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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I received a free advance reader copy in a giveaway. While it took me a while to find time to start, once I began reading, I finished it in a day. I fell for Nina and Nico and the Italian setting.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-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:
No
***this review contains spoilers***
I love historical fiction. The subject matter in this novel is particularly close to my heart. As the granddaughter of a partisan and the great-granddaughter of a man who lost his life fighting against the Fascists, I'm extremely trepidatious when these are stories are written by middle aged, white, Anglo women. Don't start on me about creative license. I've touched the scars of the people who lived this experience, I grew up with the intergenerational trauma that was a result for many who lost so much. I demand authenticity. That said, Jennifer Robson did her homework. She married into a family that served as inspiration for this book. She interviewed older relatives and survivors, searched archives. She's an accomplished scholar. It's abundantly clear that she wanted to properly represent the culture she was writing about. For me, the best part of the book was the afterword.
Research and intent aside, I didn't love the writing or characters so much. The plot itself was cliché. Nina, Jewish woman, is sent into hiding with Catholic farmer where she has to pose as his wife. The bad guy, of course, is an evil German (Austrian, technically, like his pal, Hitler). I couldn't get behind his motives. He's coming to terrorize a man in a teeny tiny town in rural Italy because of a high school transgression? I kept waiting for him to twirl his moustache and tie Nina to a railroad track.
The first 120 pages of the book are really slow moving. Long chapters filled with descriptions of chores. It feels like Robson is trying to give an accurate picture of farm life but the pages and pages read like a to do list. Where are the townspeople? The extended family that is mentioned in passing? Despite the fact that she is a Jewish woman posing as a Catholic farmer's wife, there seems to be little at stake, until boom! Big bad Nazis! No mention of a German presence in the town prior.
The biggest oversight in all of this was the lack of a Fascist presence. This was not just a German invasion, there were Italians on the inside facilitating the Italian Social Republic. The country was at war with each other yet there's no mention at all of the black shirts. No mention of neighbours pitted against neighbour, the many who collaborated with the Nazis. They were just as much as a threat. No mention at all of the Fascist puppet state.
The plight of the Italian Jews was harrowing, and some of that is expressed in Nina's journey through different concentration/labour camps. Overall, though, I thought the book was banal, predictable and saccharine. The visit from her dad, but he doesn't answer her question about Nico in the after life. She sees his dead body but not his face, but the author makes sure to beat us over the head with the fact that those are his clothes. Even the reunion with the lover she thought was dead felt like it was written for the Hallmark Anniversary of WWII week. Contrived with awkward dialogue, "We both had a bad time of it". You were in a death camp, you think?? And upon their return home, instead of racing home to see the child who was ripped from her nursing bosom, Nina ponders if they should stop in and have tea with the local priest. Wait? What?
Anyway, everybody lived, even the dog who was shot at by a Nazi. They don't lose the farm. The end. Well researched but poorly told.
I love historical fiction. The subject matter in this novel is particularly close to my heart. As the granddaughter of a partisan and the great-granddaughter of a man who lost his life fighting against the Fascists, I'm extremely trepidatious when these are stories are written by middle aged, white, Anglo women. Don't start on me about creative license. I've touched the scars of the people who lived this experience, I grew up with the intergenerational trauma that was a result for many who lost so much. I demand authenticity. That said, Jennifer Robson did her homework. She married into a family that served as inspiration for this book. She interviewed older relatives and survivors, searched archives. She's an accomplished scholar. It's abundantly clear that she wanted to properly represent the culture she was writing about. For me, the best part of the book was the afterword.
Research and intent aside, I didn't love the writing or characters so much. The plot itself was cliché. Nina, Jewish woman, is sent into hiding with Catholic farmer where she has to pose as his wife. The bad guy, of course, is an evil German (Austrian, technically, like his pal, Hitler). I couldn't get behind his motives. He's coming to terrorize a man in a teeny tiny town in rural Italy because of a high school transgression? I kept waiting for him to twirl his moustache and tie Nina to a railroad track.
The first 120 pages of the book are really slow moving. Long chapters filled with descriptions of chores. It feels like Robson is trying to give an accurate picture of farm life but the pages and pages read like a to do list. Where are the townspeople? The extended family that is mentioned in passing? Despite the fact that she is a Jewish woman posing as a Catholic farmer's wife, there seems to be little at stake, until boom! Big bad Nazis! No mention of a German presence in the town prior.
The biggest oversight in all of this was the lack of a Fascist presence. This was not just a German invasion, there were Italians on the inside facilitating the Italian Social Republic. The country was at war with each other yet there's no mention at all of the black shirts. No mention of neighbours pitted against neighbour, the many who collaborated with the Nazis. They were just as much as a threat. No mention at all of the Fascist puppet state.
The plight of the Italian Jews was harrowing, and some of that is expressed in Nina's journey through different concentration/labour camps. Overall, though, I thought the book was banal, predictable and saccharine. The visit from her dad, but he doesn't answer her question about Nico in the after life. She sees his dead body but not his face, but the author makes sure to beat us over the head with the fact that those are his clothes. Even the reunion with the lover she thought was dead felt like it was written for the Hallmark Anniversary of WWII week. Contrived with awkward dialogue, "We both had a bad time of it". You were in a death camp, you think?? And upon their return home, instead of racing home to see the child who was ripped from her nursing bosom, Nina ponders if they should stop in and have tea with the local priest. Wait? What?
Anyway, everybody lived, even the dog who was shot at by a Nazi. They don't lose the farm. The end. Well researched but poorly told.
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
2023 Popsugar Reading Challenge prompt: A book you bought from an independent bookstore.
I loved this book! It was so well done!
I loved this book! It was so well done!