Book Review: NG173

Reviewed by Toni Woodruff

Tragic & true—an emotional read about love and family in the face of traumatic racial injustice 

Samuel Freeman has goals. Ambitions. Big dreams. Despite being one of the most skilled & ambitious recruits in the military, he’s relegated to the tasks of an assistant. To his superiors, being a Black man is cause enough to treat him as lesser, even if he is more than willing to fight for his country.

So when a German girl shows romantic interest in him, it’s all he needs to get swept up in hope again. Samuel and Ingrid embark on a swift, passionate affair in Ingrid’s yard and basement, filling them both with giddiness and excitement toward seeing one another each and every day. 

But Samuel is soon to learn that interracial relationships are dangerous even thousands of miles away from his American South home. He is shot and killed by people in his own outfit for sleeping with a white girl, and the white girl is left to take care of his child all on her own. Heartbroken and lonely, Ingrid seeks solace in the hands of another Black soldier, but even she finds it difficult to call it love.

Now the single mother to two mixed but passing children, Ingrid must protect herself and her loved ones from the racism of the Gestapo who, along with capturing and killing Jews during World War II, are seeking mixed Black kids and teenagers to castrate them. What follows is a heartrending story about a too-often overlooked aspect of world history—and one that you won’t soon forget.

NG173 captures its important subject matter in a straightforward and clear manner that places its focus on content first. This style also makes it an easy way to digest the historical information. You’ll find yourself moving swiftly through this book’s pages, hoping Ingrid and her family will catch a break somewhere along this lonesome, worrisome, and dangerous road. 

At times, I did wish for a bit more scene setting and description to more fully immerse myself in the situation. The style can cause its emotional information to come out a bit dry, relegating a sentence as impactful as a main character death to a one or two-sentence summary. 

I also wished for a bit more out of the most loving relationship in the book: Samuel and Ingrid. Their love is instantaneous and clearly the one worth fighting for, but we’re not given much chance to see it blossom on the page. Samuel is taking a huge risk seeing this woman, but at times it feels more like their coming together is more a happenstance of where the plot is intended to go than an all-natural love affair. Samuel also comes across as a bit naive concerning just how serious of a risk he’s taking.

NG173 is an eye-opening account of horrific racial injustice. If you don’t know much about what Black people had to go through in and around WWII Germany, this story of love and family could be the gateway you’re looking for.

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