Reviews with content warning for Antisemitism - The Nightingale

I just finished the book and can’t quite articulate all the thoughts in my head about it. Vianne and Isabelle are wonderfully written, vivid, flawed, beautiful characters and following their two very different paths through surviving WW2 in occupied France was tense and intriguing, but also heartbreaking. Excellent character development, even for background characters. I thought the beginning was too slow, and some scenes seemed extraneous or sort of randomly slotted in amidst the greater plots, but on the whole, I do think the scenes helped develop Isabelle and Vianne. The Nightingale thing was interesting (though if their last name means Nightingale and the Nazis speak French, I wonder that they didn’t make the connection but needs must for plot), and I liked how vivid Carriveau and Paris felt. The ending destroyed me, even if it felt really rushed compared to the rest of the book. Like we built up to the end of the war and then sort of sped run through it in about 60-70 pages which, for a 500+ page book, was a bit annoying.

This isn’t a higher star rating for me because I could put it down and walk away instead of having to keep reading to find out what happened next (plus pacing issues, some plot point grievances especially with the ending) but I think that’s a good thing given the nature of the book. At times, especially the last maybe 150 pages, it got pretty brutal. The book doesn’t shy away from the horrors the Nazis committed during the war, and the ending made me ugly cry because it was just so…sad, and bittersweet, do also rage-inducing *SPOILERS* because Isabelle’s ending and Ari’s story and being taken away, while realistic, made me so freaking angry *SPOILERS*

A really good book, and one I do recommend if you like her writing and WW2 historical fiction, but keep in mind that, like I said above, the book doesn’t shy away from the horrors of war. Especially at the end when the story really picks up steam without enough time to really explore it all.

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katewhite77's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A Read You Cannot Forget

The content is hard to read, but the quality of the writing and the gripping plot made it very hard to put down.

We follow two sisters as they find very different ways to navigate their way through the Nazi occupation of France in World War 2. Vienne is a proud mother, wife, and rule follower living in the Loire Valley. She refuses to believe that there will be a war at all right up until her husband Pierre is called up. Isobelle, meanwhile, is eighteen and has just been chucked out of the latest in a long line of boarding schools and is rebellious to her core. Just as she arrives back in Paris, she is ordered by her troubled and overbearing father straight back out again to join her sister. We also follow a 1990s timeline of an older woman remembering but wishing she didn’t have to.

Like I say, this is not an easy read as it does not shy away from the horrors of war waged far from the front line where women and children endured a different kind of hell. The book captures so well how a child's innocence can be so utterly shattered in a war.

Sadly, this novel is all relevant in 2024. When will the human race learn?

This is easily my book of the year so far, and Kristin Hannah is a new author to me, which is very exciting, and I can't wait to read more. I also recommend this for fans of The Eighth Life by Nino Haratchiwili.

Content Warnings