Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

The Forest of Vanishing Stars: A Novel by Kristin Harmel

14 reviews

proudtobeabookaholic's profile picture

proudtobeabookaholic's review

5.0
adventurous emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-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: Yes

When she is 2 years old Yona is taken from her parents by an old woman. She grows up in a forest in eastern Europe, with only her kidnapper as company. When the woman dies in 1941 Yona is left all alone, until she stumbles upon a group of Jews in the forest. She's chocked by what they tell her about what's going on in the world and she decides to help them. For the first time in her life she has to learn how to interact with other people. 

This book is based on true stories and events. I've read several books about WWll, but never from this angle. It was both interesting and frightening to get an insight in how Jews fled from the ghettos and tried to survive in the forest. It's obvious that the author has done a lot of research. 

Yona is an intriguing character with her, to say the least, eccentric upbringing. Naturally, she doesn't have that many social skills, but her instinct is to help if she can. And she definitely knows how to survive in the wilderness. She reminds me a bit about Kya in "When the Crawdads Sing", so if you enjoyed that book you'll probably like this one too!

There are a lot of characters/names to keep up with, but it didn't really bother me. The most important characters you quickly learn and the others were consigned to the periphery. The narrator was perfect in my ears and improved my reading experience quite a lot!

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challenging dark hopeful informative sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

The author did a good job weaving in the historical facts into this book. She approaches the dark and horrifying history, of the genocide that Nazi germany wrought, with a delicate hand. 
But there were plot holes that didn’t make sense,.
Like why was Yona singled out & abducted. 

The romance sub plot felt forced. I understand why it was created, it just didn’t click. L

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring 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: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense
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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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tense medium-paced
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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courtscruggs's review

4.5
adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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: No

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