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A review by lisamshardlow
The Girls in the Attic by Marius Gabriel
4.0
Max Wolff is a loyal soldier of the Third Reich’s Wehrmacht (German army) during WWII. So he is very misguidedly outraged, when he returns home on leave with a head injury, to find that his mother is harbouring two Jewish girls in their attic. His mother’s actions go against everything Max believes in, but as the war comes ever closer to their hometown, he is forced to abandon his beliefs and to confront the reality of the war.
This was very graphic. It doesn’t skim around the realities of what normal everyday people would have gone through living in war-torn Germany. There was a lot of very harrowing and upsetting descriptions throughout. But there was also something very beautiful that happens to Max, a change that he goes through when he starts to realise that maybe not everything that the Nazis have been saying is the truth. This is why I end up loving Max, probably as much as Lola loves him. I also really love Lola, she’s a perfect example of how strong and resilient people can be when faced with such horrors - anti-semitism, racism, persecution, prejudice, bodily harm, threat of death, witnessing the death of loved ones, etc.
There is a love story that weaves its way into the story, but I just wasn’t really convinced by it. I don’t know if it was the circumstances that the characters were in, but I just didn’t really feel as though there was much chemistry between the two of them. And this is the only real criticism that I have of this book.
Because of the, in my opinion, unconvincing love story, I give this 4 out of 5 stars. I did really enjoy it for the most part. I really cared for the characters, and I really cared about what was going to happen to them. And I truly believe that stories like this must be told, to ensure that it never happens again.
I would recommend this to anyone who loves historical fiction, stories about the second world war, people who are against anti-semitism, romance, very good character progression, and graphic descriptions of war.
This was very graphic. It doesn’t skim around the realities of what normal everyday people would have gone through living in war-torn Germany. There was a lot of very harrowing and upsetting descriptions throughout. But there was also something very beautiful that happens to Max, a change that he goes through when he starts to realise that maybe not everything that the Nazis have been saying is the truth. This is why I end up loving Max, probably as much as Lola loves him. I also really love Lola, she’s a perfect example of how strong and resilient people can be when faced with such horrors - anti-semitism, racism, persecution, prejudice, bodily harm, threat of death, witnessing the death of loved ones, etc.
There is a love story that weaves its way into the story, but I just wasn’t really convinced by it. I don’t know if it was the circumstances that the characters were in, but I just didn’t really feel as though there was much chemistry between the two of them. And this is the only real criticism that I have of this book.
Because of the, in my opinion, unconvincing love story, I give this 4 out of 5 stars. I did really enjoy it for the most part. I really cared for the characters, and I really cared about what was going to happen to them. And I truly believe that stories like this must be told, to ensure that it never happens again.
I would recommend this to anyone who loves historical fiction, stories about the second world war, people who are against anti-semitism, romance, very good character progression, and graphic descriptions of war.