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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
This book is astounding!
A historical novel (mostly) set at the end of World War II, The Women in the Castle tells the story of three women in Germany whose husbands died trying to resist the Nazis. Although their husbands are united in this noble cause, these women- who they were before the war and how they learn to live after the war- couldn't be more different.
This is a fascinating perspective of WWII that, as an American, I have not seen before. I had not thought about the war from the perspective of the Germans- particularly Germans against Hitler who stayed in Germany. The author does a wonderful job creating well rounded, complex characters that continue to develop throughout the novel. I really enjoyed reading this book!
A historical novel (mostly) set at the end of World War II, The Women in the Castle tells the story of three women in Germany whose husbands died trying to resist the Nazis. Although their husbands are united in this noble cause, these women- who they were before the war and how they learn to live after the war- couldn't be more different.
This is a fascinating perspective of WWII that, as an American, I have not seen before. I had not thought about the war from the perspective of the Germans- particularly Germans against Hitler who stayed in Germany. The author does a wonderful job creating well rounded, complex characters that continue to develop throughout the novel. I really enjoyed reading this book!
emotional
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I thought this was... okay. It was given to me by my best friend for my birthday, but I only just recently got around to reading it, and while I didn't love it, there were some aspects I enjoyed.
In the beginning, the writing wasn't really doing it for me. Shattuck writes in a very straightforward, simplistic way and uses a fairly limited vocabulary, which is fine, just not necessarily super thrilling to read. On top of the basic syntax, the word choice wasn't always the best. At one point, she described a situation as 'weirdly cozy,' which felt entirely too modern and out-of-place for the otherwise bleak, old-fashioned scene. At another point, she uses the term 'mental hospital,' which I thought was very generous word choice for something set in Nazi-era Germany. I tried to do some research about when the phrase 'mental hospital' came into use, but I couldn't find anything that supported its usage in the 1940s. I will say that the writing style began to grow on me, and by the end I found it somewhat pretty, but for the first two hundred or so pages, I wasn't very impressed.
My second major issue with this book was the plot: while I appreciated the general storyline and sequencing, the characters were not at all enjoyable to read about. Ania's internal struggles were interesting, but hardly explored. Other than Martin, none of the children are fleshed out, and even he is barely touched on. Benita was downright annoying to read about, and the way her character was written made it difficult for me to sympathize with her for the first half of the novel. Her death also felt like such a cop out to me. The only characters I actually liked were Liesel, who had like two pages of existence, and Marianne, but only sometimes. I think better writing would have meant more likable characters, which is a pretty essential part of any book.
Overall, I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. The story itself was fine, and I liked the time skips and method of story-telling, but it wasn't very well-executed, which made it much less enjoyable than it could have been. 3.25 rounded down.
P.S. Do you think I could count this as studying for the AP World exam?
In the beginning, the writing wasn't really doing it for me. Shattuck writes in a very straightforward, simplistic way and uses a fairly limited vocabulary, which is fine, just not necessarily super thrilling to read. On top of the basic syntax, the word choice wasn't always the best. At one point, she described a situation as 'weirdly cozy,' which felt entirely too modern and out-of-place for the otherwise bleak, old-fashioned scene. At another point, she uses the term 'mental hospital,' which I thought was very generous word choice for something set in Nazi-era Germany. I tried to do some research about when the phrase 'mental hospital' came into use, but I couldn't find anything that supported its usage in the 1940s. I will say that the writing style began to grow on me, and by the end I found it somewhat pretty, but for the first two hundred or so pages, I wasn't very impressed.
My second major issue with this book was the plot: while I appreciated the general storyline and sequencing, the characters were not at all enjoyable to read about. Ania's internal struggles were interesting, but hardly explored. Other than Martin, none of the children are fleshed out, and even he is barely touched on. Benita was downright annoying to read about, and the way her character was written made it difficult for me to sympathize with her for the first half of the novel.
Overall, I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. The story itself was fine, and I liked the time skips and method of story-telling, but it wasn't very well-executed, which made it much less enjoyable than it could have been. 3.25 rounded down.
P.S. Do you think I could count this as studying for the AP World exam?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, War
“The varied beauties of life…crocus heads pushing through the melting snow…the fact that human beings are compelled to construct cathedrals and sing lullabies and create art. That they devout themselves to causes and esoteric fields of knowledge, that the world population grows by 80 million people each year. She conjures these things in her mind and hopes they have meaning and she doesn’t say a word” This was really beautifully written and a unique perspective of mostly post war Germany. 4.5
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Slower paced, but it was an interesting read. Marianne doesn't seem quite as fleshed out, but it also feels like she just doesn't want to be, kind of like her character and the lack of "fashion sense"
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think this is the first fiction story I've read that is told solely from the perspective of people in Germany. I really enjoyed it!
Book on CD narrated by Cassandra Campbell
Three German widows are brought together shortly after World War II ends. Marianne von Lingenfels returns to her deceased husband’s ancestral castle – now in ruins. He had conspired with other resisters to assassinate Hitler and was himself murdered. But Marianne had promised her husband’s conspirators to find their families and help them, so that is what she sets out to do. First she rescues Martin, the young son of her childhood friend, from a Nazi re-education camp. They then find Martin’s mother, Betina, a beautiful but naïve, young woman. Finally, Marianne locates Ania, a quiet, resourceful and determined mother of two boys who have been in one of the many refugee camps that house the many citizens displaced by the war.
I liked the idea of this novel’s story more than I liked the actual book.
Make no mistake, there are some interesting and thought-provoking themes here. How does one move on after enduring such traumatic events? How do we recognize the ways we may be complicit – by willful ignorance, by standing by, by NOT making waves – and atone for that? Can we “allow” someone else to find happiness (let alone celebrate it), when we are so angry, hurt, fearful, ashamed? Can we allow future generations to NOT carry the burden?
However, on the whole I found the novel completely forgettable. I’m sure this is ME and not the novel. I’ve only just now looked at the back cover with all the blurbs by authors I love, singing Shattuck’s praises. And, of course, many people whose opinions I trust have rated the book highly. Perhaps I’m just completely over the desire to read about WWII and its aftermath.
Cassandra Campbell did a marvelous job performing the audiobook. She’s a gifted voice artist and has become one of my favorite audiobook narrators.
Three German widows are brought together shortly after World War II ends. Marianne von Lingenfels returns to her deceased husband’s ancestral castle – now in ruins. He had conspired with other resisters to assassinate Hitler and was himself murdered. But Marianne had promised her husband’s conspirators to find their families and help them, so that is what she sets out to do. First she rescues Martin, the young son of her childhood friend, from a Nazi re-education camp. They then find Martin’s mother, Betina, a beautiful but naïve, young woman. Finally, Marianne locates Ania, a quiet, resourceful and determined mother of two boys who have been in one of the many refugee camps that house the many citizens displaced by the war.
I liked the idea of this novel’s story more than I liked the actual book.
Make no mistake, there are some interesting and thought-provoking themes here. How does one move on after enduring such traumatic events? How do we recognize the ways we may be complicit – by willful ignorance, by standing by, by NOT making waves – and atone for that? Can we “allow” someone else to find happiness (let alone celebrate it), when we are so angry, hurt, fearful, ashamed? Can we allow future generations to NOT carry the burden?
However, on the whole I found the novel completely forgettable. I’m sure this is ME and not the novel. I’ve only just now looked at the back cover with all the blurbs by authors I love, singing Shattuck’s praises. And, of course, many people whose opinions I trust have rated the book highly. Perhaps I’m just completely over the desire to read about WWII and its aftermath.
Cassandra Campbell did a marvelous job performing the audiobook. She’s a gifted voice artist and has become one of my favorite audiobook narrators.