Mission Accomplished: Stop the Clock by Muriel P. Engelman
Release date: 2008 / 316 pages
Synopsis (from back cover): A former World War II army nurse shares her extraordinary life stories visualized from her earliest childhood memories over eighty years ago, to the present. Muriel Engelman begins her fascinating narrative by detailing her journey through childhood during the Great Depression and then transitioning into her structured life as a student nurse. Carion for polio patients in a city hospital she becomes skilled in dealing with difficult patients.
Upon graduation she was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps and sailed with her hospital unit in late 1943 for England, serving there for six months. Her unit arrived in Normandy, France after D Day, followed the advancing army and eventually operated a 1,000 bed tent hospital in Liege, Belgium.
Engelman shares vivid descriptions of the people, settings and memories in a timeless style that will transport anyone back to an ero when the future of the world ws uncertain, and the bravery of those who sacrificed everything to protect America was not forgotten.
First Line: “My brain is shortchanging me.”
Review: I’ve read a lot of memoirs lately – partly because I usually enjoy them and partly because I think publicists keep an eye on what we bloggers tend to read (and especially what we like), and then send more of the same.
From my experience with this genre, I think I’ve discovered a few elements that result in a satisfying memoir: the writer should be likeable (or if not, then witty), the writing needs to be strong enough to not distract, and the reader needs to gain some sort of insight by the end – not necessarily profound or life-altering, but at least something that resonates.
Fortunately, Mission Accomplished is all of the above. Muriel Engelman is a fascinating, interesting, gifted storyteller who is generous in sharing her life and has a wonderfully positive outlook without ever being saccharine. As one reader recently commented – “It’s so nice to find a positive memoir” — and this certainly is that.
Mission Accomplished also avoids another common pitfall of modern memoirs: so often memoirs feel like therapy or catharsis – the writer trying to exorcise demons from the past – and the reader is either simply along for the ride or feels like he or she is inappropriately prying. This is not true with Mission Accomplished.
I’ll admit I had put off reading this a bit, not sure I would be ready to read about the unimaginable hardships and horrors of being an RN in WWII, but once I started reading the pages just flew by. Muriel’s outlook is so unabashedly positive and grateful — and entertaining!
She describes WWII as “… the best – and the worst – time of my life” (103). While we can easily imagine why serving in an overseas war could be considered the worst time of a life, one might ask why the best? Muriel embraces the adventure of war, while finding great fulfillment in helping the wounded:
“The American GI was the best, most uncomplaining patient in the world, one who would suffer in silence rather than ‘bother’ the nurse by asking for medication if he thought we were too busy. And he was grateful for the slightest attention given him, happy to be alive, between clean white sheets for the first time in months, and most of all, cared for by American women, the first he had seen since leaving the States”(104-5).
In fact, her wartime nursing ruins her desire for civilian nursing in many respects, and she struggles to find the same satisfaction in her chosen profession once she returns home.
The first half of this memoir is written chronologically and is very well-paced (and fast). We hear just enough about Muriel’s childhood and then are swept into the drama of serving at the Battle of the Bulge.
However, I did find the second half less satisfying as a reader. Part Three: Post War is only very loosely chronological, and I missed the previous sense of forward movement in Muriel’s life.
Now, since she is such a gifted storyteller, I still enjoyed the collection of vignettes, but would have liked to hear the trials and tribulations of raising her children as well as the dramas inherent in a fifty-plus-year happy marriage. This I would have enjoyed more than the 20 pages on her mother-in-law’s descent into Alzheimer’s or the occasional, surprisingly vitriolic reflections on past acquaintances – I would have cut chapters 38 and 40 entirely.
But that is the beauty of writing your own memoir, isn’t it?! You get to choose which events or stories define your life. And what a tremendous life Muriel has experienced… So, I definitely recommend this memoir – the first half without reservation and the second half with a few, minor suggestions.
Interested in experiencing Muriel’s life? Drop me a comment and I’ll soon choose a lucky winner!
This sounds like an interesting memoir. I haven’t read anything but fiction lately, this might be a good change. Count me in.
You’re in the running, Cindy!
Love memoirs….especially WWII.
This book sounds like a fantastic read! Count me in . Thanks!
Jacque and Judy — You’re in the running, too!
Sounds like a great book for our senior book discussion group.
I’d love the chance to read this and am ready for a change from all fiction. Thanks for offering this!
My Dad was a WWII veteran. He was also a POW of the Japanese. Thank you, Ms. Engelman, for your service!
I bet it would be good for a discussion group! Good idea!
Wow — thank you, Cindy! Another reason I agreed to review this was because she was at the Battle of the Bulge, as was my grandfather. I really read that section with chills…
I’m always fascinated by WWII. I have a great uncle who died during WWII. We’re not sure of the details, but he did earn a Purple Heart for it. As the oldest child of the only son of my uncle’s brother, I was lucky enough to get to be the keeper of the Purple Heart. It’s quite the treasure! I would love to read this book.
I’ve never read any kind of memoirs that talks about american point of view regarding WWII. Count me in, please.
You won, CarolK!! Congratulations!
Don’t worry everyone… I loved the next two giveaway novels, too!!
I would love to be entered for this book. I love reading memoirs.
sharon54220@gmail.com
I love memoirs and I am a pharmacist and work in a hospital. I would love to read about the nurses in WWII. My husband would also like it, he reads anything about WWII.
Again, I really like your reviews and this
novel sounds excellent. Please enter me for
this great giveaway.
Glad to see you liked this one, as I have a copy on my desk waiting to be read. I hope it’s okay that I linked to your review on War Through the Generations.