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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
Spanning the time of Nazi Germany, the Cuban revolution, and the fall of the Berlin Wall, THE NIGHT TRAVELERS is a multi-generational novel following the lives of four women bound by sacrifice, war, loss, hope, and motherly love.
As far as historical fiction goes, THE NIGHT TRAVELERS does an excellent job of placing the reader in the settings of Germany and Cuba. The atmosphere is richly painted. You can tell that Correa completed extensive research which is confirmed by the bibliography given at the end of the book.
The book is divided into three acts. I found acts one and two to be very strong. I was easily engaged with the plot and characters and felt deeply affected by the story. Despite Correa’s writing style being slightly detached, I had no problem feeling empathy for the main characters and investment in their development. Act three pulled away from these feelings for me. This section was more plot driven and had less character development. Compared to the earlier sections, it felt much weaker. The plot was too similar to what had already happened that it was starting to feel too repetitive and slow. Rather than connecting the women through their shared experiences across time, it was just losing my interest. The ending wrapped things together nicely to provide closure for some of the characters. I wouldn’t say it was a happy-ever-after ending, but it was more pleasant than what I was anticipating given that the book was full of heartbreaking situations. I was expecting something more tragic.
THE NIGHT TRAVELERS was an excellent historical fiction book that I’d recommend. I will definitely be adding Correa’s other works to my TBR.
Thank you to Atria books for the giveaway ARC.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Overall: ☆☆☆☆(4.0)
Writing style: ☆☆☆☆
Entertainment ☆☆☆☆
Characters ☆☆☆☆☆
Plot: ☆☆☆☆
Ending:☆☆☆
First and foremost, I would love to thank Net-Galley, the author, and publishers for allowing me the opportunity to obtain an ARC copy of this novel for my honest opinion and review.
Immediately from reading the synopsis I knew there was such an opportunity for a real, raw, and powerful novel about the unrelenting love of a mother and the power it has to overcome war and separation.
This novel was so powerful and unlike any other historical fiction I generally read. Most historical fiction that centers around nazi Germany, will only contain the historical information that ravaged the country of Germany and the Jewish people.
However, this author was able to take it a step further, and additionally show how communism and war ravaged another country, shortly afterwards.
Additionally, they were able to apply it to one family, who must overcome the tyrannical leaders of their country, and provide better lives for their daughters.
The story follows Ally Keller, in Berlin, who gives birth to her daughter Lilith; and must save her from the the eugenics sterilization that was taking place in order to make a more pure German country.
Lilith was sent to Havana, where we then follow her story as she lives in the Cuban country that will also soon face a Communist war; In which she must save her daughter Nadine from.
After Nadine is sent to America to live in a country not ravaged by war, she finds herself back in her grandmother's country of Germany, as her adoptive family faces allegations of War crimes related to nazi Germany.
This eventually leads to her and her daughter Luna, who began to unravel and decipher where they have come from and what their past may still hold.
Many times this book brought me to tears and absolutely ravaged me. I will admit, during the Lilith portion of the story, it seems to be more plot development, and slows down drastically; which did lose my attention for a small portion of the novel. However, the author quickly grabs the attention back when you realize that she is following in her own mother's footsteps of having to save her daughter by giving her up and abandoning her.
Beautiful characters, amazing development, and quite the imagery. I thoroughly enjoyed this one!
Writing style: ☆☆☆☆
Entertainment ☆☆☆☆
Characters ☆☆☆☆☆
Plot: ☆☆☆☆
Ending:☆☆☆
First and foremost, I would love to thank Net-Galley, the author, and publishers for allowing me the opportunity to obtain an ARC copy of this novel for my honest opinion and review.
Immediately from reading the synopsis I knew there was such an opportunity for a real, raw, and powerful novel about the unrelenting love of a mother and the power it has to overcome war and separation.
This novel was so powerful and unlike any other historical fiction I generally read. Most historical fiction that centers around nazi Germany, will only contain the historical information that ravaged the country of Germany and the Jewish people.
However, this author was able to take it a step further, and additionally show how communism and war ravaged another country, shortly afterwards.
Additionally, they were able to apply it to one family, who must overcome the tyrannical leaders of their country, and provide better lives for their daughters.
The story follows Ally Keller, in Berlin, who gives birth to her daughter Lilith; and must save her from the the eugenics sterilization that was taking place in order to make a more pure German country.
Lilith was sent to Havana, where we then follow her story as she lives in the Cuban country that will also soon face a Communist war; In which she must save her daughter Nadine from.
After Nadine is sent to America to live in a country not ravaged by war, she finds herself back in her grandmother's country of Germany, as her adoptive family faces allegations of War crimes related to nazi Germany.
This eventually leads to her and her daughter Luna, who began to unravel and decipher where they have come from and what their past may still hold.
Many times this book brought me to tears and absolutely ravaged me. I will admit, during the Lilith portion of the story, it seems to be more plot development, and slows down drastically; which did lose my attention for a small portion of the novel. However, the author quickly grabs the attention back when you realize that she is following in her own mother's footsteps of having to save her daughter by giving her up and abandoning her.
Beautiful characters, amazing development, and quite the imagery. I thoroughly enjoyed this one!
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Antisemitism, Dementia, Abortion, War
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. I made it to 38%, but I’m going to have to put it down. This story is not holding my attention. I believe this is more of an issue with the reader than it is with the novel as I love historical fiction, and I’ve read another book by this author which I did enjoy. I am currently under the weather, and I think this content is too involved for me to focus on at this time. I look forward to trying this book at another time.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
slow-paced
After 9 days of struggling with this terribly boring book I finally decided to abandon my struggle and give up. Not every book is for everyone and this is okay!
adventurous
emotional
informative
sad
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
This is a heart-wrenching, often frightening, suspenseful story about the ways that war and civil strife can impact generations and generations from the same family. Just when you think the next generation might be safe, might have a better chance at a happy life than the last -- bam, something makes it so that you're left with the narrator characters who are having to make extremely hard choices yet again. It's exhausting at times, and that's the point, because this sure does feel realistic even though it's historical fiction.
In that regard, even when the pacing is slower and it's taking time to build up what the new country's environment is like, tension is still simmering and I always felt engaged in finding out what decisions everyone would have to make next.
I think if there's anything a little bit nitpicky I wish we saw a tiny bit more of, it'd be the impact of the falling of the Berlin Wall -- the years that the new generations "pick up the narration" are all very impactful years in the histories of the countries they're in, and yet I feel like I don't remember much about the Berlin Wall really impacting Nadine's timeline as much as WWII impacted Ally's and the arrests in Cuba impacted Lilith's. Still, that's indeed nitpicky (what matters more in this story's framing than even the historical events is the focus on the family relationships and how the generations all feel about each other. And that IS what the "screentime" here gets).
Overall, this is tragic, sometimes romantic and flowery and fun, and full of forgiveness and regret, all of which feel so natural and well-built-up-to based on the scary times these characters have to live in.
(Content warning: descriptions of blood/medical procedures, antisemitic language, racist language)
In that regard, even when the pacing is slower and it's taking time to build up what the new country's environment is like, tension is still simmering and I always felt engaged in finding out what decisions everyone would have to make next.
I think if there's anything a little bit nitpicky I wish we saw a tiny bit more of, it'd be the impact of the falling of the Berlin Wall -- the years that the new generations "pick up the narration" are all very impactful years in the histories of the countries they're in, and yet I feel like I don't remember much about the Berlin Wall really impacting Nadine's timeline as much as WWII impacted Ally's and the arrests in Cuba impacted Lilith's. Still, that's indeed nitpicky (what matters more in this story's framing than even the historical events is the focus on the family relationships and how the generations all feel about each other. And that IS what the "screentime" here gets).
Overall, this is tragic, sometimes romantic and flowery and fun, and full of forgiveness and regret, all of which feel so natural and well-built-up-to based on the scary times these characters have to live in.
(Content warning: descriptions of blood/medical procedures, antisemitic language, racist language)
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
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:
Complicated