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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
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
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
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:
Complicated
When eight year old Sera goes to an art gallery on a trip to Paris with her father, she sees a haunting painting of a young woman with a tattooed number on her arm and falls in love with it. Fast forward to current day and a grownup Sera owns a gallery in Manhattan and is reminded of that original painting when she comes across a very good copy. Mourning her father’s death and a broken engagement, she decides that she has to learn the story of the young woman with the piercing blue eyes and find that original painting.
In a dual timeline, we find the heart and soul of the novel, Adele is a young violinist known as “Austria’s Sweetheart”. Adele falls in love with Vladimir who is a cellist and a grocer’s son who is organizing ways to assist Jews to escape from hiding and make it out to safety. A tender love blossoms between them. But they are reported and are arrested by the Nazis. Adele is sent to Auschwitz and is saved from the gas chambers because she is a violinist. She is selected for the Camp’s Orchestra. With a small group of musicians, she plays to entertain the guards and visiting Nazi leaders, but also for the Camp’s prisoners as they come and go between their barracks and their work locations. The book is a Christian romance so there is a religious subplot. Usually this would be a negative but the focus is unobtrusive and, when it does appear, it fits in with the story as a plot element. For example, although Adele is a Christian and most of the other prisoners are Jewish, each woman observes her faith on her own, they acknowledge each has a belief in God and worship in their own way. The woman who led the orchestra becomes Adele’s surrogate mother. She paints a portrait of Adele as she looks forward to a future outside the Camp and the love, hope, and prayers she has for her fellow prisoners.
This book was an enigma—on one hand, it is one of the best portrayals of the horrors of the Holocaust from one woman’s experience I have read and, on the other, it is a sweet, touching love story. The timeline with the WWII story is captivating, however the current day story is not very interesting. It did not hold my attention except when the plots intersected and one added to the other. I listened to the audiobook and was tempted to fast forward through some of it. I would have liked more of Adele’s story and less of Sera’s.
The book was okay but definitely not the kind of book I normally enjoy (i.e. heavy on the romance and the Christianity). Though fictionalized, I found myself touched and humbled by most of Adele's experience in Birkenau. The bond she formed with Omara was especially poignant and the author definitely succeeded in painting the stark differences between that relationship and the one between Adele and her own mother. The real downside to her story was how far-fetched some of it seemed. I'm no expert on the Holocaust nor the minute details that surrounds the accounts of those who suffered through it in camps, but certain things didn't play out as believable.
And, frankly, Sera's story was boring to me. It was easy to be sympathetic to her own plight but there really wasn't anything special about it. And that's kind of what I want in a story like this, where you have it paralleling these two women in the way they were. Then, maybe it wasn't suppose to be read as anything more than fretted love stories that are sorted out by faith in the end because the book definitely succeeds as that.
And, frankly, Sera's story was boring to me. It was easy to be sympathetic to her own plight but there really wasn't anything special about it. And that's kind of what I want in a story like this, where you have it paralleling these two women in the way they were. Then, maybe it wasn't suppose to be read as anything more than fretted love stories that are sorted out by faith in the end because the book definitely succeeds as that.
Beautifully written. Heartfelt and raw. Potent and Inspiring.
I haven't read a book like this before. One based on a single fact of history. Cambron has taken an inspiring, moving truth from the horrors of Auschwitz and somehow made it come to life, and become even more powerful. That takes real gifting.
The characters are almost painfully real. The storyline is based on real events, ones I wished didn't really happen, but because they did, I am happy I know more about them because of this book.
I haven't read a book like this before. One based on a single fact of history. Cambron has taken an inspiring, moving truth from the horrors of Auschwitz and somehow made it come to life, and become even more powerful. That takes real gifting.
The characters are almost painfully real. The storyline is based on real events, ones I wished didn't really happen, but because they did, I am happy I know more about them because of this book.
The talk about being a Christian felt very forced. It didn’t seem to fit William or Sera’s character. It was also odd to hear a devout Christian never once mention Christ Himself. Cool story, could have been shorter, could have done without the modern romance. But was okay.
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Santayana’s oft-repeated phrase should be called to mind as one of our two major party candidates is vowing to put up walls and deport/block members of a major world religion. For that reason, I believe there’s no such thing as too many books about the Holocaust.
However, one can still selective about what one reads, and if seeking fiction about the Holocaust, this is probably not one I’d seek out.
The book does shine light on an aspect of of the concentration camps with which I was unfamiliar – the camp orchestras. That wasn’t enough to save it for me.
What didn’t work for me was the lead character and her injection of religion into the story. As I started the book, I did not realize it was “inspirational” and it’s not until you dive in, that the religious aspect was injected. Although I’m not particularly religious, I’m not opposed to all inspirational fiction. It felt forced in this book, however. I know there were many, many Christians and others killed alongside the Jews during the Holocaust and their stories deserve to be told but this tale felt too saccharine sweet. The attempts at making the heroine spunky read to me like a spoiled rich girl who does something on a lark and seemed to detract from the serious aspects of the story. The increasing injections of her faith as the book progressed also felt very artificial. It just didn’t work for me, which is too bad because it’s an important topic.
"She'd play for the rest of them, for the world's loss of innocence and the coldness of hate that fought to overshadow the love she knew to be born of God"
Austria, 1942. After a narrow escape from Nazi soldiers, Adele, Austria's Sweetheart and violin soloist for the Austrian Philharmonic, is accused of assisting Jews and is sent to the work camps in Auschwitz. While there, she becomes a member of the camp's orchestra. Forced to play for the selections and marches, Adele struggles to find her will to live, but finds solace in her music.
In present day New York, Sera, after being left at the alter, is trying to learn about the mysterious woman captured in a painting she saw when she was eight years old before it vanished from history. Determined to find the painting, she meets William, a high society businessman in California, who claims the painting is tied to his grandfather's inheritance. But learning more about the painting will mean learning more about herself, and the answers might not be what she is expecting.
---
Kristy Cambron is an extraordinary writer. This is the second novel of hers that I've read, and this one was just as beautiful as the last. The stories she weaves come to life and the characters are well developed. While many Holocaust stories focus on the terrors and torments of the camps, Cambron's characters find solace and hope in art and music, finding a will to stay alive despite the odds that are stacked against them. Sera's determination to find the painting as a way to ease her own hurts made me want her to find her answers. And the ending was absolutely perfect. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of historical fiction novels or World War 2.
Austria, 1942. After a narrow escape from Nazi soldiers, Adele, Austria's Sweetheart and violin soloist for the Austrian Philharmonic, is accused of assisting Jews and is sent to the work camps in Auschwitz. While there, she becomes a member of the camp's orchestra. Forced to play for the selections and marches, Adele struggles to find her will to live, but finds solace in her music.
In present day New York, Sera, after being left at the alter, is trying to learn about the mysterious woman captured in a painting she saw when she was eight years old before it vanished from history. Determined to find the painting, she meets William, a high society businessman in California, who claims the painting is tied to his grandfather's inheritance. But learning more about the painting will mean learning more about herself, and the answers might not be what she is expecting.
---
Kristy Cambron is an extraordinary writer. This is the second novel of hers that I've read, and this one was just as beautiful as the last. The stories she weaves come to life and the characters are well developed. While many Holocaust stories focus on the terrors and torments of the camps, Cambron's characters find solace and hope in art and music, finding a will to stay alive despite the odds that are stacked against them. Sera's determination to find the painting as a way to ease her own hurts made me want her to find her answers. And the ending was absolutely perfect. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of historical fiction novels or World War 2.
I very much appreciated this story. I have read many books about WWII and the Holocaust and hearing the story again from the POV of a character who was naive to the horror, to the atrocities being committed, was poignant. I had also never heard of the Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz, so that was a new bit of history learned. The writing was lovely in many places as well. As an example:
“‘Sleep for him.’
The suggestion so surprised Adele she felt emotion rise up in her throat.
‘What did you say?’
‘You heard me, child. Do you love the man in your photo?’
She nodded once, her eyes wishing they could produce tears.
‘Then close your eyes in sleep for him. Stay strong. Fight to survive.’”
I liked the pairing of the modern search for the painting with the journey of Adele, as neither we nor Adele know what her fate or that of the painting will be.
A few things that didn’t really work for me: Part of the modern day story came across as a little cliche, and certain parts of the story lean more toward telling than showing (for example, we are simply told that Adele has figured out the purpose of Auschwitz and we are told that she becomes friends with the other prisoners, but neither of these transitions is actually witnessed). Despite that, I loved the story and even teared up at the end. I will read the sequel.
“‘Sleep for him.’
The suggestion so surprised Adele she felt emotion rise up in her throat.
‘What did you say?’
‘You heard me, child. Do you love the man in your photo?’
She nodded once, her eyes wishing they could produce tears.
‘Then close your eyes in sleep for him. Stay strong. Fight to survive.’”
I liked the pairing of the modern search for the painting with the journey of Adele, as neither we nor Adele know what her fate or that of the painting will be.
A few things that didn’t really work for me: Part of the modern day story came across as a little cliche, and certain parts of the story lean more toward telling than showing (for example, we are simply told that Adele has figured out the purpose of Auschwitz and we are told that she becomes friends with the other prisoners, but neither of these transitions is actually witnessed). Despite that, I loved the story and even teared up at the end. I will read the sequel.
4.5 stars ✨
Wow this book....
It was aptly named, because it truly is a masterpiece.
Adele's story, her heart, her hopelessness, then hopeful again, the rawness - it all bleeds from the pages. Kristy Cambron beautifully penned a story of holding on to that hope in the midst of such horror.
I was not quite as invested in Sera and William's story. I loved how their story played into Adele's, but I did find myself skimming their parts simply because Adele (and Vladimir) captured my heart and attention.
I can't believe this is Kristy's debut novel! I just discovered her several months ago and have to catch up on her books, but I am stunned with what I've read so far. This is moving, powerful story of beauty and art and hope amidst the backdrop of Auschwitz.
Wow this book....
It was aptly named, because it truly is a masterpiece.
Adele's story, her heart, her hopelessness, then hopeful again, the rawness - it all bleeds from the pages. Kristy Cambron beautifully penned a story of holding on to that hope in the midst of such horror.
I was not quite as invested in Sera and William's story. I loved how their story played into Adele's, but I did find myself skimming their parts simply because Adele (and Vladimir) captured my heart and attention.
I can't believe this is Kristy's debut novel! I just discovered her several months ago and have to catch up on her books, but I am stunned with what I've read so far. This is moving, powerful story of beauty and art and hope amidst the backdrop of Auschwitz.