The Warm Hands of Ghost – Katherine Arden

Information

• Goodreads: 666 Ratings, Average of 4.26
• Series: Standalone
• Age Category: Adult
• Genre: Fantasy (real world), Historical Fiction, Paranormal

Summary

We’re following two perspectives in World War II. First is Laura, a nurse from near the front lines of the war who has just received a box full of her brother’s things, whose presumed dead. She is desperate to learn what happened to her brother, so she facing her nightmares and goes back to the war to nurse the wounded soldiers and try to find out what happened to her brother – but no one is giving her a direct answer. Then there’s Freddie, Laura’s brother. We’re following him 3 months before, leading to his disappearance. His perspective is harsh, he’s in No Man’s Land with an incredibly unlikely companion in the form of a German solider. His story is a fight for survival and then a desperate need to escape the horrors of the war surrounding him. Though the Fiddler doesn’t have POV chapters, he is a prominent character. He’s viewed nearly as the devil himself, allowing people to forget the horrors they’ve seen, but always for a price. He’s a mystery. He’s salvation to some, but damnation to most. This is a story of survival, PTSD, Faith, love between siblings, love between two unlikely people, and a fight for life – not just surviving but actual life. This explores the war in more apocalyptic terms and what place the Devil would’ve played in this new earth and hell. Also, I’m just a sucker for a story about siblings moving heaven and earth for one another.

Review – Spoilers

  I gave this about a 3.5 – but it was absolutely phenomenal. I don’t typically enjoy historical fiction and I have always struggled with Katherine Arden’s writing style. I don’t quite know what there is about it that I can’t seem to get past, but I do think it’s easier and much better when reading physically rather than through audiobook. I didn’t care about Laura all that much in this story, which worked against the book as a whole as her perspective is the one we get the most, I believe. Freddie’s was much more interesting and gut wrenching, but I still think it was more about the atmosphere and implications of what he was going through that I found compelling rather than Freddie himself. The bleakness of World War 1 was captured phenomenally in this. I believe Arden did a fantastic job at really showing how hopeless and hellacious it was. She states that she wanted to show the true impact of the war because Americans don’t seem as if they had really been overly affected. She was inspired by the Apocalypse and how a novelist described the war in apocalyptic terms. She wanted to explore what a new hell on earth looked like and what the Devil would do with these new versions of hell and earth. I think she did a great job. The Devil in here isn’t what I think a lot of people think of when they consider him, but I also don’t think there are many more depictions that I think could’ve been accurate. He wondering through the War, driving men mad, having them sell their souls, and leaving crumbs of chaos everywhere. What could be more terrifying than selling your memories – and your soul along with them – piece by piece. Knowing that something is missing from you, specific pieces of yourself, and yet he’s always asking for more. What would you become when you gave all of yourself to him?

  I work on a community service board and help those who are struggling with substance use disorder. I’m also working towards being a therapist, so that naturally impacts how I view books like this as well. I think the depiction of PTSD was done phenomenally well. So was the image of a trauma bond that was given. They aren’y always the healthiest relationships we have, but they can be intense and it can feel as if they are the only people that truly understand what we’ve gone through – because they are. Freddie and Winter’s relationship was so heartbreaking and interesting to explore. How much of their love and dedication is due to that trauma? You could argue all of it is. How much of it would be there if they had met in a more natural way? There can’t really be a full answer. I appreciated that this showed a depiction that did turn to love, but I’d also be interested in explored the negatives of these relationships as well. As for Laura and Jones’ relationship, it was cute and I was hooked, but I don’t know if it had as much substance. I definitely think it does a good job at showing an almost inverse of Freddie and Winter’s relationship. It’s still traumatic, but also somehow the most innocent start that a couple could have during this time. Reading Freddie’s chapters while he was with Faland reminded me of, yes, selling your soul to the devil, but also a person using substances. There’s that inkling in the back of his brain that he should run and what he’s doing is wrong and shameful and has changed him. The substances (Faland) is consistently offering comfort, but also ensuring that Freddie knows that he is worthless and no one would want him anymore. Getting high makes the pain and the world seem as if it’s gone and everything is okay for now, but the crack eventually start to show. Not to mention how many people come back from war and turn to substance use in general. I didn’t particularly care about Freddie, but his story had my entire heart and did nearly bring me to tears when his sister helped him through it.

  Then there is Pim. Sweet and beautiful Pim who has tragically lost both her husband and son. Her exterior is that of a sweet, innocent woman. Then she meets Faland, who nurses the anger within her. The anger is already there – what mother wouldn’t be full of rage with what happened to her son? She has lost everyone and everything, at least as far as she’s concerned. A mother shouldn’t have to bury her child – and she didn’t have to because she wasn’t given his body anyway. I think that’s even worse. For me, I think her story was so tragic and heart breaking because she tried incredibly hard to be kind to everyone around her. She spent her time helping those in need and drawing for them, writing to their loved ones. She did all of this even with the deep seated anger boiling in her gut. And she continued to do it, all the way up to killing Gage. Once again, I think this is both a great depiction of the devil on your shoulder, but also turning to substances to cope with rage and grief. Neither allow a person to cope, they only allow space for those feelings to fester. They turn people into someone that person wouldn’t even recognize. Pim deciding to give herself to Faland made sense in the way a person committing suicide makes sense – what else would she have for herself now? Yes, there were people she cared for. But she’s lost the one’s that meant the most to her, experienced horrors she couldn’t have imagined, and then killed someone. Her ending is heartbreaking and I appreciate Arden for not shying away from showing another way that Freddie’s story could’ve ended. One person suffering lived and one didn’t. One showed their trauma and their grief on their sleeve, the other hid it. I loved these depictions, I just wished I was able to enjoy the actual story as much as I ‘enjoyed’ digging into the characters and themes.