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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
"The Night Travelers" is a sweeping story that spans multiple years and explores the lives of four women. The history of World War II, the Cuban Revolution and the Berlin Wall are the backdrops for this tale of love, hope and family. There was a rollercoaster of emotions at each turn of the page and I rooted for the four women. Armando Lucas Correa wrote a lyrical and emotional heartfelt story with familial connections. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advanced copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own!
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
The Night Travelers treads lightly on the familiar ground of The German Girl. Again we have the story of Ally, a mother saving her daughter Lilith from genocide by sending her to Cuba. Lilith repeats her mother’s sacrifice, sending her daughter Nadine from Cuba’s communism for New York, and then Nadine’s daughter Luna returns to Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall to learn about her family. This book takes us through four generations rather than two and seems more appropriate for a mini-series where that one felt like a movie.
The Night Travelers seems as though it would make a good mini-series with perhaps one night per generation. It is possible actors, by dint of being different people, would add more to the characters who are somewhat flat. For example, four different women growing up in different countries and in different eras should sound and act differently. I should be able to know who is speaking by their voice, not their words. Generations are not duplicates, but new castings. There just was too little differentiation in the women.
The plot is interesting, though, already familiar from The German Girl. IAs with that book, his inspiration comes from the voyage of the St. Louis, a refugee ship that was turned away by the Cuban, American, and Canadian governments, forced to return to Germany where many of its passengers died in the Holocaust. Lucas Correa, a Cuban writer living in exile, has been inspired by the stories of the 28 passengers allowed to debark in Cuba. For more about the St. Louis, there is quite a bit at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum website. [ Click here to read.]
- The Night Travelers at Atria | Simon & Schuster
- Armando Lucas Correa author site
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2023/01/19/the-night-travelers-by-armando-lucas-correa/
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This tore me apart. Love, love, love…
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I knew I’d love this book. It started a little slow. By the end I didn’t want it to end.
This historical fiction novel spans the years of 1931 to 2015, focusing on four generations of women with time spent in Germany, Cuba, and the United States (briefly). There are plenty of historical events during that time period and the book touches on a lot of it – Hitler’s Nazis, the Cuban Revolution, the Nazi war crime trials, and the falling of the Berlin Wall to name a few. I really enjoyed the 1st two parts of the story, but the 3rd part just seemed to drag on a bit more.
Something I’m embarrassed to say I learned, was the effect Nazi’s had on people of color during that time. The focus has always been on the treatment and murders of the Jews, so it never occurred to me that black and biracial individuals were effected as well. Obviously, not at the same level of magnitude but their treatment wasn’t any different because they didn’t fit in to Hitler’s “purity” vision either. I guess in my mind, Germany was just all white at that time. I need to go relearn some history.
Favorite quote – “There’s no better way to welcome someone than with books.”
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for gifting me with an advanced copy to read and review.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
THE NIGHT TRAVELERS by Armando Lucas Correa is out today and historical fiction fans should take note!
This is an epic story that follows four generations of women from Germany in 1931 across the world to Cuba in 1942 back to Berlin in 1975. Ally and her mixed race daughter Lilith within the rise of Nazi Germany; Lilith and her newborn daughter Nadia within the Cuban Revolution; then Nadia hiding from her history as she watches the Berlin Wall fall, until her daughter, Luna pulls them all together in her discoveries that aren't what they expect.
I will admit that the WWII connection did not draw me to this title. I am glad @bookfriendsbookclub chose this, or I would have missed a gem. The events that transpired in this story were so well researched and are documented in the bibliography to an astounding degree. I had no idea about the role with Cuba at this time, and have extremely limited education about Cuba in general. This was so full of information, but it was put into the story so well that it didn't feel like learning. In fact, I now want to learn more.
I felt carried away by each woman's journey. The way it jumps forward over months or years in each chapter keeps the story from becoming too slow. This also keeps the focus on motherhood, sacrifice, and confronting the past as key points without adding too much on peripheral issues. There was perhaps a bit more information on peripheral characters than I needed, but that definitely filled in the picture.
Thank you to @simonandschuster
@atriabooks & @netgalley for this digital ARC. I was encouraged to read it, and I am so grateful for the opportunity. Now I can't wait for our bookclub discussion!