Reviews

I received a free copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks, Netgalley!

This is a hard book for me to review. There were a lot of things that I liked about it and there were a lot of things that I thought didn't work. Caroline Ferriday, 1/3 of the narrating team, was a real woman dedicated to serving others through wartime and afterward, and she really did spearhead a campaign to bring the Ravensbruck Rabbits to the US for medical treatment. I'm ashamed to say I'd never heard of her before this, and I'm so glad that I got a bit of insight into her life and the type of woman she may have been. Herta Oberheuser, another 1/3, was a real woman, a female doctor trained in dermatology who participated in surgical sulfanomide experiments at Ravensbruck. I can foresee why the decision to make Oberhauser an occasionally human character could be an unpopular one, but as a historian I appreciated it--to say nothing of Oberhauser's real life character, of which I know absolutely nothing, but through my own research I've come to conclude that it's kind of lazy when writers of any kind depict Nazis as the archetypal white devil. Make no mistake, the Oberhauser of Kelly's book is increasingly unfeeling, but there are small hints interspersed that reveal a repressed humanity and it was a touch I rather liked. Kasia Kuzmerick is not a real person, but an amalgam of several real Ravensbruck survivors. More on that in a moment.

I felt like this fundamentally was Kasia's story--her transformation from romantic young schoolgirl to Resistance fighter to Ravensbruck prisoner and her life afterward. Her hard-won story of learning to reconcile the horrors that she'd experienced was the one that kept me reading. Much as Caroline fascinated me, I almost felt like she needed not be there, or be there only tangentially, or through Kasia's narration. I particularly disliked Caroline's romance, partially because it had no basis in fact but mostly because I could have easily seen the story progressing without it. The story would, in my opinion, be better without it because that space could be dedicated to continuing Kasia's story or even fleshing out Herta's.

I would have liked to have seen more of Herta's transformation. Things that her father says to her reveal hints that she was once a compassionate and feeling person, yet she belies a belief in the propaganda and rhetoric espoused in Nazi schoolbooks (despite the fact that at the time this particular scene takes place, she's 25 and would not have been in school at any time that the Nazis were in power, so I found the excuse that she was going to believe stereotypes based on her schoolbooks kind of odd). If there isn't enough source material on what type of person Herta was, this could have been circumvented by again creating a character based on Herta, and I think seeing that kind of moral degradation play out would have been really fascinating.

Again, with Kasia, I would have liked to see more. Some of this is because my best friend is Polish and her parents emigrated to escape communism, so I want to know more about Herta's life under communism--was her homecoming what she thought it would be? Did she ever regret it? I thought Kasia was the best written and most compelling character in the book, so I would have liked to see this truly become her story. One particular scene that struck me located in these here spoiler:

Spoiler

I thought the best scene in the entire book was when Kasia confronted Herta to learn what had become of her mother. While I found the answer (that her mother was supposedly smuggling goods) kind of unsatisfactory (because this is something that was never mentioned before and is never mentioned again, so it seemed like a throwaway), the scene where Kasia reclaims her mother's ring is outstanding, and a perfect circle to the fact that decades earlier Herta had saved the ring and thought of giving it back to Halina someday.

Again, this is a hard book for me to review, because I did fundamentally like it, which made me all the more disappointed at the things I didn't like. For a first book, it's outstanding. Kelly has a great voice and I think that should she choose to write more, she'll be met with success.

theavidreaderandbibliophile's review

Go to review page

3.0

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly is a historical novel set during World War II. We get to see how the lives of three women in three different countries are affected by the war. Caroline Ferriday in New York City, Kasia Kuzmerick in Lublin, Poland, and Dr. Herta Oberheuser in Germany. This war will forever change their lives (if they make it alive to the end). Each one will experience the war differently. Come see how these three woman survive the war and what happens to them afterward.

Lilac Girls is a long novel with some extreme details. This book is not for the faint of heart. There are many gruesome details about what happens at Ravensbruck (originally listed as rehabilitation camp for women). Ravensbruck was actually a concentration camp. Many women were experimented on at this camp by the doctors. These women became known as The Rabbits. It is very hard to read the details in this book. Lilac Girls contains good writing and interesting characters. The book starts out slow (making it hard to get into), but it does get much better. It is also confusing at first because it starts with Caroline (a New York socialite who devotes her time to the French Consulate), then goes to Kasia, then Herta. It then starts over again. The majority of the book is devoted to the what happens to the characters during the war and then the last section to how the war affects the rest of these women’s lives. I give Lilac Girls 3.75 out of 5 stars. This novel will stick with you long after you finish it (because of the details). The book is based on real people and incidents.

I received a complimentary copy of Lilac Girls from the publisher in exchange for an honest review of the novel.

rebeccasarine's review

Go to review page

4.0

Such a story of hardship. Heart-wrenching, horrific and redemptive. Incredibly well researched-don't miss the author's note at the end. I have finished reading but the characters and their ups and downs are still very much with me.

"But its fitting in a way-Father loved the fact that a lilac only blossoms after a harsh winter."
"...It's a miracle all this beauty emerge after such hardship, don't you think?"

kaylaannsreads's review

Go to review page

challenging emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

amandace331's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

3.75

cassie7e's review

Go to review page

I got this because I love lilacs and thought maybe I was finally ready to endure another WWII story. I have this on several of my Storygraph challenges, and have only persisted in reading so far to achieve those challenges with one book! Alas, even this is not enough to convince me to keep reading past 12%. I hereby free myself of the burden of a book I'm uninterested in!

More...