Reunion

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY APR 7, 2003

In his fiction debut, nonfiction author Oren (Six Days of War) delivers historical detail with quiet, convincing authority. Five decades after an unforgettable winter at Saint-Vith in Belgium's Ardennes Forest, the surviving members of the 133rd Infantry Battalion receive invitations out of the blue to an on-site reunion. None of the men, despite age and its array of related obstacles, believes that it's an offer he can refuse. And in every case, the invitation opens a Pandora's box of guilty memories and recriminations. Oren captures the rhythms of these melancholy reveries with nicely observed portraits of lives nearing completion. There's Buddy Hill, stoically facing increased infirmity with the support of his devoted wife, Kaye; tough Jersey City vet Francis Spagniola; shy, rural Pieter Martinson; frighteningly vigorous Major Walker, who commanded the men and commanded their respect, if not their admiration; and others. Battalion member Leonard Perlmutter, a historian, engineers the reunion. But somewhat mysteriously, his son Richard (also a historian) shows up instead, with a not entirely truthful explanation for his own presence and his father's absence. Oren incrementally reveals the battalion members' haunting secrets, secrets that explain both their compulsion to attend and nervousness about doing so. Stolen riches, latent homosexuality and military atrocities top the list. At times, it feels as if the novel is veering into conventional thriller territory, but the restraint of Oren's prose and the depth of his characters add another dimension. The end result is disturbing and memorable.