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95 reviews for:
De dochter van de ambassadeur: Een prachtig verhaal over moed, verlangen en liefde in bewogen tijden
Pam Jenoff
3.44 AVERAGE
95 reviews for:
De dochter van de ambassadeur: Een prachtig verhaal over moed, verlangen en liefde in bewogen tijden
Pam Jenoff
3.44 AVERAGE
I'm not sure why this was part of the Kommandant's Girl Series. Great book but could have been a stand alone.
2.5 stars.
I wanted to like this book as much as Jenoff's earlier works, especially since it was set in WWI, or just thereafter, rather than WWII, but I just never got picked up by it.
I wanted to like this book as much as Jenoff's earlier works, especially since it was set in WWI, or just thereafter, rather than WWII, but I just never got picked up by it.
hopeful
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
Utterly stunning read. The relationships between Margot and her father and Georg had me crying as Jenoff wrote there complexed emotions beautifully. I recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
Prior to reading this book I had heard of Jenoff’s previous books, [b:The Kommandant's Girl|374494|The Kommandant's Girl (The Kommandant's Girl, #1)|Pam Jenoff|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1347986739s/374494.jpg|1394552] and [b:The Diplomat's Wife|2062048|The Diplomat's Wife (The Kommandant's Girl, #2)|Pam Jenoff|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348300018s/2062048.jpg|3288802], however I had not read them or known much about them. I certainly did not know that The Ambassador’s Daughter was a prequel to the above mentioned books [I realized this about ¾ of the way through the book when I visited the author’s website]. However, after reading this novel, I will likely be picking up the rest of her novels.
The setting of this book was a time period which I had never read about and did not know much about from my history classes. Most of my knowledge tends to actually revolve around the World Wars themselves and missing the time period in between. This book takes place across approximately a year during the negotiations of peace following the end of WWI. There is an intensity regarding the fate of Germany that permeates the novel. The very beginning of the book was a little slow to build and drawn out – however once we got past introductions it picked up the pace. Just when you thought you knew where it was going the novel changed direction; I really didn’t see the twists coming.
The main characters are Margot, the daughter of a German ambassador, and Georg a German military officer who is a part of the German delegation in Paris for the conference. I found Margot to be frustrating at times because of her naivety but I LOVED Georg from the start and all the way through. There were times that this book made me want to cry and other times when I just wanted to scream at Margot for being blind or not speaking up when she should. I found it difficult to be sympathetic to Margot’s plight regarding her fiancé and choices that she had to make because I didn’t feel like I got enough information about him early on to really care.
This review was previously posted @ The Maiden's Court. Was received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
The setting of this book was a time period which I had never read about and did not know much about from my history classes. Most of my knowledge tends to actually revolve around the World Wars themselves and missing the time period in between. This book takes place across approximately a year during the negotiations of peace following the end of WWI. There is an intensity regarding the fate of Germany that permeates the novel. The very beginning of the book was a little slow to build and drawn out – however once we got past introductions it picked up the pace. Just when you thought you knew where it was going the novel changed direction; I really didn’t see the twists coming.
The main characters are Margot, the daughter of a German ambassador, and Georg a German military officer who is a part of the German delegation in Paris for the conference. I found Margot to be frustrating at times because of her naivety but I LOVED Georg from the start and all the way through. There were times that this book made me want to cry and other times when I just wanted to scream at Margot for being blind or not speaking up when she should. I found it difficult to be sympathetic to Margot’s plight regarding her fiancé and choices that she had to make because I didn’t feel like I got enough information about him early on to really care.
This review was previously posted @ The Maiden's Court. Was received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
If you read "The Kommandants Girl" then you really don't need to read this because it's exactly the same. A married jewess falls in love with Georg, has an affair with him, and spies on him. I could understand some parallels it this book was hard to enjoy because it was so similar to its sequel.
slow-paced
This was a meh book - 2.5 to 3 stars. Nothing great to make it stand out, nothing terrible to make it stand out. I definitely plowed through it because I wanted to know what was going to happen to the characters, but in the end, I just felt like okay…that’s it?
So let’s start with the good. Keep the positive energy going. I liked the setting and time period and I felt like the author had a good grasp of the historical side of the novel. And watching the main character mess up time and time again kept me reading to see how she’d manage in the end.
But Margot. At every important juncture, she makes crap decisions. If she’d literally just explained herself clearly, there would have been a lot less misunderstandings in the book. I was rooting for her at times, like I wanted to see that sheltered girl actually grow up and have some independent thoughts but in the end she’s still just following Krysia’s lead. And she goes through all this stuff to be with Georg and then leaves him. I would have liked to see more of a focus on the family’s Judaism too – that was another element that made Margot an interesting character.
At times, it felt like there was a lot going on in this novel and the author didn’t quite have the balance down. One part is the historical fiction, real events, and real people. Then you have the romance between Georg and Margot (sex scene very tame and kind of weirdly described if you want to know the truth). Finally, we have the mystery/espionage piece. Rather than weaving the storylines together (which could have easily been done), it felt like a lot of jumping back and forth – okay, time to talk romance, done with that gotta throw in some spy stuff with that shady dude who was pretty easy to get rid of, now some historical discourse, and back to the romance. Of all three, the espionage stuff got shoved to the back burner most of all and it added up to make the ending feel like such a rush.
Finding out her mom was alive the whole time felt like a plot dead end, something that should’ve been explored more but wasn’t. The fact that Krysia was the spy ring leader – can’t even remember the name because it was just mentioned in passing – felt like something that was added in on a whim. The drugged tea was pretty obvious to everybody else, but Margot clearly never thought about it. Was there supposed to be more about someone sneaking into their apartment and moving stuff around? We never really got back to that.
Poor Stefan. Man comes home screwed up and then dies in a dual. Convenient for Margot to be sure, but a little too deus ex machina for me. What this book really needed to be was just a historical romance. Everything else was distracting.
Wouldn’t buy it, but not a totally pointless read. I already bought the “The Lost Girls of Paris” a while back, so let’s cross our fingers it’s better than this one.
So let’s start with the good. Keep the positive energy going. I liked the setting and time period and I felt like the author had a good grasp of the historical side of the novel. And watching the main character mess up time and time again kept me reading to see how she’d manage in the end.
But Margot. At every important juncture, she makes crap decisions. If she’d literally just explained herself clearly, there would have been a lot less misunderstandings in the book. I was rooting for her at times, like I wanted to see that sheltered girl actually grow up and have some independent thoughts but in the end she’s still just following Krysia’s lead. And she goes through all this stuff to be with Georg and then leaves him. I would have liked to see more of a focus on the family’s Judaism too – that was another element that made Margot an interesting character.
At times, it felt like there was a lot going on in this novel and the author didn’t quite have the balance down. One part is the historical fiction, real events, and real people. Then you have the romance between Georg and Margot (sex scene very tame and kind of weirdly described if you want to know the truth). Finally, we have the mystery/espionage piece. Rather than weaving the storylines together (which could have easily been done), it felt like a lot of jumping back and forth – okay, time to talk romance, done with that gotta throw in some spy stuff with that shady dude who was pretty easy to get rid of, now some historical discourse, and back to the romance. Of all three, the espionage stuff got shoved to the back burner most of all and it added up to make the ending feel like such a rush.
Finding out her mom was alive the whole time felt like a plot dead end, something that should’ve been explored more but wasn’t. The fact that Krysia was the spy ring leader – can’t even remember the name because it was just mentioned in passing – felt like something that was added in on a whim. The drugged tea was pretty obvious to everybody else, but Margot clearly never thought about it. Was there supposed to be more about someone sneaking into their apartment and moving stuff around? We never really got back to that.
Poor Stefan. Man comes home screwed up and then dies in a dual. Convenient for Margot to be sure, but a little too deus ex machina for me. What this book really needed to be was just a historical romance. Everything else was distracting.
Wouldn’t buy it, but not a totally pointless read. I already bought the “The Lost Girls of Paris” a while back, so let’s cross our fingers it’s better than this one.