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katsbooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
“Zakhor. Al Tichkah. Remember. Never forget.”
“How was it possible that entire lives could change, could be destroyed, and that streets and buildings remained the same"
“The eyes of a woman in the face of a ten-year-old girl.”
"...It's not easy to bring back the past. There are unpleasant surprises. The truth is harder than ignorance”
I enjoyed this book as much as I did the first time I read it. Sarah's perspective was definitely more compelling than Julia's. It absolutely breaks your heart. Be ready to have your heart literally ripped out. I thought the writing was fairly good. It kept me engaged and interested which is surprising because I remembered one of the major impactful moments of the novel. However, I was really surprised because that moment happened about 60% of the way through the novel. I think it speaks to the weakness of Julia's perspective that I couldn't recall much about it. In fact, by the last 50 pages or so, I was just really hoping things would wrap up. While I found Julia's POV interesting, it wasn't nearly as impactful or compelling as Sarah's. Really, I think the fact that Julia and Sarah's stories were told next to each other made Julia's seem superfluous and pale in comparison. For context, I recognize and really appreciate the commentary about France's role in the Holocaust. Often in history, they are painted as victims because of the ocupation but that completely dismisses the active role the French government and French police took in rounding up as many Jews as they could and deporting them to concentration camps and the underlying systemic Anti-Semitism that made it easy to do so. And unlike Germany, this is not a history that is actively talked about and taught. The author made it clear that most French people are woefully uninformed and apathetic to the role their country played in the extermination of French Jews. So I can see the parallel the author was drawing to Julia and her apathy to her husband while at the same time being so invested in telling Sarah's story. I appreciated the dissonance and how it complicated the character. However, I still felt like Julia was so focused on what she wanted out of the story of the Vel d'hiv and how it would serve her. She flew across the Atlantic twice to pursue the story and just surprised the families with no thought to how it would affect any of them. She was so concerned with making sure her family was forgiven that it felt like she dehumanized the victims in a different way. Like they only served the purpose of giving her own life purpose. I'm not sure any of these ramblings make sense but overall, I enjoyed most of my time reading this book and would probably reccomend.
“How was it possible that entire lives could change, could be destroyed, and that streets and buildings remained the same"
“The eyes of a woman in the face of a ten-year-old girl.”
"...It's not easy to bring back the past. There are unpleasant surprises. The truth is harder than ignorance”
I enjoyed this book as much as I did the first time I read it. Sarah's perspective was definitely more compelling than Julia's. It absolutely breaks your heart. Be ready to have your heart literally ripped out. I thought the writing was fairly good. It kept me engaged and interested which is surprising because I remembered one of the major impactful moments of the novel. However, I was really surprised because that moment happened about 60% of the way through the novel. I think it speaks to the weakness of Julia's perspective that I couldn't recall much about it. In fact, by the last 50 pages or so, I was just really hoping things would wrap up. While I found Julia's POV interesting, it wasn't nearly as impactful or compelling as Sarah's. Really, I think the fact that Julia and Sarah's stories were told next to each other made Julia's seem superfluous and pale in comparison. For context, I recognize and really appreciate the commentary about France's role in the Holocaust. Often in history, they are painted as victims because of the ocupation but that completely dismisses the active role the French government and French police took in rounding up as many Jews as they could and deporting them to concentration camps and the underlying systemic Anti-Semitism that made it easy to do so. And unlike Germany, this is not a history that is actively talked about and taught. The author made it clear that most French people are woefully uninformed and apathetic to the role their country played in the extermination of French Jews. So I can see the parallel the author was drawing to Julia and her apathy to her husband while at the same time being so invested in telling Sarah's story. I appreciated the dissonance and how it complicated the character. However, I still felt like Julia was so focused on what she wanted out of the story of the Vel d'hiv and how it would serve her. She flew across the Atlantic twice to pursue the story and just surprised the families with no thought to how it would affect any of them. She was so concerned with making sure her family was forgiven that it felt like she dehumanized the victims in a different way. Like they only served the purpose of giving her own life purpose. I'm not sure any of these ramblings make sense but overall, I enjoyed most of my time reading this book and would probably reccomend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Infertility, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Violence
Moderate: Abortion, Car accident, Death of parent, Dementia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Suicide
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