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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I so wanted to like this book. I love the idea of it - a translator for the Frankfurt trials who uncovers her family’s hushed history. But the book just fell short. I don’t know if it fell short because of the translation or if it was because, as an American, I don’t have the same understanding of history that is assumed that Eva had. I kept re-listening to parts to see if I could like it better the second time around.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Torture, Antisemitism, War
Indecisa entre 3 ⭐ ou 4 ⭐. É bom, mas não é fantástico. Aliás, em alguns aspetos a história contradiz-se e tem algumas passagens desnecessárias ao tema. Sem dúvida que aquilo que mais gostei foram os relatos sobre Auschwitz.
Vai ficar com 3 ⭐.
Vai ficar com 3 ⭐.
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Interesting concept that was never fully explored, in my opinion. I was turned off by the way weight was discussed, and that appearances tended to align with morality.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Known for her success as a screenwriter for Netflix Germany, Annette Hess bravely tackles a story centering on a trial for Nazi war criminals in her first novel The German House. Young Eva has never heard of the Holocaust when she is called on to translate the testimony of Polish survivors. Predictably, her parents were much more intimately connected and have worked hard to shield her and their other children from the truth even though they lived next to Auschwitz during the war. The mundane twists slowly lead to Eva’s full awakening and decision to leave her parents for good. Side plots featuring an older sister who poisons babies and a fiancée who is torn between wanting to become a priest and marry Eva detract from any gravitas the central story manages to muster. Are all Germans guilty by association? Hess responds with the lame reply, “It’s hard to be human.”⠀
I found this book very enjoyable. I have read a lot of WW2 history and fiction set in that period. This story is different in that it deals with the first postwar generation of Germans who were infants during the war and have forgotten what really happened. Their parents have reinvented themselves and their family history. As one character puts it most of Eva's generation act like a bunch of aliens in brown shirts descended on Germany for the duration of WW2 and carried out terrible acts which most Germans were not complicit in. Gradually the main character, Eva begins to question her family's role in the events of WW2 and her memories begin to surface. This is set against the background of the Frankfurt trials which were the first trials set in Germany almost 20 yeas after Nuremburg. The book also deals with the role of women after marriage and the thorny isue of women working outside the home. However I found it difficult to understand the motivation of the older sister Annegret, her boyfriend and the story if David was never resolved properly I felt. All said I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more by this author.