Miracle At St Anna A Novel [Hardcover]

 

 

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I picked up this book in one of the bookstores in Honolulu airport not knowing what to expect. It quickly turned out to be one of the best novels I have ever read. The story revolves around a group of American Buffalo Soldiers fighting in Italy during the Second World War. Though the story begins with an incident in the present time, the reader is eventually taken to the past in order to discover the circumstances that led to that "incident".
Emphasis is not only given to the discrimination within the armed forces but also to the development of the characters of the soldiers. The book is so well written that you feel that you are part of that group forming your own alliances and friendships. The struggle that unfolds is not only the fight for individual survival but also the struggle to understand oneself.
A beautiful bond that develops is the bond between a young Italian child and one of the soldiers. No heroics or blown out of proportion myths here. Just a beautiful bond between humans that run into each other in the worst possible condition, the midst of a battle.
Though the miracle takes place at the end, I also feel that it was unfolding throughout the book.
A beautiful book.

James McBride's latest book, Miracle at St. Anna, forces the reader into the world of Italy during World War II. At first, this novel seems to be a typical war story. However, this story is told from a unique point of view, that of black soldiers. When one usually thinks of WWII, white men storming battlefields in France or Germany comes to mind. However, this novel deals with a much deeper issue than racial discrimination. It examines the human spirit and what it takes to find one's true self. It also praises the brotherhood of man and reminds the reader that everyone has the power of love within.
The book starts in the battlefields of Italy. Soldiers of the 92nd division advance across a river towards the German stronghold. It is then that the reader is introduced to a central character, Sam Train. He is a huge black man from Virginia who grew up poor and slaved all his life on a farm that he didn't even own. Train is carrying something unusual at his side. In his bag rests the head of a famous statue, Primavera, that he found amongst the ruins of a bridge in Florence. At first he tries to sell the statue head but later it becomes something of a lucky charm for Train. He believes it makes him invisible. In his own mind, he thinks that no harm can come to him while in the battle because of the Primavera's protection. This influences Train's decision to run through German gunfire to save a stranded Italian boy. They quickly escape to the safety of the mountain forest. The boy is wounded and Train quickly grows affectionate toward him. He sees qualities in the orphan that he has never known a white man to possess, such as innocence, trust, and love. In the oy's eyes, Train sees himself.
Led by duty, three of Train's comrades, Hector, Bishop, and Stamps, go after him to bring the soldier and boy back to safety. Hector is a Puerto Rican from New York. He acts as their Italian translator. Bishop is a man from missouri who poses as a preacher to swindle people out of money. He lcaims the only reasonhe followed the men into the mountains is because Train owes him fourteen hundred dollars from poker. Their leader is lieutenant Stamps, a smart, cool-headed man from Virginia who hopes to work his way up the military ladder even though he is black. They finally find Train with the wounded boy and set out to find a hospital and the rest of their company. But htey cannot escape the Tuscan mountains.
McBride does an excellent job of showing a minority soldier's point of view. During WWII, racism was still very much alive in the United States and transferred over to military politics. As McBride demonstrates, the black soldier's position during the war was a difficult one. In the case of the 92nd division, white captains would routinely sacrifice black soldiers over whites, as far as which company would be in more danger. McBride claims that Stamps and his comrades were sent to fight in the front lines because they were thought of as dispensible by the military. The author creates a new perspective of the military during WWII.
McBride's characters routinely feel depressed and rejected by their world. Many soldiers are "convinced that the white man is trying to kill them." Furthermore, why should black soldiers fight for a country that doesn't even appreciate them? While arguing over whether or not a white captain would send a search party after them, Bishop reminds Stamps of a certain day at training camp. On a sweltering hot day in Arizona, the black soldiers had to eat outside the restaurant on paper plates while German POWs sat inside "eating ice cream with the white MPs guarding them." Despite all of the obvious racism, Stamps holds on to the belif that their commander is "fair" and will send someone to get them. On the other hand, the Italians treat the black soldiers as equals. They do not care what color the men are because they give the villagers hope.
McBride raises the question of one's true "home." Is home where one is born and raised or is it where one feels free and able to live a fulfilling life? It would be easy to assume that many black soldiers would want to stay in a foreign country where they were treated with respect rather than go home to a country that treated them as second class citizens. The "miracle" at St. Anna is rather a self-fulfilling miracle that is accomplished by each soldier before the church of St. Anna in Bornacchi. All four men experience a self-awakening moment brought on amongst war and despair. In this Tuskan village, they discover the true meaning of life above the boundarys of racism and prejudice. McBride creates the Italian orphan as a representation of the power to love unconditionally, even after devastation and loss. Likewise, to the American soldiers, the boy represents an unconditional love that they have never known in their own world and a hope for the future. The story, as a whole, convinces the reader that there are such things as miracles and they can be achieved by anyone.

I'm familiar with the landscape of the book and found them (both the book and the landscape) haunting. The book was beautifully written - one of the best.

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1.0 out of 5 stars HUH????
Very difficult for me to believe this is the same author who wrote the beautiful "Color of Water". McBride went from beautiful to pretty awful.

Published on July 27 2003 by Leland T. Brown

5.0 out of 5 stars A Miracle
Anyone, including online reviewers, who don't "get" this book are spiritually shutdown. This book grabs and rocks the soul. Read more

Published on Jun 13 2003

3.0 out of 5 stars IT COULD HAVE BEEN A CONTENDER...
The author, who penned the classic international bestseller, "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother", and was the recipient of the prestigious... Read more

Published on May 18 2003 by Lawyeraau

1.0 out of 5 stars I guess you had to be there???
I tried very hard but simply could not get into this novel. After reading "The Color of Water", I was excited to learn that McBride had released a novel. Read more

Published on Mar 29 2003 by Maurice Williams

3.0 out of 5 stars Well, yes but...
I so, so wanted to like this book. I heard a radio interview with the author and it sounded such a facinating plot, combining the war in Italy, the Buffalo soldiers and kindness... Read more

Published on Oct 21 2002 by Andrew Davison

3.0 out of 5 stars An ambitious war story full of emotion...For McBride fans!
Journalist James McBride, author of the best-selling memoir The Color Of Water paints a picture using a true historic incident as a backdrop to illustrate something out of the... Read more

Published on July 25 2002 by Alvin C. Romer

5.0 out of 5 stars Bravo Mr. McBride
He captivated me right from the introduction. I found myself reading parts of the book to people around me. Mr. McBride found a way to involve all the senses. Read more

Published on Jun 25 2002 by Lucy

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Disappointed
I picked up Miracle at St. Anna when I saw the name James Mc Bride as the author. I loved The Color of Water, and wondered how he would do on a fictional book. Read more

Published on May 21 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars A book to treasure and re-read someday
Like his first book, "The Color of Water," Mr McBride again gives the reader of "Miracle at St. Anna" a book to read, treasure and someday re-read. Read more

Published on May 13 2002 by Pat P. Bittle

5.0 out of 5 stars Buffalo soldiers in wartime Italy and a magical story
Based on a historical incident of a massacre in a small village in Tuscany during WW2, James McBride's novel deals with the role of African-American soldiers, sometimes called... Read more

Published on May 12 2002 by Linda Linguvic

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