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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
Listening to on Scribd. Narrated by Cassandra Campbell and Stefan Rudnicki.
While I enjoyed a lot of the writing and certainly the ambition involved in using fairy tale retellings to express a seminal historical event (the Holocaust), I didn't love the ending- everything didn't fall into place for me in terms of my understanding and the powerful emotion I thought I should feel at the end of a book like this. I almost felt like maybe I just didn't get it completely. Definitely worth a read though and the author is certainly talented.
An instant favourite. Two tales interwoven woth fairytales, one set in Vienna in 1899 with a doctor and a patient who claims to be a machine, the other the story of a petulant little girl who lives with her Papa in Germany. After a while, links become clear and the whole tale becomes a perfect circle!
I loved the use of language in this book so much. Bits of German and Polish and all those different fairytales! Gorgeous, highly recommend.
I loved the use of language in this book so much. Bits of German and Polish and all those different fairytales! Gorgeous, highly recommend.
this book is intense
it's a historical fiction/mystery/fairy tale book
kind of like fairytale inception
anyways it deals with a lot of themes such as: storytelling, escapism, friendship and the idea of soulmates.
two 'different' stories.
i really didn't like Krysta until the very end.
i honestly believed Lillie was an automaton out to kill the Monster...
it's quite a messed up book. you know how scientists and doctors experimented on mentally ill people? yeah. that. on mentally ill people and Jews. so sickening.
and also suggestions of rape and just horrible things happening.
but what helps her through is stories...fairy tales...and her love for Greet and hope and her friendship with Daniel.
i liked this book. it's different and surprising and yes there are plot twists and revelations.
so if you're up for some weird mystery fairytale novel then give it a go!
Happy Reading! =D
p.s i got an ARC from Spinebreakers! =P
it's a historical fiction/mystery/fairy tale book
kind of like fairytale inception
anyways it deals with a lot of themes such as: storytelling, escapism, friendship and the idea of soulmates.
two 'different' stories.
i really didn't like Krysta until the very end.
i honestly believed Lillie was an automaton out to kill the Monster...
it's quite a messed up book. you know how scientists and doctors experimented on mentally ill people? yeah. that. on mentally ill people and Jews. so sickening.
and also suggestions of rape and just horrible things happening.
but what helps her through is stories...fairy tales...and her love for Greet and hope and her friendship with Daniel.
i liked this book. it's different and surprising and yes there are plot twists and revelations.
so if you're up for some weird mystery fairytale novel then give it a go!
Happy Reading! =D
p.s i got an ARC from Spinebreakers! =P
Gothic, Erry, Raw and beautifully penned. One of my best reads this year. This one is going to stay with me for a long long time.
Such a difficult book to read, given the three (or four, depending on how you count) narratives. And just as difficult to review because of the Big Twist towards the end.
So here's what I'll say: Krysta (the most recent of the three women we meet) uses fairy tales, like "The Pied Piper" and "Hansel & Gretel" to help both her and Daniel survive. How much of her life story is real and how much is also fairy tale is questionable. Because her story (or stories, since we also get flashbacks to her life with Greet) is intertwined with the story of Lilie and Gretel, often with no differentiation between the them, it can take a little to catch when we are in time.
The one real quibble I had that I can talk about is the splicing of Freud's work with Dora onto Breuer's work bothered me. If only that had been switched to some other type of mania.
Why only three stars? Because - and I've gotten in trouble with this before - it covers the Holocaust. This is really well done, and the story lines are interesting, but the Holocaust just makes me say "enough". There are more atrocities out there to be covered.
ARC provided by publisher.
So here's what I'll say: Krysta (the most recent of the three women we meet) uses fairy tales, like "The Pied Piper" and "Hansel & Gretel" to help both her and Daniel survive. How much of her life story is real and how much is also fairy tale is questionable. Because her story (or stories, since we also get flashbacks to her life with Greet) is intertwined with the story of Lilie and Gretel, often with no differentiation between the them, it can take a little to catch when we are in time.
The one real quibble I had that I can talk about is the splicing of Freud's work with Dora onto Breuer's work bothered me. If only that had been switched to some other type of mania.
Why only three stars? Because - and I've gotten in trouble with this before - it covers the Holocaust. This is really well done, and the story lines are interesting, but the Holocaust just makes me say "enough". There are more atrocities out there to be covered.
ARC provided by publisher.
I cannot see what many others obviously do in this book. I have wavered between a one and a 2 star rating. The book has no real structure to the story. The beginning had me interested but the rest failed to follow through and I really don't see the end as a terrific twist
Feels like more effort was expended on trying to be clever (read: confusing) than trying to tell a compelling story. As hinted in the blurb, there is a twist at the end that ties together the two threads following Lilie and Krysta. It's a bit anticlimactic, though, in my opinion. And the bulk of the narrative leading up to this not-so-grand revelation is quite underwhelming. Krysta witnesses horrors filtered through her childlike perspective, but she's such an unlikeable character that it's hard to be sympathetic. Lilie's storyline goes absolutely nowhere and also foregrounds how the married physician who's sheltering her is attracted to her and wants to seduce her. In light of the twist, the inclusion of this latter detail remains inexplicable to me. Overall, not an enjoyable book - even taking into account that Holocaust books aren't meant to be 'enjoyable' per se.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
