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4.26 AVERAGE
4.26 AVERAGE
dark
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Adding this review late - but I really liked the book. It took a little bit to get into it for me, but once I did I fell in love with some of the characters and was so interested to see how the storylines would come together. Always a sucker for historical fiction like this. I watched the show after and it was not a good depiction of this story in my opinion. Did not do it justice.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
Wow. Oh my gosh. If I could give this book 10 stars I would. Diction. Oh my diction. I swear every single word in this book was chosen specifically for that mood, that setting, that moment. I haven't read a book conveying this much power for a long long time. Every single emotion each character felt leeched out of those pages and I felt every single one of them. There was something about the way this book was written that drew me in and totally absorbed me. We learn about the use of metaphors and figurative language and sentence structure but here I finally see the power it wields. And then not only were those parts perfect, but the parallels of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Marie-Laure's story was perfection. Each chapter read unfolded perfectly with her story and it's just amazing how Doerr planned this. This and so much more. There was this one part where Etienne and Marie-Laure would sit on a couch and pretend to fly away to another land, mostly for Marie-Laure's imagination. At the very end of the chapter, it describes the sigh of Etienne as if he were deflating and I just got these shivers like OMG HE DOESN'T WANT TO BE LIVING THIS LIFE HE WANTS TO GO EXPLORE BUT HE CAN'T BECAUSE OF ALL THE CIRCUMSTANCES AND OMG THIS IS A PARALLEL TO HIS LIFE ALL IN THIS SILLY MAKE BELIEVE GAME and omg I just can't.
This leads into the fact that literally every character was perfect. Even despicable characters like Sergeant Von Rumpel have their motives, and you almost can't help but feel bad for him (ALMOST). He has a personality. He has a background and a family. He may be this awful man, but honestly on the inside all he wants is eternal life, just like any other greedy man. But, even more, I'm talking about characters like Volkheimer and Neumann One and Two. Yes, they're fighting for the Germans and destroying other people, but they are just people. We've seen Volkheimer grow up throughout the story and some chapters of the book were even through his perspective. Yes, he is the fearsome giant, but then again he is also just a boy who had a dream. Just like Werner. Even Jutta, whose only role in the story is just to be the conciense of Werner's mind plays a huge part in the growth of the story. She's so righteous yet needs to remain hidden is society. We finally get to see her perspective at the end of the story, but even before that she is such a powerful character.
And then there is Werner and Marie-Laure. They are arguably the best-developed characters I have ever read about. Their motives, doubts, fears, strengths, all that poured out of the page and touched my heart.
I feel like in any other book, the short, choppy chapters would not have worked. Yet, somehow, this book fit it perfectly. Not only did they jump around from character to character, Germany to France, but also from 1944 to 1934-1944. I loved how it starts and basically ends with that one day in 1944. The story unfolds around that day. You meet characters and then immediately see their relevance in two different decades. Like I said, in any other book, this would have been a nuisance, but here, it was perfect. Sure, maybe sometimes I would get confused for a few seconds (Where am I? What is going on at this time? How far in time have we traveled since the last chapter?), but it gives an omnipresent but also more tragic twist to the whole story. While Marie-Laure is hiding in fear, Werner is training to help Germany win the war. And then the suspense. By jumping around so much, Doerr gives himself freedom to end a chapter as abruptly as he would like. Every turn of the page, my soul grew and shattered at the same time.
My only two regrets are 1) not sitting down and reading this in one sitting and 2) the last page (plus a little bit of the ending). For such a powerful book, it needed just a little bit more for the last page. All the other "epilogue" stuff was perfect, but it just needed that last final ahhhhhhh.
This leads into the fact that literally every character was perfect. Even despicable characters like Sergeant Von Rumpel have their motives, and you almost can't help but feel bad for him (ALMOST). He has a personality. He has a background and a family. He may be this awful man, but honestly on the inside all he wants is eternal life, just like any other greedy man. But, even more, I'm talking about characters like Volkheimer and Neumann One and Two. Yes, they're fighting for the Germans and destroying other people, but they are just people. We've seen Volkheimer grow up throughout the story and some chapters of the book were even through his perspective. Yes, he is the fearsome giant, but then again he is also just a boy who had a dream. Just like Werner. Even Jutta, whose only role in the story is just to be the conciense of Werner's mind plays a huge part in the growth of the story. She's so righteous yet needs to remain hidden is society. We finally get to see her perspective at the end of the story, but even before that she is such a powerful character.
And then there is Werner and Marie-Laure. They are arguably the best-developed characters I have ever read about. Their motives, doubts, fears, strengths, all that poured out of the page and touched my heart.
Spoiler
And they only met for less than 50 pages and I shipped them so hard. And then Werner had to die his tragic death and ughhhhhhh I just want to cry this book was so perfect by not being perfect.I feel like in any other book, the short, choppy chapters would not have worked. Yet, somehow, this book fit it perfectly. Not only did they jump around from character to character, Germany to France, but also from 1944 to 1934-1944. I loved how it starts and basically ends with that one day in 1944. The story unfolds around that day. You meet characters and then immediately see their relevance in two different decades. Like I said, in any other book, this would have been a nuisance, but here, it was perfect. Sure, maybe sometimes I would get confused for a few seconds (Where am I? What is going on at this time? How far in time have we traveled since the last chapter?), but it gives an omnipresent but also more tragic twist to the whole story. While Marie-Laure is hiding in fear, Werner is training to help Germany win the war. And then the suspense. By jumping around so much, Doerr gives himself freedom to end a chapter as abruptly as he would like. Every turn of the page, my soul grew and shattered at the same time.
My only two regrets are 1) not sitting down and reading this in one sitting and 2) the last page (plus a little bit of the ending). For such a powerful book, it needed just a little bit more for the last page. All the other "epilogue" stuff was perfect, but it just needed that last final ahhhhhhh.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ohhh my heart. Such a great book. Fantastic character development. The WWII-based storyline, from different characters' point of view, was so well done, just seamless. If you're looking for an absorbing summer read, pick this one up. Given the subject matter, there will be dark parts, but the writing is beautiful and you'll be hooked.
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
FR
cw : viol; meurtre; torture; guerre; etc.
Ne faites pas comme moi.. ne vous fiez pas au fait que ça soit un livre extrêmement populaire dont tout le monde parle en positif. Sans dire les problèmes du livre.
Je ne connaissais pas les cws.. J'aurai dû me renseigner avant, c'est ma faute..
Au bout de nombreuses pages, je me sentais mal à l'aise, j'avais un doute, je me disais qu'il y allait avoir des choses horribles (vu les dates, l'Histoire, j'étais préparée à ça), mais c'était encore pire.
Bref, je n'ai pas continué ma lecture.
Apparemment ce qui m'a moi dérangée dans ce livre va être supprimé pour l'adaptation de la mini-série de Netflix. J'espère !!!!!!
ENG
cw : rape; murder; torture; war; etc.
Don't be like me... don't be fooled by the fact that it's an extremely popular book that everyone talks about positively. Without mentioning the problems with the book.
I didn't know about cws.. I should have research before, it's my fault..
After many pages, I felt uneasy, I had doubts, I told myself that there were going to be horrible things (given the dates, the History, I was prepared for that), but it was even worse.
In short, I didn't continue reading.
Apparently what bothered me in this book is going to be removed for the adaptation of the Netflix mini-series. I hope !!!!!!
cw : viol; meurtre; torture; guerre; etc.
Ne faites pas comme moi.. ne vous fiez pas au fait que ça soit un livre extrêmement populaire dont tout le monde parle en positif. Sans dire les problèmes du livre.
Je ne connaissais pas les cws.. J'aurai dû me renseigner avant, c'est ma faute..
Au bout de nombreuses pages, je me sentais mal à l'aise, j'avais un doute, je me disais qu'il y allait avoir des choses horribles (vu les dates, l'Histoire, j'étais préparée à ça), mais c'était encore pire.
Bref, je n'ai pas continué ma lecture.
Apparemment ce qui m'a moi dérangée dans ce livre va être supprimé pour l'adaptation de la mini-série de Netflix. J'espère !!!!!!
ENG
cw : rape; murder; torture; war; etc.
Don't be like me... don't be fooled by the fact that it's an extremely popular book that everyone talks about positively. Without mentioning the problems with the book.
I didn't know about cws.. I should have research before, it's my fault..
After many pages, I felt uneasy, I had doubts, I told myself that there were going to be horrible things (given the dates, the History, I was prepared for that), but it was even worse.
In short, I didn't continue reading.
Apparently what bothered me in this book is going to be removed for the adaptation of the Netflix mini-series. I hope !!!!!!
challenging
emotional
tense
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
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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:
Yes