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A review by lauraborkpower
The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel
3.0
Please add a half star to this rating.
I started out slowly with this book, and I know why: I downloaded the e-book from the library, and the text copy includes breakdowns of each major character (there are a lot) at the start of the book, before the story begins. This was daunting; I felt that I needed to memorize all of the names and bios before I could even start the story. I finally got about halfway through (thanks to being stopped on the Metra for two hours one night in December and having ample reading time) but then put it down during the holidays.
And there it sat, unread, for weeks, until a couple of weeks ago I made the decision (after finishing The Caine Mutiny and being in the listening mood for more WWII drama) to start over with the audiobook. And this was the best choice for me. The audiobook leaves out all of the clumsy bios and just starts the story. And it is really a good story.
There are a lot of characters, but getting them in context rather than in an isolated list makes a huge difference. It's not really a thriller, but an academic adventure with elements of mystery and, of course, war. I loved getting first hand accounts through the men's letters home, and it was exciting to imagine each of them plodding across Europe to track down these treasures. The narrator, Jeremy Davidson, does a solid job and doesn't try too hard to make each character too distinct, which would have ended up with too many put-on and fake voices. His English accent, though, is weak, so luckily there are only a couple minor English characters.
It's an emotional but quiet kind of adventure. I'm nervous that the movie will turn it into a wartime Ocean's Eleven and sex it up (this is not a sexy story). But I'll still watch it and laugh at Goodman chewing scenery.
I started out slowly with this book, and I know why: I downloaded the e-book from the library, and the text copy includes breakdowns of each major character (there are a lot) at the start of the book, before the story begins. This was daunting; I felt that I needed to memorize all of the names and bios before I could even start the story. I finally got about halfway through (thanks to being stopped on the Metra for two hours one night in December and having ample reading time) but then put it down during the holidays.
And there it sat, unread, for weeks, until a couple of weeks ago I made the decision (after finishing The Caine Mutiny and being in the listening mood for more WWII drama) to start over with the audiobook. And this was the best choice for me. The audiobook leaves out all of the clumsy bios and just starts the story. And it is really a good story.
There are a lot of characters, but getting them in context rather than in an isolated list makes a huge difference. It's not really a thriller, but an academic adventure with elements of mystery and, of course, war. I loved getting first hand accounts through the men's letters home, and it was exciting to imagine each of them plodding across Europe to track down these treasures. The narrator, Jeremy Davidson, does a solid job and doesn't try too hard to make each character too distinct, which would have ended up with too many put-on and fake voices. His English accent, though, is weak, so luckily there are only a couple minor English characters.
It's an emotional but quiet kind of adventure. I'm nervous that the movie will turn it into a wartime Ocean's Eleven and sex it up (this is not a sexy story). But I'll still watch it and laugh at Goodman chewing scenery.