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4.33 AVERAGE
4.33 AVERAGE
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Fascinating parallel story of two women who are survivors during difficult times.
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
This is a case where my personal reaction to this book is influenced by the medium in which I've "read" it.
I say that because while I enjoyed so many things about this book, the focus on the women and their various relationships with friends and family in particular, I found the audiobook was too long for my taste. It made it feel like the story was dragging on and it expanded the time spent in the narrative where both women were in very stressful situations. Listening to audiobooks is supposed to be a stress relief for me - so you could say it backfired on that front. The narrators were both fine, although I'm uncertain if I found the narrator for Lizzie's sections mildly annoying because of the narrator or the character.
I think I would've enjoyed this more had I read a hard-copy or eBook version.
I say that because while I enjoyed so many things about this book, the focus on the women and their various relationships with friends and family in particular, I found the audiobook was too long for my taste. It made it feel like the story was dragging on and it expanded the time spent in the narrative where both women were in very stressful situations. Listening to audiobooks is supposed to be a stress relief for me - so you could say it backfired on that front. The narrators were both fine, although I'm uncertain if I found the narrator for Lizzie's sections mildly annoying because of the narrator or the character.
I think I would've enjoyed this more had I read a hard-copy or eBook version.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"Isn't an adult just a child, shaped by experience? How does a person learn not to hate, when that hate has been imprinted upon them from such a young age?"
"It's not always the strongest trees that survive the storm. Sometimes it's the trees that bend with the wind. And you, my treasure, find yourself right in a hurricane"
A wartime novel about love, loss, loyalty, and family. This book was wonderfully written and thoroughly researched from the German (anti-Hitler) perspective of WWII. The story is set in both the 1930's and 1950's, told from a dual pov, and follows Sofie and her Husband Jürgen Rhodes - a brilliant scientist - and the personal choices they made to fake it in order to survive, and eventually making it to America. As well as American woman Lizzie, sister of a war veteran, in Huntsville, Alabama. I don't want to give away too many details, but if you like historical fiction, then you'd really like this book. I really enjoyed learning more about WWII and this story had me researching and learning about Hitler's rocket program, and Americas involvement in pardoning German scientists and relocating them to America to work for a special space program.
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This story is from a perspective of WW2 I had never read. It was eye opening and heart wrenching. It will not leave my heart.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Klarar inte av att läsa om antisemitismen och rasismen, särskilt när barn drabbas. Det är hittills bara motgångar och elände och jag har en känsla av att det bara kommer att bli värre.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Classism