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allaboutfrodo 's review for:
The Librarian of Burned Books
by Brianna Labuskes
The Librarian of Burned Books is very readable. It has an inspiring message about the power of books and the need for a variety of books. There is a lot in here that resonates with the attempts in today’s United States to remove books from libraries. (“[B]anning books, blocking books is often used as a way to erase a people, a belief system, a culture. To say these voices don’t belong here, even when those writers represent the very best of a country.” “Goebbels and Hitler…convinced a country that setting fire to words that you don’t like or don’t agree with will make you right.” (p. 363))
I did find it confusing that two of main characters were in each other’s stories to the extent they were. It was a challenge for me to keep their two timelines (1933 and 1936/37) straight. Hannah in particular hardly seemed like the same person in her own chapters and in Althea’s. I guess authors have to try to differentiate their stories from other stories that have been told about similar events, but I found more drama (or melodrama) in this book than was necessary. I didn’t feel we needed the intense relationship between Hannah and Althea and I really was sorry that Viv lost not a husband that she truly loved as a partner but a best friend. Conveniently for her, unlike the thousands of women who had to carry on after their husbands died, the man she was in love with was still alive.
The book is also a little too feminist. The brother is the idiot who plans to die fighting the Nazis and is captured and put to death instead; it is a man who betrays Hannah, not a woman. I like strong female characters but this was a little too Girl Power for my tastes.
I went through a German and French Resistance reading period in junior high. My father never said anything – he rarely talked about the war – but I wonder what he thought because I wasn’t reading any books about the Pacific theater. He never showed any interest in any movies, books, or articles about the war in Europe. I may have missed some subtle references, but I don’t remember this book even mentioning the Pacific. This passage in particular struck me: “Viv…sent…letters diligently copied from originals pouring in from servicemen stationed around the globe. Men who were watching the invasion from afar, aghast and disheartened that they weren’t fighting alongside their brothers.” (p. 255) Plenty of those men were fighting for their own lives on distant beaches and in distant jungles. I guess I’ve turned into my father because my major criticism of The Librarian of Burned Books is that one could read it and think the only important part of World War II was in Europe.
Anyway, it should make a good book discussion book. We’ll see this week.
I did find it confusing that two of main characters were in each other’s stories to the extent they were. It was a challenge for me to keep their two timelines (1933 and 1936/37) straight. Hannah in particular hardly seemed like the same person in her own chapters and in Althea’s. I guess authors have to try to differentiate their stories from other stories that have been told about similar events, but I found more drama (or melodrama) in this book than was necessary. I didn’t feel we needed the intense relationship between Hannah and Althea and I really was sorry that Viv lost not a husband that she truly loved as a partner but a best friend. Conveniently for her, unlike the thousands of women who had to carry on after their husbands died, the man she was in love with was still alive.
The book is also a little too feminist. The brother is the idiot who plans to die fighting the Nazis and is captured and put to death instead; it is a man who betrays Hannah, not a woman. I like strong female characters but this was a little too Girl Power for my tastes.
I went through a German and French Resistance reading period in junior high. My father never said anything – he rarely talked about the war – but I wonder what he thought because I wasn’t reading any books about the Pacific theater. He never showed any interest in any movies, books, or articles about the war in Europe. I may have missed some subtle references, but I don’t remember this book even mentioning the Pacific. This passage in particular struck me: “Viv…sent…letters diligently copied from originals pouring in from servicemen stationed around the globe. Men who were watching the invasion from afar, aghast and disheartened that they weren’t fighting alongside their brothers.” (p. 255) Plenty of those men were fighting for their own lives on distant beaches and in distant jungles. I guess I’ve turned into my father because my major criticism of The Librarian of Burned Books is that one could read it and think the only important part of World War II was in Europe.
Anyway, it should make a good book discussion book. We’ll see this week.