A review by melbsreads
Heroes: A Novel of Pearl Harbor by Alan Gratz

adventurous tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content warnings: war, racism, racial slurs, explosions, fire, death, xenophobia, mentions of antisemitism, drowning, blood, vomit, gun violence

I'm glad I picked this up on audiobook because I think I probably enjoyed it more this way than I would have if I'd read it with my eyeballs. Usually, Gratz can do no wrong for me - his stories are utterly gripping and extremely fast-paced - and I was interested to see what he was going to do with a Pearl Harbor story. But I think the decision here to maintain a single narrator throughout the course of the book hampered my enjoyment juuuuuuust a little because I kept wanting to know what Stanley was thinking through a lot of the events that were happening.

Still, it was a comprehensive look at the destruction of Pearl Harbor through the eyes of two young boys and while I found the ending a tad trite, the story was well worth a listen overall.