The Last Green Valley, Mark Sullivan

 

Characters/People
Ukraine	Russia and Germany
Martel family: Emil Adeline Baby Waldemar – deceased Wilhelm “Will” Waldemar “Walt”   Lydia Losing “Oma” – Adeline’s mother Karl – father, taken by Russians for stealing grain 1929, returned home Malea – sister, brain injury   Karoline Martel – Emil’s mother Johann – father Theresa “Rese” – sister Wilhelm and Reinhold – sons, drafted by Germans, never heard from   Marie – Adeline’s cousin Twins – Hans and Rutgar Klaus – surgeon, in war   Mrs. Kantor – Adeline’s employer Esther “Ilse” - friend	SS Haussmann Nosske - superior   Nikolas   Corporal Gheorghe – brain injury, wants to be a bee keeper   Private Kumar   Ernst Decket – medic, SS sergeant, helped Rese with drugs   Claude Wahl – had shortwave radio   Peter and Greta Schmidt Forced to house three soldiers, Adeline and 2 boys   Captain Kharkov – boarding with Schmidt’s   Lieutenant Eloise Gerhardt – secret police

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the paperback edition.

1.       Emil kept referring to an incident with Haussmann several times, but it was never explained until page 213.  Did you like this writing device or did you keep thinking you had missed something?

2.       Discuss Emil’s mother, Karoline. When asked to watch baby Waldemar, she drank the cream for the baby when he was not drinking it.  She also blamed Rese for the accident where she lost her legs saying, “The Lord took her legs and that…sin in your hands because of her fornication” (page 163).   She also showed little emotion when Rese returned home from the hospital with her artificial legs.  Can you understand her behavior?

3.       What did you think of Lieutenant Gerhardt?   In 1946, when Adeline was working for Colonel Vasiliev, she asked her to spy on Vasiliev.   At one point in the conversation, Adeline told Gerhardt about Kharkov trying to rape her and fighting him off.  Gerhardt praised her saying, “Good for you Adeline.  I’ll make a note of that” (page 374).   Do you think she would have gotten the same reaction from a man? 

4.       Discuss Corporal Gheorghe and his outlook on life.  He told Emil our thoughts influence events.  He said, “What you seek is what you will find, but only if you hunt it with all your heart and mind” (page 335).  Do you think this is possible? 

5.       Before Adeline met Emil, she worked for Yudat Kantor in Ukraine.  Mrs. Kantor’s advice to Adeline (age 14) was “our job in life is to endure, to be kind, and to constantly put the past behind us and not dwell too much on the future” (page 86). How valid was this advice as the story unfolded over the next 18 years?

6.       Regarding the time Emil almost shot the Jewish family, Gheorghe said, “you begged God not to make you a murderer.  Then you showed courage telling the Nazi, no” (page 323).  “You did not have to kill because you did the right thing” (page 324).  This thought process relieved Emil’s guilt.  Did you agree?

7.       Discuss the choices people made in the face of war.  Did you understand the choices each person made?

a.       Adeline to help Esther (Isle)

b.       Emil to not shoot the Jewish family

c.       Ilse pretended not to be Jewish and survived as a prostitute in Poland (pages 226-227)

d.       Marie joined Russian soldiers in the truck after both her babies dies (pages 272-273)

8.       When Kharkov confronted Adeline in the church with the intent on raping her, Adeline warded him off with a knife and the words, “your young wife will know you not only as a rapist, but a cold-blooded killer on Christmas Eve” (page 313).  Were you surprised this stopped him?  Was the author showing some touch of humanity in him? 

9.       There are many books about WW II.   Did they have a different perspective from this one? 

10.   Given the current situation with Russia attacking Ukraine, did you find this a difficult book to read?  Did you gain any insights?

11.   Did you see the family picture at the end of the book taken in 1947?  If you saw it before you read the book, how did that affect your reading?  If you did not see it until you finished the book, do you think your reading would have been different if you knew the family survived?