Alice Austen’s 33 Place Brugmann tells a connected story of surviving—or not surviving—World War II and the Nazi occupation of Belgium. Two of the families that live in the apartment building are related but close quarters (and some nosy neighbors) mean that everyone knows at least a little bit of everyone’s business. Perhaps it’s the American in me but I found that I both longed for the closeness of the relationships that spring up in 33 Place Brugmann and relished my current privacy, since I don’t have neighbors who poke their heads out of their doors to see what I’m up to.
The various residents of 33 Place Brugmann take turns sharing their parts of the overall story. In 1939, the stakes are small: Which child is doing well in school and which is in disgrace? When will the construction in the Sauvin apartment be over? When will Colonel Warlemont figure out that the cakes Mademoiselle Hubert keeps bringing him are her best efforts at flirting? But there’s an undercurrent in the building. Everyone—especially the three First World War veterans—knows that war is coming. The Raphaël family have heard the anti-semitic rhetoric of the Nazis and are already making plans to bolt for a safe country as soon as possible. Masha, the Russian who fled the revolution and civil war years earlier, begins to look for a protector who might help her survive another war.
When the books jumps ahead a year or two, the small concerns are gone. The residents who remain fret about rationing and staying out of the way of the Nazis. They all know that people who stick their necks out are taken away to Gestapo headquarters and are never seen again. Hunger and fear have changed the mood in 33 Place Brugmann. On the one hand, there are residents who find ways to support the resistance by whisking downed Allied airmen out of the country, through France, to Spain. On the other, there are residents who are more likely to turn on each other to stay safe in the short run.
This book fooled me. Some of the chapters are narrated in a philosophical or even dreamy tone. Ludwig Wittgenstein (also a WWI veteran) and his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus are referenced throughout. The musings about the nature of reality had me thinking that 33 Place Brugmann would be an equally meditative book. By the later third of the novel, however, the tone had almost entirely shifted over to a historical thriller with betrayals, daring escapes, and sacrifices. I’ll admit that I found this latter part of the novel much more interesting than the first half or so of the novel—though I did enjoy watching the villains develop over the course of the entire novel.
Readers looking for an original story about life during World War II will enjoy this one.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.
I read this one and found it a bit unequal. I agree with your conclusion!