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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
I have to give this a 4 because I gave Tsarina a 4. Now I wish I'd given both of them a 3.
This WW2 book takes the unusual perspective of a teen girl who has been raised in the National Socialist party. She calls Adolf Hitler "Uncle Dolf" and in fact her father lost his life protecting his old friend and fellow soldier. So why is she so conflicted about the way her brother and other Nazis treat the Jews of Munich? And why is she drawn to Daniel Cohen, a filthy Jew she's been taught to hate?
Although this story is violent in places, it does an excellent job telling parts of the early days of Hitler's rise to power in the early 1930s. Most WW2 stories gloss over Hitler's military experience in WW1 and his subsequent treatment in a psychiatric hospital, so I learned quite a bit that I did not know before.
Although this story is violent in places, it does an excellent job telling parts of the early days of Hitler's rise to power in the early 1930s. Most WW2 stories gloss over Hitler's military experience in WW1 and his subsequent treatment in a psychiatric hospital, so I learned quite a bit that I did not know before.
Listened to this on audio. Enjoyable story. It isn't the most spectacular book I've ever read but it's worth a read.
After being disappointed with CODE NAME VERITY, which I considered a fluke, I was ecstatic for PRISONER OF NIGHT AND FOG. Especially since this one had somewhat of a focus on Hitler, who is probably the most grotesquely fascinating human in the WWII era. Unfortunately, all I felt for this one was indifference.
Characters in a gif:
Gretchen
Poor Gretchen, seriously. Her father was supposedly shot protecting Adolf Hitler, her mother basically couldn’t care less about her, and her brother amuses himself by playing cruel tricks on her that often go way too far. She is Hitler’s golden girl, and he appears to love her like a daughter. However, when things start to hit the fan, Gretchen realizes who is truly on her side: almost no one. So yes, things really can get worse for Gretchen.
Gretchen was kind of hard to relate to, which in turn made me care less about her overall. Her “brave” decisions seemed the opposite, and she kept throwing herself into danger to find out the truth about her father’s murder. (Which isn’t going to bring him back but I guess that’s not really the point here) I did find myself really feeling for her situation though, particularly when she was at rock bottom.
Daniel
Daniel is a reporter, and a Jew, so there is a whole forbidden romance angle that I usually eat up. However, I found that their “enemy to something more” relationship seemed to develop a bit fast. They meet twice and then all Gretchen can think about is kissing him and she’s suddenly smitten when before she didn’t even want to touch him because she had been taught to see Jews as monsters. The relationship aside, Daniel is an easy character to like. He’s kind, empathetic, and handsome-which never hurts.
~
Anyway, the thing I probably enjoyed most about this one was Hitler’s portrayal. You got a see a different side of him-a side his friends and family most likely did see. It was amazing to see how he changes through Gretchen’s eyes as the story goes on and we see him as we really knew him to be.
As for the plot, there was not a whole lot going on for this one to be four hundred pages. It was very slow at times, and the chunky paragraphs loaded the pacing down even more. The descriptive writing is really beautiful for a while, but page after page of it and it became tiring when there was no dialogue to break it up. I think it was much too long for what it was.
It’s a good historical read if you are interested in the era and have some patience to spare.
Characters in a gif:
Gretchen
Poor Gretchen, seriously. Her father was supposedly shot protecting Adolf Hitler, her mother basically couldn’t care less about her, and her brother amuses himself by playing cruel tricks on her that often go way too far. She is Hitler’s golden girl, and he appears to love her like a daughter. However, when things start to hit the fan, Gretchen realizes who is truly on her side: almost no one. So yes, things really can get worse for Gretchen.
Gretchen was kind of hard to relate to, which in turn made me care less about her overall. Her “brave” decisions seemed the opposite, and she kept throwing herself into danger to find out the truth about her father’s murder. (Which isn’t going to bring him back but I guess that’s not really the point here) I did find myself really feeling for her situation though, particularly when she was at rock bottom.
Daniel
Daniel is a reporter, and a Jew, so there is a whole forbidden romance angle that I usually eat up. However, I found that their “enemy to something more” relationship seemed to develop a bit fast. They meet twice and then all Gretchen can think about is kissing him and she’s suddenly smitten when before she didn’t even want to touch him because she had been taught to see Jews as monsters. The relationship aside, Daniel is an easy character to like. He’s kind, empathetic, and handsome-which never hurts.
~
Anyway, the thing I probably enjoyed most about this one was Hitler’s portrayal. You got a see a different side of him-a side his friends and family most likely did see. It was amazing to see how he changes through Gretchen’s eyes as the story goes on and we see him as we really knew him to be.
As for the plot, there was not a whole lot going on for this one to be four hundred pages. It was very slow at times, and the chunky paragraphs loaded the pacing down even more. The descriptive writing is really beautiful for a while, but page after page of it and it became tiring when there was no dialogue to break it up. I think it was much too long for what it was.
It’s a good historical read if you are interested in the era and have some patience to spare.
3.5 stars
This book started out great for me. For the first half I just loved it. Then the second half happened. The heroine just lost my sympathy with all her shenanigans. I wanted to shake her and I found myself rolling my eyes at the plot "twists". It was a frustrating second half. *sigh*
This book started out great for me. For the first half I just loved it. Then the second half happened. The heroine just lost my sympathy with all her shenanigans. I wanted to shake her and I found myself rolling my eyes at the plot "twists". It was a frustrating second half. *sigh*
Gretchen Müller, is the favourite of Uncle Dolf, the leader of the National Socialist Party, which is understandable given that many years ago, her father had given up his life for his. While around Munich and the rest of Germany, people knew her uncle Dolf as Adolf Hitler, Gretchen has never known him as anything else but as Uncle Dolf, the man who has helped to support her family ever since her father's death and whom they owe a great deal to.
Gretchen doesn't know much about politics, nor about her Uncle Dolf's policies but she does believe what he has told them. That the Jews are creatures that deserve to be looked down upon by the rest of Germany, that they are sub-human and that they must be kept segregated. Gretchen has never known anything else and since her father had believed in Uncle Dolf enough to follow him to his death, Gretchen will stand by her Uncle Dolf.
That is, until she meets the young Jewish reporter Daniel Cohen. Daniel is everything that Gretchen should be keeping away from but she cannot help but to listen to his story, to how he has pieced together the events that caused her father's death. There are rumours flying around that her father was not a martyr after all, that he had not given up his life in exchange for Adolf Hitler's. Instead, some in Hitler's old guard believed that he was killed by one of their own. And when Gretchen starts piecing the story together, she realises that her Uncle Dolf is not who he appears to be and that not everything that he has been preaching is the truth.
The Prisoner of Night and Fog is one of the best historical fiction books I've ever come across. It's obvious that Anne Blankman has done her research about 1930s Munich, from the way that the schoolgirls then were dressed to the way that Hitler arranged for his propaganda speeches. It's hard to believe that this is Blankman's debut novel when she nails the descriptions every time and is able to evoke such strong imagery in my head about the time and place, about how a girl of Gretchen's age would behave when her family is closely connected to the Hitler's party. She also seamlessly weaves in real-world events, such as the death of Geli Raubal as well as his romance with Eva Braun.
Gretchen is definitely a worthy heroine, even though she does start off in the book as being a little naive by believing in all of her Uncle Dolf's lies and in believing that he would be on her side when her mother wants to stop school. She doesn't understand her brother or how cold and unyielding he is but knows enough to be frightened of him when he is in a rage. And her relationship with her mother is non-existent, two ships passing in the night. But when Gretchen meets Daniel and starts to piece things together, this is when Gretchen really starts to come into her own by reading up on Hitler's books as well as interviewing the old guard to figure out what really happened on the day her father died. She's brave and intelligent, there's a lot to like about Gretchen.
And I thought that the introduction of the doctor and his psychology books was an interesting touch, because it gave Gretchen an outlet to flex her intellectual muscles and gave her someone who understood her thirst to learn. Their lessons together were really interesting to read about.
My only quibble with the book is the romance with Daniel Cohen, which is surprising because usually I love it when authors introduce a romance sub-plot into their books. But with Daniel it felt a bit like the change in Gretchen's feelings towards him (from distrust of him because of what she has been taught about Jews to starting to fall in love with him) was very abrupt. Daniel, individually, was easy to like because of how honest he is with Gretchen but when their relationship started, I somehow just couldn't find myself buying into it.
With all that said, I'm still excited to read the sequel, to find out how Daniel and Gretchen are going to deal with the fall-out from Gretchen losing favour with the Party as well as Hitler rising in power. Part of the story feels inevitable, as we all know what happens in history but I'm interested to read Blankman's version of it and how Gretchen will fight to stop Hitler's ascent to power.
Gretchen doesn't know much about politics, nor about her Uncle Dolf's policies but she does believe what he has told them. That the Jews are creatures that deserve to be looked down upon by the rest of Germany, that they are sub-human and that they must be kept segregated. Gretchen has never known anything else and since her father had believed in Uncle Dolf enough to follow him to his death, Gretchen will stand by her Uncle Dolf.
That is, until she meets the young Jewish reporter Daniel Cohen. Daniel is everything that Gretchen should be keeping away from but she cannot help but to listen to his story, to how he has pieced together the events that caused her father's death. There are rumours flying around that her father was not a martyr after all, that he had not given up his life in exchange for Adolf Hitler's. Instead, some in Hitler's old guard believed that he was killed by one of their own. And when Gretchen starts piecing the story together, she realises that her Uncle Dolf is not who he appears to be and that not everything that he has been preaching is the truth.
The Prisoner of Night and Fog is one of the best historical fiction books I've ever come across. It's obvious that Anne Blankman has done her research about 1930s Munich, from the way that the schoolgirls then were dressed to the way that Hitler arranged for his propaganda speeches. It's hard to believe that this is Blankman's debut novel when she nails the descriptions every time and is able to evoke such strong imagery in my head about the time and place, about how a girl of Gretchen's age would behave when her family is closely connected to the Hitler's party. She also seamlessly weaves in real-world events, such as the death of Geli Raubal as well as his romance with Eva Braun.
Gretchen is definitely a worthy heroine, even though she does start off in the book as being a little naive by believing in all of her Uncle Dolf's lies and in believing that he would be on her side when her mother wants to stop school. She doesn't understand her brother or how cold and unyielding he is but knows enough to be frightened of him when he is in a rage. And her relationship with her mother is non-existent, two ships passing in the night. But when Gretchen meets Daniel and starts to piece things together, this is when Gretchen really starts to come into her own by reading up on Hitler's books as well as interviewing the old guard to figure out what really happened on the day her father died. She's brave and intelligent, there's a lot to like about Gretchen.
And I thought that the introduction of the doctor and his psychology books was an interesting touch, because it gave Gretchen an outlet to flex her intellectual muscles and gave her someone who understood her thirst to learn. Their lessons together were really interesting to read about.
My only quibble with the book is the romance with Daniel Cohen, which is surprising because usually I love it when authors introduce a romance sub-plot into their books. But with Daniel it felt a bit like the change in Gretchen's feelings towards him (from distrust of him because of what she has been taught about Jews to starting to fall in love with him) was very abrupt. Daniel, individually, was easy to like because of how honest he is with Gretchen but when their relationship started, I somehow just couldn't find myself buying into it.
With all that said, I'm still excited to read the sequel, to find out how Daniel and Gretchen are going to deal with the fall-out from Gretchen losing favour with the Party as well as Hitler rising in power. Part of the story feels inevitable, as we all know what happens in history but I'm interested to read Blankman's version of it and how Gretchen will fight to stop Hitler's ascent to power.
I liked the mix of factual information with historical fiction, a great way to look at another viewpoint of the Nazi Party. For those who wouldn't mind a little romance with their history--I think students will learn quite a bit through this series.
Review also published on my blog StudentSpyglass
Source: Review copy from Edelweiss
Plot: ★★★★★
Characters: ★★★★★
Readability: ★★★★★
Overall: ★★★★★
The Story
Gretchen Muller lives in 1930s Munich, the daughter of a martyr who died to save her Uncle Dolf – Adolf Hitler. She worships her Uncle Dolf, the charismatic man with the voice like chocolate, the man who always looks out for her and the one adult she knows she can trust. When a Jewish reporter seeks her out, telling her that her father was in fact murdered, Gretchen is still shaken up from watching a brutal beating of a Jew, and just about unsure enough to listen to what he has to say. From that moment on, Gretchen begins to see things in a different light and to wonder about the views of a man she has always loved and followed.
Now first of all, I have to say I’m not a huge history buff, and I don’t speak a word of German, so in terms of technical accuracy, I couldn’t comment. What I can say is that I loved the characters and the plot, and the writing took a story that could have been dark and depressing to twisted but gripping.
There are a lot of different threads to this book, but it never felt cluttered. Obviously, the story follows Adolf Hitler, and Gretchen’s slow doubt of his manifesto. As well as that, there’s a budding romance, the mystery surrounding the death of Gretchen’s father and the difficult relationships Gretchen faces at home. The threads flowed seamlessly throughout the book, and there was no one thread that dominated – I was curious about them all! My only complaint about Prisoner of Night and Fog was that I felt the resolution of Gretchen’s father’s death was a bit anti-climactic.
The Characters
There’s quite a cast of characters, and they aren’t all likeable but they are all fascinating. Gretchen Muller, our protagonist, is a feisty young girl who has been through her father’s death and a difficult home life but is fundamentally a survivor. Daniel Cohen is the dedicated young Jewish journalist, determined to root out the truth. As well as those two, we also have Gretchen’s mother, her cruel elder brother, her best friend Eva and Hitler’s niece Geli. The characters are a mixture of real historical figures and fictional, but the two blend together seamlessly.
Blankman’s portrayal of Hitler is brilliantly done. Although you know the reality, the beginning of the book manages to portray him as Uncle Dolf, the charming, devoted family friend Gretchen loves. As Gretchen slowly begins to question him, more and more of his other side is revealed, and the way his portrayal changes is fascinating. Although in this case we’re reading about a character who thinks of moving away from Hitler, the slow gradual way this is done makes it easy to imagine in reverse.
Final Thoughts
Prisoner of Night and Fog is not exactly a beach read – although the writing makes it very easy to caught up, the story is still fundamentally dark and creepy. A sense of fear, mystery, and urgency permeate the writing, and had me flicking through quickly, desperate to reach the end. Although I raced through it on first read, I can imagine re-reading it more slowly, really savouring the story and looking more carefully for key moments.
Source: Review copy from Edelweiss
Plot: ★★★★★
Characters: ★★★★★
Readability: ★★★★★
Overall: ★★★★★
The Story
Gretchen Muller lives in 1930s Munich, the daughter of a martyr who died to save her Uncle Dolf – Adolf Hitler. She worships her Uncle Dolf, the charismatic man with the voice like chocolate, the man who always looks out for her and the one adult she knows she can trust. When a Jewish reporter seeks her out, telling her that her father was in fact murdered, Gretchen is still shaken up from watching a brutal beating of a Jew, and just about unsure enough to listen to what he has to say. From that moment on, Gretchen begins to see things in a different light and to wonder about the views of a man she has always loved and followed.
Now first of all, I have to say I’m not a huge history buff, and I don’t speak a word of German, so in terms of technical accuracy, I couldn’t comment. What I can say is that I loved the characters and the plot, and the writing took a story that could have been dark and depressing to twisted but gripping.
There are a lot of different threads to this book, but it never felt cluttered. Obviously, the story follows Adolf Hitler, and Gretchen’s slow doubt of his manifesto. As well as that, there’s a budding romance, the mystery surrounding the death of Gretchen’s father and the difficult relationships Gretchen faces at home. The threads flowed seamlessly throughout the book, and there was no one thread that dominated – I was curious about them all! My only complaint about Prisoner of Night and Fog was that I felt the resolution of Gretchen’s father’s death was a bit anti-climactic.
The Characters
There’s quite a cast of characters, and they aren’t all likeable but they are all fascinating. Gretchen Muller, our protagonist, is a feisty young girl who has been through her father’s death and a difficult home life but is fundamentally a survivor. Daniel Cohen is the dedicated young Jewish journalist, determined to root out the truth. As well as those two, we also have Gretchen’s mother, her cruel elder brother, her best friend Eva and Hitler’s niece Geli. The characters are a mixture of real historical figures and fictional, but the two blend together seamlessly.
Blankman’s portrayal of Hitler is brilliantly done. Although you know the reality, the beginning of the book manages to portray him as Uncle Dolf, the charming, devoted family friend Gretchen loves. As Gretchen slowly begins to question him, more and more of his other side is revealed, and the way his portrayal changes is fascinating. Although in this case we’re reading about a character who thinks of moving away from Hitler, the slow gradual way this is done makes it easy to imagine in reverse.
Final Thoughts
Prisoner of Night and Fog is not exactly a beach read – although the writing makes it very easy to caught up, the story is still fundamentally dark and creepy. A sense of fear, mystery, and urgency permeate the writing, and had me flicking through quickly, desperate to reach the end. Although I raced through it on first read, I can imagine re-reading it more slowly, really savouring the story and looking more carefully for key moments.
Another excellent work of YA historical fiction. Prisoner of Night and Fog is narrated by Gretchen, a teenage girl, in Germany during the rise of Hitler. Hitler just happens to be her "uncle" Dolf, a WWI friend of her father. I found the story to be emotional, yet not corny and historical without bombarding the reader with too much at once. Gretchen has never had a reason to question the views of her beloved Uncle Dolf, but when she meets a Jewish reporter, Daniel, everything changes. Daniel makes Gretchen question whether the recent death of her father could have been more than an act of patriotism and also opens her eyes to the monster that lurks behind the congenial facade of her uncle. Very enjoyable.