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A review by quietkat
Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle by Ben Macintyre
4.0
War stories are usually about what happened. The story of Colditz, by contrast, is largely a tale of inactivity, a long procession of duplicate days when little of note occurred, punctuated by moments of intense excitement.
I honestly could not have asked for a more perfect summary of the feel of Prisoners of the Castle.
While POTC offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the prisoners within the walls of the Colditz castle POW camp as well as those of some of the more prominent guards of the castle, at times, it was a bit of a slog. As I mentioned in one of my status updates, the content is well researched & entertaining but the storytelling could have benefitted from more critical editing and paring down of some of the extraneous detail. The individual stories within this book are fascinating, enlightening and engaging but interspersed between and within these stories are trivial, extraneous details that bog down the narrative. Not even 50%, I began to feel the drag to the point I low key wanted to quit. Forging on was absolutely worth it though as POTC is filled with information and stories that are surprising, shocking, inspiring and humorous as well as those that are heartbreaking, enraging and saddening.
Having read many WWII books and memoirs, Prisoners of the Castle is a new and unique addition to my WWII library that helps to broaden my perspective and understanding of the war and lives of those touched by it.
I tend to prefer to read a book before listening to the audiobook but in this case, I think I would have preferred to listen to the audiobook from the outset. The audio sample sounds good and I may return to it some day.
3.75 -4 stars
I honestly could not have asked for a more perfect summary of the feel of Prisoners of the Castle.
While POTC offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the prisoners within the walls of the Colditz castle POW camp as well as those of some of the more prominent guards of the castle, at times, it was a bit of a slog. As I mentioned in one of my status updates, the content is well researched & entertaining but the storytelling could have benefitted from more critical editing and paring down of some of the extraneous detail. The individual stories within this book are fascinating, enlightening and engaging but interspersed between and within these stories are trivial, extraneous details that bog down the narrative. Not even 50%, I began to feel the drag to the point I low key wanted to quit. Forging on was absolutely worth it though as POTC is filled with information and stories that are surprising, shocking, inspiring and humorous as well as those that are heartbreaking, enraging and saddening.
Having read many WWII books and memoirs, Prisoners of the Castle is a new and unique addition to my WWII library that helps to broaden my perspective and understanding of the war and lives of those touched by it.
I tend to prefer to read a book before listening to the audiobook but in this case, I think I would have preferred to listen to the audiobook from the outset. The audio sample sounds good and I may return to it some day.
3.75 -4 stars