(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Poxl West fled the Nazis’ onslaught in Czechoslovakia. He escaped their clutches again in Holland. He pulled Londoners from the Blitz’s rubble. He wooed intoxicating, unconventional beauties. He rained fire on Germany from his RAF bomber.
Poxl West is the epitome of manhood and something of an idol to his teenage nephew, Eli Goldstein, who reveres him as a brave, singular, Jewish war hero. Poxl fills Eli’s head with electric accounts of his derring-do, adventures and romances, as he collects the best episodes from his storied life into a memoir.
He publishes that memoir, Skylock, to great acclaim, and its success takes him on the road, and out of Eli’s life. With his uncle gone, Eli throws himself into reading his opus and becomes fixated on all things Poxl.
But as he delves deeper into Poxl’s history, Eli begins to see that the life of the fearless superman he’s adored has been much darker than he let on, and filled with unimaginable loss from which he may have not recovered. As the truth about Poxl emerges, it forces Eli to face irreconcilable facts about the war he’s romanticized and the vision of the man he's held so dear.

This is a book-within-a-book. An interesting approach to telling this story but one that worked...for the most part. A bestselling memoir, a proud nephew, and a missing uncle...

The hero of this story, if you will, is Poxl West, Jewish air bomber during WW2. He writes a memoir in his later years, which he dedicates to his young nephew, Eli. With the success of the memoir, Poxl heads out on tour and leaves Eli to come to terms with the incidents that are recounted in the memoir - not things that Eli loved his uncle for.

Unfortunately for me, I found the first 100 pages or so to be quite tedious. Once I engaged with the dual narratives, I quite enjoyed it. However, less of the memoir and more of Eli would have been a far different book - and one I would have preferred to read. I just think the memoir was just too much and really dragged the pacing of the story down.

I would, however, happily recommend this book as it takes a tired idea (stories of World War 2) and threw a new spin on it and, for that alone, I think this should be at least looked at!


Paul
ARH