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gingerellaj's review against another edition
4.0
I received this book as an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.
A very well written book with an interesting storyline. There were elements that could've been shorter or not concise I felt but I enjoyed reading it.
A very well written book with an interesting storyline. There were elements that could've been shorter or not concise I felt but I enjoyed reading it.
livres_de_bloss's review against another edition
3.0
Klaudia was difficult to like. In fact, as other commenters have noted, most of the characters were frustrating in some regard.
This book was a bit reminiscent of Jodi Picoult's "The Storyteller", only not nearly as well done.
It wasn't bad, it just wasn't the best.
This book was a bit reminiscent of Jodi Picoult's "The Storyteller", only not nearly as well done.
It wasn't bad, it just wasn't the best.
nannyf's review against another edition
4.0
This book wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be. It was a really good read.
After reading this in one sitting I read the authors notes at the end, and the whole idea behind the story made much more sense. In fact, for me, the most important passage in the whole book isn't even part of the actually story, it is in the author's own words.
"This sudden turn of events made me understand even more clearly the need for family stories - ones handed down through generations that help to explain the story of us.
When those stories are absent, or full of ambiguity, it undermines our sense of identity."
This phrase hit a chord with me. It made me think about my own memories of my much missed grandparents, and how I would feel not knowing anything of their lives before I was born. That's what this story does, it makes you think about your own past, your memories, and how your life has gone.
The story itself is one of two parts, and three different time lines.
The first is, for Eliza, present day. She is living her life, doing something she loves, and keeping her past where it belongs, in the past. But when her past catches up to her Eliza has no choice but to return to where it all began.
The second part is the story of her father, and uncle, during the Second World War. This part of the story is the basis for what happens to Eliza as a young child growing up.
We also have a different timeline which shows Eliza as a young girl, growing up with rumours and lies surrounding her. At this stage in her life she is not Eliza, but Klaudia.
The decisions Klaudia makes due to extreme circumstances change her life, and her future, forever. But what we discover later in the story is that it's not only her choices which dictated how her life would go, but the choices made by other important people in her life also.
The story is a complex one, with many different layers within its pages. We don't find out certain things until later in the story. When we do find everything out it explains a lot.
This is a story I really enjoyed and would definitely recommend.
After reading this in one sitting I read the authors notes at the end, and the whole idea behind the story made much more sense. In fact, for me, the most important passage in the whole book isn't even part of the actually story, it is in the author's own words.
"This sudden turn of events made me understand even more clearly the need for family stories - ones handed down through generations that help to explain the story of us.
When those stories are absent, or full of ambiguity, it undermines our sense of identity."
This phrase hit a chord with me. It made me think about my own memories of my much missed grandparents, and how I would feel not knowing anything of their lives before I was born. That's what this story does, it makes you think about your own past, your memories, and how your life has gone.
The story itself is one of two parts, and three different time lines.
The first is, for Eliza, present day. She is living her life, doing something she loves, and keeping her past where it belongs, in the past. But when her past catches up to her Eliza has no choice but to return to where it all began.
The second part is the story of her father, and uncle, during the Second World War. This part of the story is the basis for what happens to Eliza as a young child growing up.
We also have a different timeline which shows Eliza as a young girl, growing up with rumours and lies surrounding her. At this stage in her life she is not Eliza, but Klaudia.
The decisions Klaudia makes due to extreme circumstances change her life, and her future, forever. But what we discover later in the story is that it's not only her choices which dictated how her life would go, but the choices made by other important people in her life also.
The story is a complex one, with many different layers within its pages. We don't find out certain things until later in the story. When we do find everything out it explains a lot.
This is a story I really enjoyed and would definitely recommend.
alexissc's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.5
amynoncsi's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 Stars
I have received this book in return of a honest review.
First of all the cover is amazingly beautiful and just reading teh first sentence i knew that i will like like this book. The writing style is really good I really did enjoy reading every single page of the book and i just loved how we can get to know the story through two views. One of the plot twist was a little bit obvious and i could kind of guess the others when it was about time to reveal them. But honestly this is a beautifully written work/book. Of course there were parts that annoyed me a little bit but it's been compensated greatly.
Thank you very much for giving me the pleasure to review it even though it's not the best review this book is amazing.
I have received this book in return of a honest review.
First of all the cover is amazingly beautiful and just reading teh first sentence i knew that i will like like this book. The writing style is really good I really did enjoy reading every single page of the book and i just loved how we can get to know the story through two views. One of the plot twist was a little bit obvious and i could kind of guess the others when it was about time to reveal them. But honestly this is a beautifully written work/book. Of course there were parts that annoyed me a little bit but it's been compensated greatly.
Thank you very much for giving me the pleasure to review it even though it's not the best review this book is amazing.
fishsticks26's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
catladylover94's review against another edition
5.0
awesome book, loved the story, and Eliza, Klaudia, but i wish their would have been more to do with her real father, but it was a good one
chrissireads's review against another edition
5.0
I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I picked up my copy of The Other Me. I had previously read and enjoyed The Twins by the same author, so I knew it was going to be good. I have to admit, the first thing that drew me to this book was the beautiful cover. If you know me at all, you’ll know that I’m passionate about dance (although I can’t dance myself!) I love to watch dancing, I love to read about dancing and I adore photos of beautiful dance work. So the cover really was its selling point for me. I wasn’t expecting such an intense, thought provoking read.
The Other Me tells a story of Klaudia who has changed her identity to attempt to hide from her family’s past. Klaudia is an only child, daughter of Otto and Gwyn Meyer. The story starts with the reader learning about Klaudia she she starts secondary school in the ’80s. Prior to secondary school, Klaudia was home schooled, so she’s nervous to make friends. Klaudia finds herself ashamed of her father who is German, and works as a caretaker at her secondary school. Klaudia is ashamed of him, as she learns that her peers call her father a Nazi. Klaudia wants to learn more about her family history and worries that the taunts of her peers may have some substance. As the story progresses, we hear from Klaudia who is living life in Leeds as Eliza, a dancer. Even though Klaudia leaves her past behind it always haunts her. As well as the story from Klaudia/Eliza we also learn about the story of Ernst, Klaudia’s father’s brother. At the heart of The Other Me is a story about identity and finding out who we really are, no matter what our past.
I thought this was an incredibly well written story. I found it utterly engrossing and once I picked it up, it was hard to put down again. This book is well worth exploring. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and didn’t expect to love it so much.
The Other Me tells a story of Klaudia who has changed her identity to attempt to hide from her family’s past. Klaudia is an only child, daughter of Otto and Gwyn Meyer. The story starts with the reader learning about Klaudia she she starts secondary school in the ’80s. Prior to secondary school, Klaudia was home schooled, so she’s nervous to make friends. Klaudia finds herself ashamed of her father who is German, and works as a caretaker at her secondary school. Klaudia is ashamed of him, as she learns that her peers call her father a Nazi. Klaudia wants to learn more about her family history and worries that the taunts of her peers may have some substance. As the story progresses, we hear from Klaudia who is living life in Leeds as Eliza, a dancer. Even though Klaudia leaves her past behind it always haunts her. As well as the story from Klaudia/Eliza we also learn about the story of Ernst, Klaudia’s father’s brother. At the heart of The Other Me is a story about identity and finding out who we really are, no matter what our past.
I thought this was an incredibly well written story. I found it utterly engrossing and once I picked it up, it was hard to put down again. This book is well worth exploring. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and didn’t expect to love it so much.
thebooktrail88's review against another edition
4.0
The trauma of war and the search for identity and one girl living two lives in Germany and England…
Booktrail of the locations in the novel Booktrail of The Other Me
Klaudia lives in Croydon, South London with her parents and has a sad lonely life. Bullied at school when the kids find out that not only is her father the caretaker but a German as well ( or Nazi according to them) her life becomes unbearable.
There are three of us at home. Well four if you count Jesus
In the 1990s, Klaudia has now abandoned her Identity and has effectively ran away to Leeds to university where her life starts over. But then this world runs into trouble when her old life follows her and the lies she’s told come back to haunt her. This running away from her story and from the place she grew up is poignant as she realises that here she can be anyone she wants to be, have new friends, start over and erase her London past. Her father has a past that she knows little about and what she does find out haunts her.
Germany
The story weaves once again back to the past as the brothers Ernst and Otto, 1930s Germany are being primed for war. Ernst is a poignant narrator as he looks back at what happened during those war years and how his brother Otto changed so much before his eyes. This was a dark dark time and the harrowing descriptions of the German campaign, in Ukraine, in Russia are brutal in their detail. But it was this line, this ideology which chilled us the most –
The Fuhrer tells everyone that the future of Germany is in the hands of its youth. There is strength in numbers. We have a new and giddy power.
How the legacy of war haunts every one of us. How memories of the past come back to haunt us, how past and present merge and how misunderstandings of human emotions and reasons can linger, fester, and damage.
This is a story about the search for identity. Klaudia who has problems in the UK with her religious mother and German father. Then with Otto and Ernst who grow up very different during the Hitler regime. although Klaudia’s story was interesting, it was the Otto and Ernst story which really capture my attention – for it raised questions that I’d never really thought of before. Just what must it have been like to have been a young man during Hitler’s rise to power. How easy was it to follow that way of thinking or try to stand out and follow your own convictions?
Both Klaudia and the brothers both feel different, the isolation and difficult choices are very hard to bear. But to see not only their lives but 1930s Germany in general through their eyes was a real insight into the time and place. These boys as with others like them are rounded characters, individuals despite the Nazi ideal of ‘collectivism’.
Ernst was the man I wanted to learn about the most and his story is very intriguing indeed.
Booktrail of the locations in the novel Booktrail of The Other Me
Klaudia lives in Croydon, South London with her parents and has a sad lonely life. Bullied at school when the kids find out that not only is her father the caretaker but a German as well ( or Nazi according to them) her life becomes unbearable.
There are three of us at home. Well four if you count Jesus
In the 1990s, Klaudia has now abandoned her Identity and has effectively ran away to Leeds to university where her life starts over. But then this world runs into trouble when her old life follows her and the lies she’s told come back to haunt her. This running away from her story and from the place she grew up is poignant as she realises that here she can be anyone she wants to be, have new friends, start over and erase her London past. Her father has a past that she knows little about and what she does find out haunts her.
Germany
The story weaves once again back to the past as the brothers Ernst and Otto, 1930s Germany are being primed for war. Ernst is a poignant narrator as he looks back at what happened during those war years and how his brother Otto changed so much before his eyes. This was a dark dark time and the harrowing descriptions of the German campaign, in Ukraine, in Russia are brutal in their detail. But it was this line, this ideology which chilled us the most –
The Fuhrer tells everyone that the future of Germany is in the hands of its youth. There is strength in numbers. We have a new and giddy power.
How the legacy of war haunts every one of us. How memories of the past come back to haunt us, how past and present merge and how misunderstandings of human emotions and reasons can linger, fester, and damage.
This is a story about the search for identity. Klaudia who has problems in the UK with her religious mother and German father. Then with Otto and Ernst who grow up very different during the Hitler regime. although Klaudia’s story was interesting, it was the Otto and Ernst story which really capture my attention – for it raised questions that I’d never really thought of before. Just what must it have been like to have been a young man during Hitler’s rise to power. How easy was it to follow that way of thinking or try to stand out and follow your own convictions?
Both Klaudia and the brothers both feel different, the isolation and difficult choices are very hard to bear. But to see not only their lives but 1930s Germany in general through their eyes was a real insight into the time and place. These boys as with others like them are rounded characters, individuals despite the Nazi ideal of ‘collectivism’.
Ernst was the man I wanted to learn about the most and his story is very intriguing indeed.