Reviews - The Things We Cannot Say

3.62k reviews for:

The Things We Cannot Say

Kelly Rimmer

4.47 AVERAGE

wwhippetcrazy's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-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: Complicated

smelville's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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: Yes

smclawler's review against another edition

5.0

Alina, who with her husband, Tomasz, immigrated to the US after WWII, suffers a stroke which affects her speech, and try as they may, her family can't understand the meaning of her words or what she would like them to do. Her daughter, a judge in the Florida court system, thinks she has dementia, since nothing makes sense to her, but Alice, the granddaughter has always been close to her Babica, and sees the urgency and passion in her eyes. Eddie, Alice's son, has Aspergers and communicates with a app on his device, which Babica begins to use it to communicate her wishes to her Alice. Between the management of Eddie's life, her husband who thinks she is micromanaging, her high achieving daughter, and her mother's overbearing demeanor, Alice is stressed. Her husband volunteers to manage the home front and arranges a personal guide, airfare, and hotel so she can journey to Poland, and unlock the meaning in Babica's eyes. Dual timelines, one set in WWII Poland and one set in 2019 Florida, compliment each other. Strong characters, who love and sacrifice and leave so much was unsaid, but then it was.

ibz47's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark hopeful inspiring sad 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: Complicated

clintmunds39's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Beautiful and poignant historical fiction book. The book switches narratives between Alina - who is living in Poland on the cusp of the events leading to WWII, and Alice - who is busy, stressed, and overworked mother of 2 in modern day Florida. Alice’s grandmother is dying and she’s given Alice a parting task.

Overall this was a well written and structured book and I’d recommend this to anyone who has interest in WWII European history and family history.

camawood's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: Yes

ladymcquaid's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I actually found this similar to the

which

I

really

loved
,

but
I

the

Nightingale a lot more. I think the main difference

one

of

the

two

main

narrators
,

Alice, was absolutely unlikable, and every time it was her voice, I found myself rolling my eyes and wanting that part to be over with. She was just such a miserable grumpy woman, and I don’t know why her husband stayed with her.