Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
***This review contains spoilers!!!***
I know, I know... I either love or dislike a book. I'm not sure why. In fact, I almost gave Sarah's Key two stars because I felt bad about all of my recent one-star ratings.
Well, I'm going to stick with one. I didn't enjoy this book much.
The story describes two females: Sarah, a young Jewish girl that lives in France during the Holocaust, and Julia, a reporter that follows her story 60 years later. After I read this short synopsis on the back cover of the book, it was obvious that their paths would cross somehow.
This leads me to my major issue with Sarah's Key: Why did Rosnay, the author, have to foreshadow so much? Why was her story line so predictable? For example:
-As soon as she spent chapter-after-chapter discussing Julia's new French apartment, I knew it would be the same place Sarah left her brother.
-Everyone knew that Sarah's brother had, tragically, passed on.
-Everyone, even Julia, knew her husband was being unfaithful.
-Everyone knew that Julia's baby would be named Sarah. Why would Rosnay keep calling the child "the baby" if she wasn't just waiting to drop the news? I thought to myself, God, I hope the ending isn't the baby's name reveal. Oh, it was.
-Maybe not everyone, but I knew that Sarah's son and Julia would meet again, possibly romantically.
Honestly, I'm not a good predictor. I never try to figure out the ending of movies or books, but these were so obvious that I felt cheated. Not to mention, each chapter's ending reminded me of the "Goosebumps" series I used to read as a kid: forced drama. It's as if I was supposed to gasp each time as I hurried to the next page in anticipation. (I didn't).
I also wasn't fond of the back-and-forth story. One chapter discussed Sarah's life, and the next was Julia's (for the majority of the book, at least). Honestly this interrupted the continuity of any emotion I had the potential of developing. I can say the same about her sentence structure too, which was composed of fragment, after fragment, after fragment--it was almost distracting.
Apparently I'm on my own though, because this novel is so highly rated. Of course, as always, I give the utmost respect to Rosnay who has written such a well-loved novel. Au revoir.
Interesting way to explain a lesser-known historical event and its fallout across several generations.
I liked the historical story more than the modern-day story.
Don't want to add an spoilers, so that's all you get from me!
I liked the historical story more than the modern-day story.
Don't want to add an spoilers, so that's all you get from me!
The chapters alternated between a Jewish Family in WWII and an American Journalist living in France. And the chapters averaged 5 pages. I felt that that inhibited me from getting into the story. And when I was able to, I simply didn't like it.
I'm totally. WWII'd out. I read Unbroken a couple of months before and read The Book Thief not too long after that. While the French occupation wasn't something I'd read about, the atrocities that took place during WWII are just too hard to read. There are just so many (SO MANY) books on it. Even those books that are wonderfully written are tough reads.
Perhaps this book was given the short shrift by my prior reading and for that I'm sorry. Not too sorry, though. I wasn't really liking the journalist character and if I found her more sympathetic, I may have finished the book.
I'm totally. WWII'd out. I read Unbroken a couple of months before and read The Book Thief not too long after that. While the French occupation wasn't something I'd read about, the atrocities that took place during WWII are just too hard to read. There are just so many (SO MANY) books on it. Even those books that are wonderfully written are tough reads.
Perhaps this book was given the short shrift by my prior reading and for that I'm sorry. Not too sorry, though. I wasn't really liking the journalist character and if I found her more sympathetic, I may have finished the book.
I had a hard time with this one. An important and powerful story, but I don’t think the modern storyline did it many favors. Still, worth reading.
Written about a very painful time in history, this book does bring historical events to life. However, some parts of it are a little over the top, blatantly playing your emotions. It was a good, quick read, tho, and I'm interested to see the movie interpretation.
I actually really liked this book! I give it 4.5. It loses half a point because I felt the story ended but there were atleast 20 pages tacked on the end that could have been completely removed and/or incorporated elsewhere. It was a very easy and quick read.
Quick read. A little perfunctory, but I enjoyed it. Looking forward to the book club discussion!
This one was a page turner. I appreciated the history lesson that the author wove through the storyline.