When It Was Our War: A Soldier's Wife on the Home Front

By Stella Suberman

Book Overview

When Stella Suberman wrote her first memoir, The Jew Store, at the age of seventy-six, she was widely praised for shedding light on a forgotten piece of American history--Jewish life in the rural South. In her new memoir, Suberman reveals yet another overlooked aspect of America's past--the domestic side of war. Her story begins in the Miami Beach she grew up in, when hotel signs boasted "Always a View, Never a Jew" and where a passenger ship lingered just off shore carrying hundreds of European Jews hoping for--but never finding--sanctuary. It was a time of innocence, before that war in Europe became our war. Stella was nineteen when America entered the fighting. By the time she was twenty-three, the war was over. She married Jack Suberman the week he enlisted and set out alone to join him in California. She was kicked off trains to make room for soldiers, her luggage was stolen, she was arrested for soliciting, but she was determined to follow her husband. And she did so for the next four years as he was sent from air base to air base, first training to be a bombardier and then training others. It wasn't until he was sent overseas to fly combat missions that she finally went back home to wait, as did so many other soldier's wives. This remarkable memoir renders a double understanding of war--of how it matured a young woman and how it matured a country. By personalizing the patriotism of the 1940s, Stella Suberman's story becomes the story of all military wives and serves as a powerful reminder of how differently many Americans feel about war sixty years later.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1565124030
• ISBN13: 9781565124035
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Shannon Ravenel Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.7" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

gifted writer

"When it was our War" is the second book by Stella Suberman, a former editor who writes delightfully well. Like her first book, "The Jew Store", this one is a joy to read, as Suberman is especially gifted at presenting a balanced account of the inner and outer lives of her characters. Suberman is a young bride, still in her teens, as the United States enters World War II, and her husband is an Air Force pilot. Leaving her Florida home, she follows Jack to his postings around the country. Her carefree days of sun and fun at Miami Beach are over, but she brings her high spirited resilience to the worries and deprivations of wartime life. The chapters are filled with adventures, friendships, encountering prejudice, the birth of the couple's first child, a son they name Rick for the Humphrey Bogart character in "Casa Blanca". The reader's interest will be maintained from first page to last, in this warm-hearted memoir. Highly recommended, especially for the fine quality of Suberman's writing.

A Memoir That Reads lLike A Novel

This book tells the story of World War II the way you want to read about it. The war is well and truly told but with a narrative slant that is most appealing. The love story of the narrator and her husband-soldier is one that gripped me, though that is only one aspect of the book. Like any good book it is written with an eye to suspense and tension and fully-rounded characters. For a memoir to accomplish this is truly amazing. Now I want a sequel.

Publisher's Weekly Editor's Pick

Your Booklist entry does not do justice to this book. It is more than just adventures. It is a book filled with humor and deep insights. If Publisher's Weekly named it their Editor's Pick, and they did, you know it is an outstanding work. It is filled with all the things about World War II you will want to read about. It's dramatic, funny, and engaging.

Compelling Wartime Love Story

Stella Suberman's second memoir, "When It Was Our War," will appeal to readers for many different reasons. It is a compelling wartime love story that I couldn't lay down. I finished it in two evenings! Her memories totally recapture the mood, the songs, the risks and dangers of living through uncertain times as we all did during World War II. It is a coming-of-age story that anyone of any age can recognize. With absolute candor, Suberman recalls her experience of confronting the conflict between her family's culture and that of the outside world. As a young, Southern Jewish American, she comes to terms with the ugliness of prejudice in all its forms in American life. Her memoir is universal because it portrays the painful process all humans face in moving from youth to adulthood. Readers will come away from her book with a sense of identification with her experiences and a compassion for the naive youths they once were.

What life was really like at home during the war

I loved this book. I think the writing style is fresh and crisp. It's so easy to read; it's humorous and, at the same time, very serious. From an historical perspective, it was very descriptive of life in this country at the time. I could really picture the characters, especially the writer. I especially think she captured the enigma that was her father. Although I was born during the war, I've never really focused on what daily life would have been like then, but this book certainly reflected the moment vividly. Again I really enjoyed it; so much so, that I'll reread it in a few months and I never do that. It's a great follow up to her first novel.