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tangleroot_eli's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Antisemitism
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Genocide, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, and War
Minor: Gun violence and Gaslighting
ceruleanshelves's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This is what it’s like to be Jewish
in Europe.
Every beautiful thing
has horror buried under it.
I’m always walking on bones.
rating: 4.5
a melancholic but moving story about a young latina jewish girl who spends her summer in a ghost story. i was impressed by how even through verse prose, r.m. romero was able to cover a variety of themes, from the frustrations of adolescence, the fears and tribulations of immigrant families, the despair of post-wwii europe for european jews, and horrors of legends.
This is a cemetery,
I realize.
And I don’t think anyone remembers
it’s here.
Anyone
except
for
me.
romero moves seamlessly between moments of discovery, sorrow, isolation, and even joy. her writing paints a vivid scene and imbues much personality into our protagonist, ilana.
Having a ghost
is like having a cat.
They wander where they like
and won’t come
when you call.
Prague believes in magic.
Prague believes in itself.
(I wish
I could be more like Prague.)
this was my first book from romero and i was quite impressed. there is a whimsical is eerie feel to her stories that i enjoyed and look forward to reading more of.
Because that’s the other part
of being a Jew in Europe—
each step I take
is in defiance of everyone
who didn’t want me here.
The final girl survives
because she can be
just as ruthless
as the monster
who wants
to destroy her.
Moderate: Antisemitism
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, and War
directorpurry's review
- 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
3.25
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Genocide and War
themargherita_s's review against another edition
4.0
I promise I’m not one of those adults that complain when books for teens read as books for teens— I knew this was a young adult book, but it felt younger than I thought it would be. I think it’s probably because the main character is very naive and trusting, and because even though the story takes place over a lot of days, it’s written in a fast paced way that makes the romantic storyline feel more insta love or superficial than it’s supposed to be.
Content Warnings: death, antisemitism, genocide, war, violence, child abuse, sexual assault, kidnapping/man tricking kids into going home with him, confinement.
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, and Antisemitism
Moderate: Confinement, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and War
stephanielee's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Death and Genocide
Moderate: Child death and War
ammah's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Genocide and War
readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Moderate: Death, Genocide, Sexual assault, Violence, Kidnapping, and War
preciouslittleingenue's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
The thematic metaphors were very strong. I was VERY struck by the graveyard of children’s shoes in the Black House. Super deliberate Holocaust reference that wasn’t too heavy handed. Even just the fact that Wasserman was German preying on a Jewish cemetery. You don’t need to squint to see the parallel but it’s not beating me over the head either. My favorite culmination of these parallels was Ilana’s “my people will always outlive you.” Because she doesn’t just mean her descendants will last longer than his single lifetime. She means every violent act against her people, every attempt to eliminate the Jews…has always and will always fail. They will outlive every attempt to remove them as a people from the world. I found that really beautiful.
It was such a brief work that I didn’t really feel the love connection between Ilana and Benjamin, but they’re also only sixteen. I don’t know, I just wasn’t that devastated when they were separated forever by his crossing over. But at the end of the day, the crafting of the narrative and it’s parallels was pretty expert, even if language and characterization was not. This was a great quick/short read for me to use to desperately reach my 2022 reading goal as December rapidly approaches.
OH. EDIT. Because I forgot to mention how much I loathed the audiobook narrator. Her German accent was actually painful to sit through. And her delivery of certain phrases was so cringeworthy. Maybe I’d have cared more about the characters and felt more connection between them if she wasn’t so awful.
Moderate: Child death, Death, Genocide, Antisemitism, and War
bookishaddictions's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Moderate: Child death and Genocide
Minor: War
sarasreadingnook's review against another edition
4.0
Absolutely beautiful story of a biracial Jewish girl who is sent away to stay with her aunt in Prague. I was soon hooked after reading the first chapter and read this book late at night finding it difficult to put down.
Ilana is torn between pursuing her parent’s wishes of having a stable career, for example in the sciences or medicine, and becoming a violinist. While she’s in Prague, she learns about a forgotten Jewish ancestry, encounters a ghost name Benjamin and also a man with no shadow, Rudolf Wassermann and is compelled to know their stories.
The book stresses the importance of remembering our history. Quick and impactful read - I recommend this to anyone who enjoys poetic storytelling and is intrigued by the synopsis.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a review copy. All opinions are my own.
Graphic: Genocide, Antisemitism, and War