The Sooner You Forget

Christopher Bensinger’s The Sooner You Forget is a deeply affecting and cinematic novel that explores the haunting legacy of war, the persistence of memory, and the long road to emotional freedom. Set against a little-known corner of WWII history, the story follows Charlton Buckley, a young man whose journey from small-town baseball hopeful to survivor of a secret Nazi labor camp for Jewish soldiers is both devastating and redemptive.

The novel begins with an atmospheric prologue that blends dream and memory. Charlton’s trauma is viscerally rendered from the first page: “I try and climb out, but Dad holds me down under the bodies. ‘This is a mistake!’ I scream.” The narrative quickly rewinds to 1944 in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, where young Charlton’s world revolves around baseball, escape from his abusive father, and his flirtation with a spirited, barefoot girl named Sandee Gold. Their romance is sweet, honest, and heartbreakingly grounded in the social tensions of the time—Sandee is Jewish, a fact that becomes increasingly important as the story progresses.

What makes Bensinger’s novel stand out is the balance between its coming-of-age tenderness and its harrowing wartime horrors. One moment, we’re caught up in a hometown baseball rivalry filled with teenage bravado and first love, and the next, Charlton is thrust into unimaginable suffering. After enlisting in the Air Force and having his plane shot down, he’s captured and ultimately sent to a death camp meant for Jewish POWs—despite not being Jewish himself. “I’ve kept my word to Uncle Sam,” Charlton confides, “The Nazi slave labor death camp for Jewish soldiers never existed.”

Thematically, the novel is rich and layered. It grapples with identity, inherited trauma, moral ambiguity, and the silence imposed by institutional forces. Bensinger writes with a clarity and emotional honesty that is often gutting. Charlton’s internal struggle—whether it’s with his alcoholic, anti-Semitic father or the phantom pain of his amputated leg—rings heartbreakingly true. The relationship with Sandee offers some light, but even that is shaded by societal intolerance and looming tragedy.

One of the most moving aspects is how the story doesn’t end with liberation, but rather lingers in the long aftermath—what it means to survive when your soul is still caught in the trench. “Berga still beats like a second heart inside my chest,” Charlton says, years after the war, in a line that stayed with me.

The Sooner You Forget is a poignant love story and a crucial historical testament. It’s not an easy read, but it’s a necessary one. And through Charlton Buckley’s voice, we’re reminded that some memories may fade, but the truth must endure.