by Nancy,
All the characters begin the book standing on different lake shores --- Nina at Lake Baikal, Anneliese at Altaussee, Jordan at Selkie Lake, and Ian at the lake in Cologne. Nina and the Huntress clash for the first time at Lake Rusalka in Poland, and everyone comes together ultimately at the lake in Massachusetts.
Maybe as we read we can think about how how the idea of the lake, and the rusalka lake spirit, weaves through THE HUNTRESS .
Does it play an important role in the theme of the story?
Jordan’s drive to become a photographer clashes with the expectations of her father --- and almost everyone else she knows --- that she will marry her high school boyfriend, work in the family business, and relegate picture-snapping to a hobby. How have expectations of career versus marriage changed for women since 1950?
Throughout THE HUNTRESS, war criminals attempt to justify their crimes: Anneliese tells Jordan she killed as an act of mercy, and several witnesses tell Ian they were either acting under orders or ignorant of what was happening. Why do they feel the need to justify their actions, even if only to themselves? Do you think any of them are aware deep down that they committed evil acts, or are they all in denial?
The Night Witches earn their nickname from the Germans, who find their relentless drive on bombing runs terrifying, but the men on their own side haze them, mock them and call them “little princesses.” How does prejudice and misogyny drive the women of the Forty-Sixth to succeed? Did you know anything about the Night Witches before reading THE HUNTRESS?
Welcome back to us!!
When I started looking for questions for this novel I got excited as there is so much to discuss, so many different stories weaving together. I am so happy to begin again!
Hi Nancy,
ReplyDeleteHow are you doing? The end of the school year is coming. Benjamin is beyond excited. Lillian just finished pre-school and will be going to the same school as Benjamin in the fall. Our state is beginning to lower Covid restrictions. We’ll see if the cases flare back up or not. How is the Covid situation where you are?
This month’s book was fabulous! I couldn’t put it down. I did a very lazy and minimal internet search regarding water creatures in folklore. It seems that many different cultures have lake creatures or spirits such as Aboriginal Bunyips, Japanese Kappas, and the German Loreley. It seems mankind has always needed to blame someone or something for drownings and ship wrecks. I suppose we must assume that Anneliese was probably taught many of these different mythical lake creatures to scare her as a child away from the dangers of lakes. And Nina’s appearance from the lake after Seb’s death must have really solidified those childhood fears. Without Anneliese’s view of Nina as a real rusalka, the team would never have been able to convince her to return to Europe for a trial.
Unfortunately I don’t feel that the expectations for women have changed much since the 1950s, at least here in the States. Maybe in Australia it’s a bit different? I feel that women here are expected to have careers but also be a perfect 1950’s housewife and mother. Women are often criticized if they are only homemakers or if they are only businesswomen. It certainly feels that there is still a stigma that women must wed and procreate. I love my little procreations. I enjoy my career but I recognize that it is not the path for everyone. I’d like to think that when Lillian gets older I will not demand these stereotypical gender roles onto her. She is pretty self-assured at 5 so I don’t think it’ll be a problem (haha). Maybe when she is older, the pressures that I feel as a wife and mother will be less on her generation.
Nobody wants to look at or think of themselves as “bad”. Most people create excuses to absolve themselves of poor decisions or bad actions. It takes a truly deep level of mental awareness and maturity to be able to look at one’s own actions, especially terrible actions, and take accountability for them. I think many former Nazis knew the degree of evil they were inflicting on others. Despite that, very few people want to be punished even when they are truly in the wrong. I would guess it’s far easier to blame someone else than admit your role in such heinous war crimes.
I had never heard of the Night Witches prior to reading this novel. However, I am not entirely surprised. So many women did so much unrated work during WWII. It’s such a shame that women who could have stayed home during war but sacrificed for their country instead were so frequently under acknowledged. I am sure there are entire history classes of women in war. I do find it frustrating that women have to prove themselves so adamantly in male dominated fields.
Absolutely fabulous book. I have already recommended it to others. I look forward to your thoughts.
Hurray for being back!
Much love,
Katie
ReplyDeleteHi Katie,
Here I am finally writing my comment on our fabulous book for June. I really loved it both times.
One thing I really noticed in the second reading was just how many times Lakes were referenced.
Your comment about how we humans seem to need water spirits to explain away tragedies, which I agree with, got me thinking about the differences between Anna and Nina and how that culminated in the final chapters at Selkie Lake. Both women had an intense fear of Lakes for good reasons.
Do you think Ms Quinn intentionally chose Nina to overcome her greatest fear for the side “of good” while Anna folded and allowed herself to be conquered by her fear as the side “of evil”?
Just a thought.
Another thing I noticed with my re reading, I was a lot more interested in the Nazi hunters the second time around. The first time I was so interested in the Night Witches that I probably rushed parts of the other stories to get back to it. I didn’t know of them and found it so interesting. I have been reading a few novels lately that are writing women back into history or telling old stories from a female perspective and am enjoying them very much. Sadly I tried another of Kate Quinn’s novels recently called The Rose Code, about female decoders In England during WW1. Should have been a goodie but sadly nowhere near as exciting and entertaining as The Huntress.
I have also been thinking about my question of whether the Nazis knew the evil they were perpetrating. I agree with you and think they did. However, throughout history humans seem to constantly commit evil against each other. It seems if we can view people as other or a collective group with a label something in some people’s minds allows them to justify their actions.
I had this discussion recently with friends about refugees and seeing them as individuals and not a collective group. This was at my local book club where we had just read The Bee Keeper Of Aleppo, such a good book.
It is wonderful to hear your children are enjoying school, they are growing up so fast. I’m glad the covid restrictions are easing in your area and, I think the term they’re using now is covid normal, you are able to move around more freely.
We have lockdowns being called all over the country, the Delta strain has been spreading and just this morning the kids in Brisbane are in a three day lockdown to try and contain it. In regional NSW we have masks and distancing re introduced. Our vax rollout has been very slow and bungled to be honest and I think with our low infection rates we became quite complacent. I’m booked in next week for my Pfizer jab but Ivars only has Astra Zeneca available to him and there has been lots of bad publicity about it and they are phasing it out in a couple of months. Doesn’t install confidence to rush out and get it.
Other than that we are all well, Ivars 93 year old Mum had a fall last week and is recovering slowly he is frustrated as he is locked out of Sydney and can’t see her but she is being cared for by other family so that’s a relief.
Talk soon, Nancy