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A review by siobhanward
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Reese's Book Club Pick 67/70
So I'm going to separate my thoughts on the book itself from my thoughts on it being a Reese's Book Club pick, because I have a LOT of those, but they're not Hannah's fault. That all to say though, there's a very good chance this will be my last (intentionally read) Reese's Club pick because this was a huge misstep as a pick and there was nothing said about it.
However, this still just wasn't a good book. Yes, it was written 8 years ago, and a lot of things have happened since then, but one of the things is that Hannah has written a lot of better books, so why can't we just leave this one aside?
The good news is, I think I've found the trope that I'm even more tired of than wartime women, which turns out to be white saviours. I know that there were many everyday people who did a whole lot to save Jewish people (and others) during WWII, but I'm just over Jewish characters in wartime books existing only to redeem our protagonist.
Again, acknowledging that this book was written in 2015, which was pre-Trump, I still think that we don't need more kind Nazi plots. Maybe at the time it seemed less like an awful idea, but again, with everything that has happened in the past 8 years, maybe we don't need to focus on books where there is a Nazi character with a kind heart. We just really don't need that right now, sorry.
Anyway, Reese, next time you want to "combat antisemitism" through your book club, maybe pick a book by an actual Jewish author, where there are Jewish characters who exist for a reason other than for a non-Jewish person to save them...
So I'm going to separate my thoughts on the book itself from my thoughts on it being a Reese's Book Club pick, because I have a LOT of those, but they're not Hannah's fault. That all to say though, there's a very good chance this will be my last (intentionally read) Reese's Club pick because this was a huge misstep as a pick and there was nothing said about it.
However, this still just wasn't a good book. Yes, it was written 8 years ago, and a lot of things have happened since then, but one of the things is that Hannah has written a lot of better books, so why can't we just leave this one aside?
The good news is, I think I've found the trope that I'm even more tired of than wartime women, which turns out to be white saviours. I know that there were many everyday people who did a whole lot to save Jewish people (and others) during WWII, but I'm just over Jewish characters in wartime books existing only to redeem our protagonist.
Again, acknowledging that this book was written in 2015, which was pre-Trump, I still think that we don't need more kind Nazi plots. Maybe at the time it seemed less like an awful idea, but again, with everything that has happened in the past 8 years, maybe we don't need to focus on books where there is a Nazi character with a kind heart. We just really don't need that right now, sorry.
Anyway, Reese, next time you want to "combat antisemitism" through your book club, maybe pick a book by an actual Jewish author, where there are Jewish characters who exist for a reason other than for a non-Jewish person to save them...
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Antisemitism, and War
Moderate: Cancer and Death of parent