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angiebayne 's review for:
The Women in the Castle
by Jessica Shattuck
The Women in the Castle tells the story of three German widows in the aftermath of WWII: Marianne, Benita and Ania. Marianne brings the women and their children together at Berg Lingenfels, her husband's family castle, after the war. Their husbands were all conspirators in a plot to kill Hitler that failed and Marianne was charged with looking after the wives and families of those conspirators. Marianne was part of the social elite of Germany before the war. She is well educated and sophisticated, but also fiercely loyal and a staunch anti-Nazi. Benita was the wife of Marianne's best friend Connie Flederman. Marianne finds Benita is Russian occupied Berlin and her son Martin in a reeducation home for children. She rescues them and brings them home as part of her family. She also finds Ania, who she had never met before, but who is also the widow of a resistor. Ania and her two sons are also relocated to Berg Lingenfels. The three women form a bond of survival and mutual respect as the fight to endure the hardships of post-war Germany.
This story skips around in time. We begin before the war in 1938 when the conspirators are plotting against Hitler. It is there that we are introduced to Marianne and Benita. We then move to 1945 after the war when Marianne brings the families together. We learn more about their fight for survival during the war through flashbacks. We also learn a bit more about the women before the war. Then we move forward to 1950 when Germany is back on its feet and the women have stability and peace once more. This is when their friendship and family unit falls apart, mostly due to Marianne's rigidity. The book ends with a reunion at Berg Lingenfels in 1991 when we get to see what happened to all these characters in the intervening years.
I thought the book was interesting and at times entertaining, but it did not blow me away. I think it was mainly because of the characters. There were parts of the book were I disliked Marianne intensely. Her black and white view of the world destroyed lives and friendships that didn't need to be destroyed. However, this book was well written and I feel like the characters may have been very close representations of how they would have been in real life. It is a compelling tale and a perspective not often given to WWII novels. The audio was excellent. It just wasn't my favorite book.
This story skips around in time. We begin before the war in 1938 when the conspirators are plotting against Hitler. It is there that we are introduced to Marianne and Benita. We then move to 1945 after the war when Marianne brings the families together. We learn more about their fight for survival during the war through flashbacks. We also learn a bit more about the women before the war. Then we move forward to 1950 when Germany is back on its feet and the women have stability and peace once more. This is when their friendship and family unit falls apart, mostly due to Marianne's rigidity. The book ends with a reunion at Berg Lingenfels in 1991 when we get to see what happened to all these characters in the intervening years.
I thought the book was interesting and at times entertaining, but it did not blow me away. I think it was mainly because of the characters. There were parts of the book were I disliked Marianne intensely. Her black and white view of the world destroyed lives and friendships that didn't need to be destroyed. However, this book was well written and I feel like the characters may have been very close representations of how they would have been in real life. It is a compelling tale and a perspective not often given to WWII novels. The audio was excellent. It just wasn't my favorite book.