Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - The Nightingale

Absolutely heartbreaking. Loved the complicated familial relationships and bonds between the main characters. Loved that we saw people with very different characters and very different approaches to life finding inner strength and bravery. Loved that we saw people with realistic flaws coping with the horror and the tragedy of war, making mistakes, growing from them.
By the end of the book I started especially appreciating Vianne's character's arc because she felt very real and it was interesting to see a not-inherently-brave character with a lot on stake (her family) coping and fighting and resisting.
Definitely a heavy and emotional read

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remy_licked_my_book's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This is a 4.5 star read for me. Kristin Hannah has historically not been my favourite author so I tried to go into this story with low expectations. It started out and I remember saying to my friend, "I'm not connecting to either main character, I just don't like them". Oh man, was I wrong. This story blossoms into beautiful character development. Vianne, Isabelle, and Sophie all mature and use their resilience to transform into women who take care of themselves. Their bravery and strength are a shadow of the true bravery and strength displayed by any one and everyone affected by WWII. I really enjoyed the ending, I fell in love with the characters all over again and things were tied up very nicely. The back of the book where Kristin Hannah talks about what inspired the book was very interesting, I will definitely be checking out some of the memoirs that this story was based on!

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scarlettreadsbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It took me a while to get into but by the end I adored this story. Not many books have made me cry but I did tear up at the end; it was incredibly emotional and there was so many heartbreaking scenes. My favourite character was definitely Vianne - she felt like the most realistic. I also learnt so much from this book, from the resistance to collaborators, and the treatment of French citizens during the War.

I’ll definitely be picking up more from Kristin Hannah!

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the_literarylinguist's review against another edition

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emotional reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

Fluid, easy prose that tells an important, little-known story. The role of women in WW2 has been hugely downplayed in history, and the true story behind this book is not one I've heard of. Hannah is a good storyteller and the romanticism of the resistance is always appealing, usually making for compelling reading. I'm in a class of people who believes the resistance shouldn't be glamourised, because less than 5% of France took part in it; there is a danger in rewriting history and erasing the memory of the French collaboration. Hannah certainly highlighted the suffering required by those within the resistance. I appreciated how she navigated the fine line between resistance and collaboration.

However, the writing and the plot were filled with cliches - good cop, bad cop, hiding place, romantic return, a resistance love affair. At times it felt unbelievable. The occasional flashback to US in the 1990s didn't work, was unnecessary and made very jarring interruptions in the story. I forgot they existed as soon as I began the next chapter. Clearly they were written to give a lead-up to the ending, but I feel the ending could have taken place in an epilogue. You do really root for the characters in this story, which is why the ending popularised the book.

I enjoyed reading The Nightingale and it is important to note how war is women's story, too. Yet there are much better French resistance books out there and this one was sadly overhyped for me.

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