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Philippeatbay -> RE: In my opinion THE book to buy.. (11/24/2015 4:42:51 PM)
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Sajer's account is very interesting.
There was a big scandal about the book a few years ago, when historical accuracy hounds started pointing out all of the mistakes and discrepancies in his stories.
But a close reading of the book shows that, especially in the early days, Sajer's command of German was somewhat fragmentary. When you realize that that he was an adolescent when he signed up, and that the favorite local form of entertainment was apparently feeding the dumb French kid tall stories to see if he'd swallow them, it's not too surprising that some of his accounts are reminiscent of Sir John Mandeville's geography. I suspect that during the first year or two he barely understood half of what anyone said to him, and anything involving subtlety, sarcasm, or shades of meaning went clear over his head. And he probably didn't know what to make of it when he encountered German soldier humor.
But what his book does, and does spectacularly well, is to give an in-the-weeds portrait of what it felt like to be a grunt in the German army on the eastern front. I believe the account is spot on for describing his emotional reaction to the experience (though probably worthless as a source for OOB's or uniform details). Sajer has a great memory when it comes to emotional details, but is not so good with the things that history buffs and re-enactors care about.
I liked his book a lot: it's well worth reading. But just remember to take all of his details cum grano salis and listen to them the way you would listen to a story told by a grandmother who's getting on in years.
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