As Long As I Have You

As Long As I Have You Hearts of the Children Vol. 5 by Dean Hughes

The end of the war finally comes for the Thomas family. Everyone except poor sweet Gene returns home to Utah. Even the Stoltz family is brought to America. At first the book seemed to be wrapping up nicely. Then we come to find that the boys (Alex, Wally and Richard) have varying degrees of PTS (post traumatic stress).

Wally makes it home first. He is shipped around to different hospitals. He is fattened up, checked for diseases, and vaccinated. When he returns home he quickly learns to enjoy life again. He seems even better than the old Wally. Much deeper. Lorainne by some miracle is only engaged, not yet married. Once she sees Wally, she knows that she still loves him. Wally and Lorrainne are engaged and married quickly. Wally begins working for President Thomas as the family parts plant. His life seems set and happy.

Bobbi is the next to return. There are moments that are incredibly tense and weird feeling between Richard and Bobbi. She wants him to want her. (Who doesn't?) He is still suffering with feelings and flashbacks from being blown to high heaven by a Kamikaze pilot. They finally marry and they still have a stiff, strange relationship. At one point Bobbi has a miscarriage. Richard has been working for President Thomas so that he can give Bobbi the lifestyle he thinks is important. Finally Bobbi can't take anymore weirdness and confronts Richard about his pent up feelings and the fact that she thinks he does not enjoy his job. Richard tells Bobbi about some things during the war that he never wanted to share with her. He also agrees to go back to college and do something with his life that he will truly enjoy.

Peter shows up in the same German LDS branch that Alex has just been given a calling in. He finds that Alex is now his brother-in- law and that his family is still alive. It may have been a little contrived and tightly wrapped up at this point, but I am glad that Peter was able to reconnect with his family. Peter is reunited with the Stoltz family and moves to America with them. They live in Salt Lake where President Thomas has made jobs for Heinrich and for Peter. He has also provided a house and a car for them. Peter does not like America as much as the rest of his family. He does not learn the language as quickly either. He wants to return to Germany and help rebuild it. He also has fallen in love with the young daughter of the family that took him in and saved his life.

LaRue is growing up and becoming more serious. She doesn't date and she doesn't seem to care for clothing as much as she did in the past. High school is ending for her and she is able to receive a scholarship to a college out East. President Thomas is concerned for LaRue. He is afraid that once she leaves the valley, her faith with subside and she will be brainwashed by the liberal thinkers she meets. LaRue wants to leave for this reason. The more she ponders, the more she wonders if her faith is really strong enough. She has many doubts which become strikingly more evident when she talks with her friend Cecil and her younger sister Beverly. LaRue hopes that leaving the family will make her rely on her own faith more.

Alex is the last to return home. He has a very hard time adjusting to being a father of a one year old that he has never met. He realizes that he has hardly spent any time with Anna. President Thomas wants to put Alex right back at the head of the family business but Alex has other ideas. Alex suffers with anxiety and anger from the horrors he saw and feels like he committed while in the Army. He refuses to say anything about what occurred while he was away. He is angered that anyone would think he is a hero. Finally Wally and Richard help Alex begin talking about some of the things that are plaguing his mind after Alex freaks out at the plant where he works. Alex realizes that they do understand him and that he can speak to them frankly about his fears and regrets. He gets closer to Anna and his baby Gene. He and Anna are soon expecting another baby. Alex decides that he may stay with his father's business and later enter politics.

If felt like the story wrapped up fairly neatly. I am sure some people find that not really true to life, but there is another series to follow this one. I like feeling like most things have been resolved. I really loved this series and felt like I learned a good deal of history while coming to love the characters.

Rating 5
Rating PG war stories of the violence that occurred to the soldiers.

So Much of Life Ahead

So Much of Life Ahead Hearts of the Children Vol. 5 by Dean Hughes

Hans and Elli are engaged. Then the Stasi demote him after Rainer is imprisoned and tells the lies about Hans that they want to hear. Hans feels like he can't ruin Elli's life by keeping her hanging on waiting for him. He also doesn't want to marry her because he won't be able to provide for her. He is the counselor in his branch presidency. But his faith is tested as everything he has hoped for is ripped away. His father comes to him and tries to talk him into having more faith and moving ahead but Hans feels like he has no hope. Finally in a last attempt to break him, the Stasi call him in and threaten him. Hans fears he will be taken back to prison. He can't stand it any longer and tells them exactly what he thinks of the way things are being run in the country. He waits and waits to be taken back to prison, but instead is promoted. He and Elli can finally marry. They do. His faith is restored and he realizes that he should have listened to Elli all of the times she told him that they needed to go forward in faith and that doors would be opened to them. By the end Elli is pregnant and a counselor in the Relief Society. I would have liked to find out what happened to them in the years later when a temple was built in East Germany........even before the Berlin Wall fell.

Gene is not the same Gene as before Vietnam. He is no longer self confident, upbeat and kind. Danny is afraid of him and although Emily loves him she is having a hard time living with him. He has finally gotten off of the pain killers but he is angry and depressed. He begins writing articles about Vietnam and then current politics which are picked up by magazines and newspapers. He decides to return to college for a degree in journalism. He reports on the Watergate proceedings. Finally Emily can take no more of his anger and bottled up emotion. She and Danny leave. Gene's father Alex and his uncles Wally and Richard try to get Gene to talk about his fear, anger and nightmares. They know this is the only way for him to heal. He refuses. Someone takes offense to an article written by Gene. When the man confronts him Gene goes crazy and tries to kill him. Gene is put in the VA hospital psyche ward. Emily comes to be supportive. She wants him to get better. She finally tells Gene that she is seven months pregnant. Gene wants to get better and begins therapy. By the end he and Emily have their second child and Gene is doing better. I didn't get the feeling that he had completely recovered though.

Kathy is inspired by her Aunt LaRue coming home from the east and marrying a BYU professor and getting pregnant. She finally begins dating but can't stand anyone she goes out with. At long last she throws herself at her old high school boyfriend, Marshall, hoping to convince him she has changed. Marshall has some things of his own to figure out and Kathy thinks things between them will never work out. They eventually get together, marry and buy an old house in Heber. They decide the best way to change the world is to become involved in their community and the lives of their children.

Diane finally tells Greg she cannot ever see them together again. Greg's reaction only reinforces that decision. Diane finishes college and becomes a teacher. Her home teacher is in love with her and they begin spending a lot of time together. Finally she must tell him that she is not in love with him. She raises Jenny alone.

The patriarch of the family, Grandpa Thomas dies.

I didn't like this book as well as some of the previous ones. Maybe because I really want happy endings and all of the loose ends to be tied up.........which never happens in real life........but I like it in my literature.

Rating 4
Rating PG