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A review by ksander
Winter Men by Jesper Bugge Kold
3.0
Well-written historical fiction
Another welcome opportunity from KindleFirst to discover an author and a work I wouldn't have likely found otherwise. The book follows two brothers and their families through the prelude to World War II in Germany and its aftermath, offering both a reminder that real people are behind these momentous historical events and a glimpse of what their paths may well have been like. As the grandson of a German who emigrated to the US in the mid-thirties but who left siblings behind, I couldn't help but wonder whether any of my not-so-distant relatives had similar experiences.
The characters have a nice amount of depth to them, but if I have a critique it's that I feel there was potential for more in-depth exploration of how they came to the decisions they made, how their world-views evolved the way they did. The story unfolds in a series of vignettes and one gets the sense of dropping in on the characters and seeing them at discrete points in time; there's a degree of context that links vignette to vignette, but I felt the characters and their saga cried out for a more thorough exploration, which is why I didn't give it a 4 or 5. Still, an enjoyable read.
Another welcome opportunity from KindleFirst to discover an author and a work I wouldn't have likely found otherwise. The book follows two brothers and their families through the prelude to World War II in Germany and its aftermath, offering both a reminder that real people are behind these momentous historical events and a glimpse of what their paths may well have been like. As the grandson of a German who emigrated to the US in the mid-thirties but who left siblings behind, I couldn't help but wonder whether any of my not-so-distant relatives had similar experiences.
The characters have a nice amount of depth to them, but if I have a critique it's that I feel there was potential for more in-depth exploration of how they came to the decisions they made, how their world-views evolved the way they did. The story unfolds in a series of vignettes and one gets the sense of dropping in on the characters and seeing them at discrete points in time; there's a degree of context that links vignette to vignette, but I felt the characters and their saga cried out for a more thorough exploration, which is why I didn't give it a 4 or 5. Still, an enjoyable read.