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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
I thought this book was very well-researched and you could tell when reading it. I found it very interesting to learn about this aspect of WWII that I don't think many people know about.
I listened to the audiobook version (which for some reason, Goodreads doesn't have?) from my library. I liked it. But I do think that this would have been better to read the physical book. There were what sounded like transcripts of forms from the Gestapo, that if I had seen them in the book, might have made better sense. Also, keeping track of the various main and auxiliary people might have been easier with a physical book. If it had, I might have given this as 4. I did like that the narrator did so well pronouncing the German names of people and places so well. While I don't speak German, I do appreciate listening to the correct pronunciations. As to the book itself, it is obvious the author did a lot of research into this book. And it was good to learn a bit of history that I wasn't aware of. Overall, it was good, but I think I'd have preferred the physical book, which judging by other's reviews and shelves, it is a graphic novel. So I might have to find it and read again.
dark
informative
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Really read about a little known area of World War II History!
This book was surprising, eye-opening, and painful to read. Thank you so much to PenguinTeen Canada for sending me an arc and to the author, K. R. Gaddy, for doing the research necessary to write this incredible story.
I didn't realize this was non-fiction until I actually received the arc and opened to the first page. And then I checked the back and saw a bunch of sources that the author used/referred to while writing this book. I haven't read non-fiction in a while, but this made me really excited. I prefer non-fiction books that are written in a narrative format because not only is it a lot easier to get into, but it tricks my mind into thinking I'm reading fiction. This book did that really well, and because of that I think it would appeal not only to younger readers, but also to older ones. I'd love to see this book as part of the curriculum in university history courses especially.
I had never heard of the Edelweiss Pirates before this book. I had heard of German resistance, but the only other book I read that had mentioned it was The Women in the Castle. I definitely think this is something that should be taught in history classes because it's incredible how young these kids were and what they did to resist Nazi rule. It's inspiring and heartbreaking seeing what these kids went through, the risk they took, the torture and abuse they underwent, all in order to stick to their ideals, whether they were politically or morally inclined.
I liked following all three character perspectives. Gertrude's was probably my favourite because it was interesting to see how many girls were actually involved in the resistance. In The Women in the Castle, it was mostly the husbands of all these women who were part of the assassination attempt on Hitler's life, so I always wondered how many women were involved or wanted to be involved.
I did find Jean and Fitz's povs a little confusing. Sometimes I would forget what happened to which of the two boys because a lot of what they went through was kind of similar, and in some parts their stories overlapped a bit, even though neither of the characters actually met during the war.
There is quite a huge cast of characters and a lot of them go by code names too, so it was a little difficult to keep track. But I don't think it totally detracted from the story itself.
What I really liked about this book was the inclusion of letters and reports and news articles. We saw reports from the Gestapo, the SS, and the Hitler Youth, as well as confession papers and execution notices. There were also lots of pictures of the actual main characters with other members of the Edelweiss pirates and similar groups. I really enjoyed the snapshots we got of their lives before the war really got worse. Seeing them hiking and camping, playing the guitar, singing songs, and just having fun, makes you realize how young these kids were and how they just wanted to enjoy life. But as the story progresses, the pictures got darker and more disturbing and hard to look at. The story itself too became a lot darker. There were arrests and interrogations in the beginning of this book, but in most cases, the main characters were released quite soon after. But by the end, they're being interrogated and beaten and starved for days at a time, and it's a never-ending cycle. It was quite difficult to read and some of the pictures were a little disturbing. This is just a trigger warning for anyone who picks this up later.
Overall, a really great book. Highly recommend for anyone interested in learning more about an aspect of WWII history that was probably not covered in school.
I didn't realize this was non-fiction until I actually received the arc and opened to the first page. And then I checked the back and saw a bunch of sources that the author used/referred to while writing this book. I haven't read non-fiction in a while, but this made me really excited. I prefer non-fiction books that are written in a narrative format because not only is it a lot easier to get into, but it tricks my mind into thinking I'm reading fiction. This book did that really well, and because of that I think it would appeal not only to younger readers, but also to older ones. I'd love to see this book as part of the curriculum in university history courses especially.
I had never heard of the Edelweiss Pirates before this book. I had heard of German resistance, but the only other book I read that had mentioned it was The Women in the Castle. I definitely think this is something that should be taught in history classes because it's incredible how young these kids were and what they did to resist Nazi rule. It's inspiring and heartbreaking seeing what these kids went through, the risk they took, the torture and abuse they underwent, all in order to stick to their ideals, whether they were politically or morally inclined.
I liked following all three character perspectives. Gertrude's was probably my favourite because it was interesting to see how many girls were actually involved in the resistance. In The Women in the Castle, it was mostly the husbands of all these women who were part of the assassination attempt on Hitler's life, so I always wondered how many women were involved or wanted to be involved.
I did find Jean and Fitz's povs a little confusing. Sometimes I would forget what happened to which of the two boys because a lot of what they went through was kind of similar, and in some parts their stories overlapped a bit, even though neither of the characters actually met during the war.
There is quite a huge cast of characters and a lot of them go by code names too, so it was a little difficult to keep track. But I don't think it totally detracted from the story itself.
What I really liked about this book was the inclusion of letters and reports and news articles. We saw reports from the Gestapo, the SS, and the Hitler Youth, as well as confession papers and execution notices. There were also lots of pictures of the actual main characters with other members of the Edelweiss pirates and similar groups. I really enjoyed the snapshots we got of their lives before the war really got worse. Seeing them hiking and camping, playing the guitar, singing songs, and just having fun, makes you realize how young these kids were and how they just wanted to enjoy life. But as the story progresses, the pictures got darker and more disturbing and hard to look at. The story itself too became a lot darker. There were arrests and interrogations in the beginning of this book, but in most cases, the main characters were released quite soon after. But by the end, they're being interrogated and beaten and starved for days at a time, and it's a never-ending cycle. It was quite difficult to read and some of the pictures were a little disturbing. This is just a trigger warning for anyone who picks this up later.
Overall, a really great book. Highly recommend for anyone interested in learning more about an aspect of WWII history that was probably not covered in school.
Pretty cool book! Definitely a different perspective.
emotional
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
What a nice thing to see in the year of our lord 2020: a Nazi getting punched in the nose on the cover of a young adult book.
If Nazis getting their asses handed to them appeals to you (it should), rest assured that this book delivers. Gaddy clearly admires the young people she writes about; she goes to bat for them again and again. They caused trouble, they broke the law – so what? The law was unjust, so trouble was necessary. As she notes, these teens were too young and too scattered to have developed a single coherent political ideology, but they maintained a sense of empathy and humanity that was political in itself. History has ignored and even maligned them because they were largely leftist – many of them were socialists, communists, or had family members jailed or killed for being socialists or communists – but Gaddy reveals them for what they are: kids who should not have had to be heroes but who stepped up anyway, because it was the right thing to do.
Does this review come off as more about the pirates than about the book itself? I can’t help it. Gaddy has me convinced. She’s clearly done a tremendous amount of research; this is both an in-depth look at the motivations and actions of a collection of young individuals and an attempt to place those actions within a broader context: not just World War II but the study of history as a whole, the way dominant society chooses who’s a hero and who’s a villain or a nobody. And even as she argues that the Edelweiss pirates were the former, she refuses to flatten them into two-dimensional demigods. A whole section of the back matter is about the teens’ cultural blindspots, particularly when it came to perpetuating stereotypes of Native people (one of the pirate groups was called the Navajos). Gaddy notes that those blindspots still exist today, and that they’re worth acknowledging even and especially in the people and media we admire.
I’m really, really glad this book exists. I’m glad people will get to read it. I’m glad there will always be people who punch Nazis, because punching Nazis is the right thing to do.
If Nazis getting their asses handed to them appeals to you (it should), rest assured that this book delivers. Gaddy clearly admires the young people she writes about; she goes to bat for them again and again. They caused trouble, they broke the law – so what? The law was unjust, so trouble was necessary. As she notes, these teens were too young and too scattered to have developed a single coherent political ideology, but they maintained a sense of empathy and humanity that was political in itself. History has ignored and even maligned them because they were largely leftist – many of them were socialists, communists, or had family members jailed or killed for being socialists or communists – but Gaddy reveals them for what they are: kids who should not have had to be heroes but who stepped up anyway, because it was the right thing to do.
Does this review come off as more about the pirates than about the book itself? I can’t help it. Gaddy has me convinced. She’s clearly done a tremendous amount of research; this is both an in-depth look at the motivations and actions of a collection of young individuals and an attempt to place those actions within a broader context: not just World War II but the study of history as a whole, the way dominant society chooses who’s a hero and who’s a villain or a nobody. And even as she argues that the Edelweiss pirates were the former, she refuses to flatten them into two-dimensional demigods. A whole section of the back matter is about the teens’ cultural blindspots, particularly when it came to perpetuating stereotypes of Native people (one of the pirate groups was called the Navajos). Gaddy notes that those blindspots still exist today, and that they’re worth acknowledging even and especially in the people and media we admire.
I’m really, really glad this book exists. I’m glad people will get to read it. I’m glad there will always be people who punch Nazis, because punching Nazis is the right thing to do.