Scan barcode
andiemags53's review against another edition
2.0
The war part of this story was interesting, but the rest felt too forced.
suvata's review against another edition
4.0
It always amazes me how many stories are set during WWII that, somehow, I learn something new from each of them. This book is about a German woman, an ex-nurse, living in the wilderness of the Black Forest. She has lost her entire family through either illness or war and is wandering away from her cabin intending to commit suicide. Suddenly, she sees a half-frozen man unconscious on a snowy hillside. The drama begins there and grabs hold of you throughout. Excellent!
jmstacy's review against another edition
5.0
Great read!!
Very easy read, good story line and easy to follow, if you like holocaust books this is a good one.
Very easy read, good story line and easy to follow, if you like holocaust books this is a good one.
trudyd's review
4.0
One thing I really enjoy about historical fiction is learning something I did not know or getting a better idea of how this were during a certain time period.
I will confess that I don't usually read a lot about the German side of WW2. I am glad that I decided to read this one. I got to experience some of the challenges of a war torn country where citizens were afraid to say anything. Civilians suffered immensely during the war.
After reading about the White Rose I couldn't resist learning more. Respect grew for those that stood for freedom. Thank you for another eye opening story.
I will confess that I don't usually read a lot about the German side of WW2. I am glad that I decided to read this one. I got to experience some of the challenges of a war torn country where citizens were afraid to say anything. Civilians suffered immensely during the war.
After reading about the White Rose I couldn't resist learning more. Respect grew for those that stood for freedom. Thank you for another eye opening story.
meili_jing's review
3.0
This book had an interesting premise and I was definitely entertained. However, I felt like the characters were not fleshed out well. The end of the story felt rushed.
cloudsinthecupboard's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.0
bookswithmaddi's review
3.0
This was a very historically heavy novel and would be very enjoyable for someone looking for a lot of perspectives on World War 2. I like how it touched on the morally grey participation of America and the Allies in the war. It didn't see them 100% as heroes but humans to be questioned.
Overall, it was historically and action driven. I felt the characters had no depth, and by the end of the book hardly any personality. There was a lot of instances of just info dumping. Whole chapters were dedicated to just getting a characters past out of the way, not in an eloquent or stylized way, but almost as a necessity. It felt like a burden, suddenly being dumped out of nowhere with huge chunks of the characters past. I also found the characters inconsistent and just plain boring. Franka had some depth to her in the beginning, but as the story continues the focus became on her action, which were undeniably incredible, and away from her as a human being. It almost tokenized her in a way. She began to seem less like a human and more like an object with a mission to carry out. An unconvincing romance was thrown in to try to provide depth but it felt one sided and ultimately failed.
However, this book was not completely hopeless. The writing style was able to fluidly switch perspectives between characters allowing the reader to glimpse the war from many different viewpoints. I really liked the way that it challenged the Allies and did not allow them a savior complex.
Overall, it was historically and action driven. I felt the characters had no depth, and by the end of the book hardly any personality. There was a lot of instances of just info dumping. Whole chapters were dedicated to just getting a characters past out of the way, not in an eloquent or stylized way, but almost as a necessity. It felt like a burden, suddenly being dumped out of nowhere with huge chunks of the characters past. I also found the characters inconsistent and just plain boring. Franka had some depth to her in the beginning, but as the story continues the focus became on her action, which were undeniably incredible, and away from her as a human being. It almost tokenized her in a way. She began to seem less like a human and more like an object with a mission to carry out. An unconvincing romance was thrown in to try to provide depth but it felt one sided and ultimately failed.
However, this book was not completely hopeless. The writing style was able to fluidly switch perspectives between characters allowing the reader to glimpse the war from many different viewpoints. I really liked the way that it challenged the Allies and did not allow them a savior complex.