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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
I expected to like this story more than I actually did. This is because I found the story moved too slowly. Granted, the stories were harrowing but I think a focus on what happened during the war would’ve been better. I wasn’t so keen on Miriam’s relationship with her husband, preferring instead the dramatic revealing of Frieda and Henrick’s experiences. I agree with other readers that I was disappointed that the book’s title related to only a small part of the actual story. I was disappointed not to read more about the Rabbit Girls.
This book was so interesting and heartwrenching all at once. I was skeptical because there are many subplotlines happening at once, but the author did a wonderful job with character and storyline development. As a WWII buff I highly recommend this book.
Berlin, 1989. As the wall between East and West falls, Miriam Winter cares for her dying father, Henryk. When he cries out for someone named Frieda – and Miriam discovers an Auschwitz tattoo hidden under his watch strap – Henryk’s secret history begins to unravel.
Searching for more clues of her father’s past, Miriam finds an inmate uniform from the Ravensbrück women’s camp concealed among her mother’s things. Within its seams are dozens of letters to Henryk written by Frieda. The letters reveal the disturbing truth about the ‘Rabbit Girls’, young women experimented on at the camp. And amid their tales of sacrifice and endurance, Miriam pieces together a love story that has been hidden away in Henryk’s heart for almost fifty years.
Inspired by these extraordinary women, Miriam strives to break through the walls she has built around herself. Because even in the darkest of times, hope can survive.
I really enjoyed this book even though it was extremely depressing. I have read A LOT of books about the Holocaust and I really enjoyed how this story was told. It was different, being thrown into someone else's story with another person and their perspective.
Searching for more clues of her father’s past, Miriam finds an inmate uniform from the Ravensbrück women’s camp concealed among her mother’s things. Within its seams are dozens of letters to Henryk written by Frieda. The letters reveal the disturbing truth about the ‘Rabbit Girls’, young women experimented on at the camp. And amid their tales of sacrifice and endurance, Miriam pieces together a love story that has been hidden away in Henryk’s heart for almost fifty years.
Inspired by these extraordinary women, Miriam strives to break through the walls she has built around herself. Because even in the darkest of times, hope can survive.
I really enjoyed this book even though it was extremely depressing. I have read A LOT of books about the Holocaust and I really enjoyed how this story was told. It was different, being thrown into someone else's story with another person and their perspective.
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
OK for a first effort
It wasn’t a bad book, but there was a LOT of plot. I feel like the author tried to tell so many stories that she wasn’t able to develop any of them fully. The ending seemed like she was unsure of where to go next.
It wasn’t a bad book, but there was a LOT of plot. I feel like the author tried to tell so many stories that she wasn’t able to develop any of them fully. The ending seemed like she was unsure of where to go next.
Well-written and riveting with a lot (A LOT) packed in : Auschuitz, Ravensbruck (and all that goes with them); the end of the Berlin Wall (and the east-meets-west fallout); domestic violence; emotional abuse; psychosis, self-harm, and OCD; infidelity; losing babies and end-of-life care for parents. Strength and love and grace are here too, but yowza
I had the misfortune to pick this book up while reading in tandem Sarah Helm's rather excellent non-fiction account of the horrors of Ravensbruck and the medical experimentation conducted on the women dubbed "the rabbits". Helm's account is so raw and so powerful that I felt that this book almost jarred as I read it side by side. I did enjoy the book, but it attempts to do a little too much, and there were a few plot issues that I had with it. The book zigzags between time lines and narrators so that there are effectively three stories going on. Miriam, her sick father and her attempts to leave a marriage of coercive control, Henryk and his relationships with Miriam and her mother and his lover, and Frieda as she is taken and incarcerated in Ravensbruck. In terms of the plot issues, [spoiler follows] how on earth did Miriam manage to get enough time away from her controlling husband to have an abortion and to undergo an operation that has a one to three week recovery period? This was a man who wouldn't even let her leave to the house to visit her parents, who wouldn't let her work, and her on drugs in order to control her? It just didn't add up. I also had some difficulties with the history - Helm's account shows prisoners being moved from Auschwitz to Ravensbruck as the Allies closed in, not the other way around. Aside from that, my only other issue with the book is that it just didn't have the emotional resonance I was hoping for - but again, perhaps after reading the stories of the real survivors of the horror that was Ravensbruck and the rabbits, a fictional rendering was never going to feel pure? In short, I am a bit mixed about this one, but it was an overall enjoyable read.
Everyone has a struggle that everyone else can understand
I don't think I would have been able to compare domestic abuse with the Holocaust, but this book is amazing at comparing woman's pain and grief across time and place.
All the feelings and memories of this story make you understand that there is always a way to help someone else with their pain.
I don't think I would have been able to compare domestic abuse with the Holocaust, but this book is amazing at comparing woman's pain and grief across time and place.
All the feelings and memories of this story make you understand that there is always a way to help someone else with their pain.
I debated between 3-4 ⭐️
The book has a strong connection between the Nazis use of grooming and terror, and how an abusive husband operates.
Spoiler: I found the stretch that Miriam was their love child. How did we not think that that there could also be a sibling out there. Did I miss a birth date or something? I felt like a huge jump and was never corroborated.
The book has a strong connection between the Nazis use of grooming and terror, and how an abusive husband operates.
Spoiler: I found the stretch that Miriam was their love child. How did we not think that that there could also be a sibling out there. Did I miss a birth date or something? I felt like a huge jump and was never corroborated.