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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
I loved this book. I read it in less than 48 hours.
I had never heard of Vel' d'Hiv, the roundup and deportation of Jews by the French police in July '42. The 4,051 children, 5,802 women and 3,031 men were arrested, interned in terrible conditions, separated from spouses, and parents; eventually being sent to Auschwitz.
The novel was divided into 2 narratives, one from 1942 and one from 2002. I found the past narrative about the struggle of one victim, her family and how the community handled this terrible event of July '42 very vivid. I did find the struggles of the journalist of 2002 a bit more challenging. Her marriage was presented as very shallow and unfulfilling, but I don't know if that was the authors intent.
It was a great read, especially having read Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky.
I had never heard of Vel' d'Hiv, the roundup and deportation of Jews by the French police in July '42. The 4,051 children, 5,802 women and 3,031 men were arrested, interned in terrible conditions, separated from spouses, and parents; eventually being sent to Auschwitz.
The novel was divided into 2 narratives, one from 1942 and one from 2002. I found the past narrative about the struggle of one victim, her family and how the community handled this terrible event of July '42 very vivid. I did find the struggles of the journalist of 2002 a bit more challenging. Her marriage was presented as very shallow and unfulfilling, but I don't know if that was the authors intent.
It was a great read, especially having read Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky.
I really liked this book. It's about the French roundup of Jews during Nazi reign. I learned a lot.
Decent book. Too many story lines though. I was super engaged in the story line about Sarah and her family being taken away and Sarah hiding her brother to stay safe. When the modern day journalists ladies came into the plot, I became not as interested. Not the historic fiction book I thought it was going to be.
I'd initially given this 4 starts (wanting to actually give 3.5), but after further thought downgraded it to 3. It started off very good. I had never heard of the Vel d'Hiv roundup, and I liked the way the story unfolded from Sarah's perspective and Julia's as she discovered more and more about the incident through her research. As the story went on, however, Julia's storyline became increasingly ridiculous and unnecessary, adding nothing to the overall book. At the end I wanted to strangle her, and to slap William Rainsferd for indulging her.
It was also disappointing how the story from Sarah's perspective stopped as soon as she discovered her brother dead in the cupboard. The story would have been much better if Sarah's story had continued until her death; and if Julia's marital storyline had been completely cut, and instead have Julia's purpose for trying to find Sarah be due to her wanting to interview her for her story as one of the few survivors, and have the "mystery" (is she still alive, and then did she or did she not commit suicide) go from there.
It was also disappointing how the story from Sarah's perspective stopped as soon as she discovered her brother dead in the cupboard. The story would have been much better if Sarah's story had continued until her death; and if Julia's marital storyline had been completely cut, and instead have Julia's purpose for trying to find Sarah be due to her wanting to interview her for her story as one of the few survivors, and have the "mystery" (is she still alive, and then did she or did she not commit suicide) go from there.
This is a very sad book that reveals more and more horrors of WWII. The ugly war with its stupidity ruins the lives of innocent people sending them to death camps, separating children from parents, killing and torturing people's bodies and souls.
An american immigrant Julia Jarmond, now a successful journalist, a happy mother and wife is writing an article about the terrible day that took lives of thousands of jews who were arrested, kept at the stadium Vel' d'Hiv by force without any water or food and then taken to death camps like Auschwiz. She stumbles across a story of a jewish girl Sarah who was among those prisoners. Once she finds out all the shocking details, Julia will never be the same again, her whole life will change completely...
This book is worth reading merely because people of all generations must be aware of that terrible, blood chilling moment of history that took millions of innocent lives. What this book will teach you is to never forget what happened during that massacre and that we should all bear that in mind to evit something like that in the future.
An american immigrant Julia Jarmond, now a successful journalist, a happy mother and wife is writing an article about the terrible day that took lives of thousands of jews who were arrested, kept at the stadium Vel' d'Hiv by force without any water or food and then taken to death camps like Auschwiz. She stumbles across a story of a jewish girl Sarah who was among those prisoners. Once she finds out all the shocking details, Julia will never be the same again, her whole life will change completely...
This book is worth reading merely because people of all generations must be aware of that terrible, blood chilling moment of history that took millions of innocent lives. What this book will teach you is to never forget what happened during that massacre and that we should all bear that in mind to evit something like that in the future.
One of the novels you never forget reading, especially when there is such a terrifying scene as this book had. I was also very interested to learn of this event in history, I had no idea this happened in France during WWII
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
I really enjoyed this book. It was a very moving story. My understanding of the Holocaust has been limited to those in Poland and Germany. I had no idea about the round up of Jews in France and this book provided some great insight on what happened in Paris. It opened up my eyes a bit to the extent of World War 2 and just how global the effects of the war were. Makes me wonder about other countries during that time period.
Such a great book! The synopsis sounds depressing (Holocaust lit) but it's really a great journey.