GOLD RUN

Gold Run 4/5

A Tough Book To Review

This was a very tough book for me to rate. It took me a few days to read it, and depending on my mood, I could easily have talked myself into any rating, from 1 to 5 stars. There were things about the book I loved, and things I did not like at all.

=== The Good Stuff ===

* The tale is, at its heart, incredible. The Germans were determined to capture Norway, its King, and its gold bullion supply. The British thought it was a good idea to defend and support Norway, but really didn’t have troops or ships to send. The net result- a group of Norwegians, everybody from trusted bank officers to ordinary everyday tradesmen, took billions is gold and smuggled it to Britain and ultimately the United States. Right under the German’s noses.

* The book seems well researched, and the story is backed by numerous first-person accounts. And wile there is some discrepancy in these accounts, certainly no more than would expected for any story of this sort.

* The writing style is “mostly” easy-to-read, although I did have some problems with it as described below.

* The entire story is a marvelous look at life in 1940’s Norway. Surrounding the gold smuggling is a look at the hardships of life in Norway during the German invasion, including the treachery of Nazi sympathizers in the population, food shortages, air attacks, and dealing with an occupying army. We also see the bravery of numerous citizens, as they risk life and property to do what is right for their country.

=== The Not-So-Good Stuff ===

* The text is loaded with excerpt of first-person accounts of events-maybe 25% or so. It is a personal thing, but I hate this format of writing. Switching viewpoints, voices and writing-styles breaks my concentrations and makes it harder for me to read and enjoy a book. As usual, the quality of these excerpts can vary.

* Robert Pearson seems to struggle with what his topic is. At times, the gold smuggling is almost a background story buried in the details of life in Norway. I almost had to tease out the details of what was happening with the gold from the text. I don’t mean this to say that there was a lot of filler, just that the story became somewhat “muddled” inside of a bigger story.

=== Summary ===

The good things about the book were very good, but I found the problems mentioned above reduced my enjoyment of the book. If these sorts of things don’t bother you, and you are somewhat interested in this topic, you will no doubt enjoy the book. For those of you who share my concerns, it might be a bit of a tough read. However, there seems to be such a dearth of writing on this subject that my recommendation would be to power through it anyway. It was certainly worth the time.