Sniper on the Eastern Front - Albrecht Wacker

"Sepp Allerberger" is the name attached to these memoirs. The reason given is that although snipers from the United States and Russia are considered heroes, German snipers are regarded as "wicked killers."

Sepp does what he can to survive. At first, it might be hard to sympathize with a German sniper knowing what he's done. But not every German soldier was a Nazi, and this particular man fought with inner demons a few times. The problem was, he was in a situation where it was kill or be killed. 

As the end of the war nears, it becomes clear that the troops are just falling back to Germany. He witnesses a lot of horrible things, and the details are not spared. It's gets pretty graphic at times. Saying that, Sepp also comes across as jaded, and I'm not sure whether that is a reflection of the author or the marksman. 

Overall, this is a pretty look at the end of the war from the German point of view. If that's something you're interested in learning about, and you don't mind the gore, I would recommend this book. Good Book!

An American Tragedy - Theodore Dreiser

Clyde's family are street preachers, but he wants to break away. He gets a job at a hotel, but after a tragic accident, he leaves the city and ends up in Chicago. He meets his wealthy uncle and is put on a path where he's exposed to high society. He also has a young woman who he's gotten pregnant. Since she's not rich enough, Clyde would rather get rid of her somehow, because now he has prospects with a rich, young beauty. What follows is a murder. 

It feels like everyone in this book only thinks about themselves. The beauty only starts talking to Clyde because she wants to poke at Clyde's cousin. The cousin puts Clyde in a cruddy job to keep him out of the way. Roberta, who is one of the lesser offenders, wants to hold on to Clyde no matter the consequences. Even giving up her morals and self-respect. Clyde is never happy with anything. He always feels like he's destined for something greater, and he deserves it. The lawyers are determined to win the case for political reasons. I despised the defense attorneys for making something up to try and get Clyde acquitted. I wasn't fond of the underhanded tactics of the prosecution, either. The whole 'plant two strands of hair' probably wasn't even necessary. I could go on, but I'm over the whole thing.

Everyone was in the wrong, but Clyde was the worst. By a long shot. I think the book wanted me to feel bad for him, but I felt nothing but contempt for the nitwit. He literally planned out her murder, but then he spent so much of the book telling himself he was innocent. I wish the trial was the end, but then his religious mother showed up and extended the book by asking God to spare her son. Many prayers and pleas to God take up a lot of the final pages.

I don't normally hate everything about a book, but this is one of those times. At the end, the only real tragedy was how much time I wasted reading it. I skimmed a great deal of the end, because I wanted to make sure some sort of justice happened, otherwise I would have had a riot over here.