A review by mlindsey441
Avenue of Spies: A True Story of Terror, Espionage, and One American Family's Heroic Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Paris by Alex Kershaw

3.0

This one was a struggle for me. I'm fairly certain my 11th grade History teacher may have skipped World War II -- either that or there was a cute boy in the class. Either one are equal possibilities here. My own lack of background knowledge of the resistance in Nazi-occupied Paris, as well as my ignorance about much of World War II, put me at a significant disadvantage as I read. The author assumes his readers have a rather strong working knowledge of this time period. There were parts that felt confusing to me and many names that were meaningless to me. This made the book drag on at times and I confess to perhaps drifting off from time-to-time in my reading.

At the same time, there were portions of the book that read like fiction -- narrow escapes, kind and heroic acts, and a few great action scenes. These parts of the book made me feel like I was watching a movie and were great redeeming features of my reading experience. I am glad I made the effort to push through the more difficult, slow going bits.

I think readers who are frequent readers of WWII history will really enjoy this book, as it is likely a little known story of resistance, so I appreciate it for that contribution. It also showed me my own gross ignorance about this time period and I am grateful to the opportunity to fill in some of the (rather embarrassing) gaps in my historical knowledge.