Children’s Story A Novel, Not for Children by Robert A. Krueger

 

        The Children’s Story

Summary from Amazon: 

One morning young teen sisters decide to go for a walk, not realizing that this outing will change them forever. They become trapped in a strange land where the outrageous and bizarre seem normal. They only wish to find their way home; but this journey, which is not of their choosing, has a different purpose or so it seems as they are forced on their way.

The people and animals they meet are outlandish or eccentric or sometimes normal. Each has a lesson to teach or perhaps not. They are bombarded with sense and with nonsense that may or may not be nonsense. In their minds, they fight to remain children, but they are neither child nor adult.

Deep inside the sisters progressively understand that there is a purpose to their journey and that it has to do with good and evil. But they are neither free from torment nor from the absurd. They must overcome the temptation of evil if, in fact, they can recognize it. Interwoven with the sisters’ story are other tales of good and of the arrogance and depravity of evil (as in the Holocaust).

Allegorically, this is everyone’s journey and everyone’s story. A non-traditional novel for Adults and Young Adults

 My Review:

When I first started reading The Children’s Story by Robert A. Krueger, I had no idea what I was in for! This is a book unlike any other I’ve read.  It is hard to classify it. I call it a fantastical, philosophical adventure. It is a fiction novel, but not like a typical fiction book. It teaches you a lesson and entertains you and disturbs you and makes you think. It’s definitely not an escape type of book, yet it takes you on a journey you will certainly never forget.

I hope that I do this book justice with my review. I really enjoyed it and give it a 5 stars. I will definitely be reading it again someday. When people would see me reading it, they’d ask me if it was a good book. I’d tell them yes it was very good, but it was very difficult to read at times. Not that it was difficult to understand, but some of the topics discussed are difficult to read about and are sad. It deals with the subject of good and evil and how people develop an understanding of goodness or evil. 

It starts out normally enough. Two young teen sisters go on a walk. Nothing bizarre about that. But that’s one of the only normal parts to the story. The sisters end up in another world. The world is a very Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass-ish world. The first people the girls encounter are not “painting the roses red” but painting the roads for the king. And from that point on, the bizarre becomes normal.

The book is not just about the sisters. It includes side stories, one of which is the holocaust. The topic explored in this instance deals with accountability. Were the Nazi soldiers just following orders? Why did they not disobey the orders if they knew what they were doing was evil? Or how about scientific research? Is it acceptable to harm the few for the good of the many? 
The way this book is presented makes it more than just a philosophical book. It leaves a lasting impression. I know I can’t even begin to do this book justice. I just keep thinking of the depth of it and am amazed. It is a book that takes time to get through if you are really going to absorb what it is about. I highly recommend it. It is a journey worth taking. 

Some passages from the book that made a huge impression on me:

“Once the first step is taken…once the first compromise is made with evil, no matter how innocent that step may appear to be, there is no turning back.”

“Perhaps, he thought, it was not more toys he needed just more expensive ones. He began to search for the exotic and the expensive. Each time he found a new treasure he would search his sack trying to decide which of the old toys to discard. These were impossible decisions because discarding a toy was like ripping a piece of his soul from his body.”

“Most people, however, learn to ignore the problems that don’t personally affect them.”

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review which I have given. No other compensation was provided and all opinions are my own.