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jamieb305's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
lisavegan's review against another edition
5.0
I knew about this prisoner of war camp from having read and reread and loved [b:Reach for the Sky|3143383|Reach for the Sky|Paul Brickhill|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1657473819l/3143383._SX50_.jpg|1501], a book about Douglas Bader. He not surprisingly makes an appearance in this book and not a flattering one. There is an entire chapter about him and he’s also included in some of the rest of the narrative. It turns out that the book I loved (and still own though maybe not for long) was full of propaganda along with the truth. Almost all this book’s contents were new to me. I learned a lot. I was flabbergasted by a lot of the information.
This is a comprehensive book about its subject. I can’t imagine any more details could be included. I have to give it 5 stars since it’s such a perfect book about Colditz. A half star off because even though it sometimes read like a thriller and was mostly interesting, at times it read slowly and was close to boring with all the minutiae. 4-1/2 stars The account is given (almost) chronologically and I think doing that was a good choice.
Included are wonderful photos and maps and drawings! The book wouldn’t feel as complete without them. This is a superb book.
Spoiler
The glider was amazing! I’m so glad that the famous woman journalist took the only photo of it and that the photo was included in the book. When reading I had no idea it would look as good as it did. There were so many other details of the camp and related to the camp that struck me. Even Audrey Hepburn makes a fleeting secondhand appearance.This is a comprehensive book about its subject. I can’t imagine any more details could be included. I have to give it 5 stars since it’s such a perfect book about Colditz. A half star off because even though it sometimes read like a thriller and was mostly interesting, at times it read slowly and was close to boring with all the minutiae. 4-1/2 stars The account is given (almost) chronologically and I think doing that was a good choice.
Included are wonderful photos and maps and drawings! The book wouldn’t feel as complete without them. This is a superb book.
janhutch's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting read about Colditz Castle, a prison for “difficult” prisoners during the Second World War. These were prisoners who defied the Nazis, attempted to escape , or were just generally hard to handle. McIntyre does an excellent job of drawing each character out (on both the Allied and the Nazi side). Most of them attempted, (some many times) to escape, using ingenious and simple methods. I particularly liked the last chapter, where he followed up on what happed to the main characters.
susieseeker's review against another edition
5.0
I found this to be a fabulous read.
While we have heard lots of The Great Escape, both the movie and the book, as the author says, not many of us have heard of Colditz - the Nazi prison used to house Allied officers captured in WW2. I certainly had not.
I'm also not familiar with military hierarchy, so I hadn't realized the implications and consequences to officers who were captured vs non-officers. And Colditz held officers who were deemed "anti-German" because of previous escape attempts or other actions.
This book is simply amazingly well researched. The author pulls from diaries, records, declassified archives and private papers to weave the narrative. As one review says "Colditz, then, is a tale of the indomitable human spirit, but also one of snobbery, class conflict, hidden sexuality, bullying, espionage, boredom, insanity, and farce."
I've read a number of Macintyre's books and have loved all of them. This one is also superb.
While we have heard lots of The Great Escape, both the movie and the book, as the author says, not many of us have heard of Colditz - the Nazi prison used to house Allied officers captured in WW2. I certainly had not.
I'm also not familiar with military hierarchy, so I hadn't realized the implications and consequences to officers who were captured vs non-officers. And Colditz held officers who were deemed "anti-German" because of previous escape attempts or other actions.
This book is simply amazingly well researched. The author pulls from diaries, records, declassified archives and private papers to weave the narrative. As one review says "Colditz, then, is a tale of the indomitable human spirit, but also one of snobbery, class conflict, hidden sexuality, bullying, espionage, boredom, insanity, and farce."
I've read a number of Macintyre's books and have loved all of them. This one is also superb.
znvisser's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
tense
3.25
This was interesting and - considering its setting - surprisingly fun. There wasn’t really a lineair story to this tho, so it felt more like a set of related anecdotes. Entertaining nonetheless (until it became a bit repetitive).