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A review by redheadedbookworm84
Things We Didn't Say by Amy Lynn Green
3.0
I would say more of a 3.5 star rating then a straight 3. Honestly, I struggled with how to rate it. On one hand, I wanted to rate it a 5 because it’s obvious the author is extremely talented and the historical aspect of her work intrigued me greatly. But, I just felt that the concept of the entire book being written in letter format fell kind of flat. I’m in no way against this type of format, I felt it had great potential but I think having chosen the topic she did, it would have been more interesting as a “regular” novel format.
The last few chapters were probably the most interesting for me but also felt a bit rushed. I think in a “normal” novel setting she maybe could have fleshed out a bit better certain characters and their reasonings and motives behind why they did specific things…..I just felt that, for the size of book it is, it took too long to build up to the climax, and then it just kind of ended. (Sorry for the vagueness, trying to prevent spoilers!) I do feel like the Author’s writing talent really showed in the last couple of chapters/epilogue when the “big stuff” actually started happening….it made me wish the “action” had started a lot earlier!
I was left feeling like I never really got to know the characters in depth (even she admits in the back that because of the letter writing format there is hardly any explanation of what the characters even look like…and while I realize physical description of characters isn’t all there is to a great book, it definitely helps when trying to “put a face” to what you’re reading!). I think if she had even done more of a “focus each chapter on a specific character’s point of view” format, that would have helped me have more of a personal feel to each person. I finished the book not really feeling much of a connection to any of the characters and really not feeling all that invested in the storyline. (I will say, it *did*prick my curiosity about POW camps during WWII….I plan to do some further research on that to learn more!)
Honestly, even though this wasn’t my most favorite historical fiction I’ve read, I will absolutely still be keeping my eye on this author in the future as I do find her extremely talented!
The last few chapters were probably the most interesting for me but also felt a bit rushed. I think in a “normal” novel setting she maybe could have fleshed out a bit better certain characters and their reasonings and motives behind why they did specific things…..I just felt that, for the size of book it is, it took too long to build up to the climax, and then it just kind of ended. (Sorry for the vagueness, trying to prevent spoilers!) I do feel like the Author’s writing talent really showed in the last couple of chapters/epilogue when the “big stuff” actually started happening….it made me wish the “action” had started a lot earlier!
I was left feeling like I never really got to know the characters in depth (even she admits in the back that because of the letter writing format there is hardly any explanation of what the characters even look like…and while I realize physical description of characters isn’t all there is to a great book, it definitely helps when trying to “put a face” to what you’re reading!). I think if she had even done more of a “focus each chapter on a specific character’s point of view” format, that would have helped me have more of a personal feel to each person. I finished the book not really feeling much of a connection to any of the characters and really not feeling all that invested in the storyline. (I will say, it *did*prick my curiosity about POW camps during WWII….I plan to do some further research on that to learn more!)
Honestly, even though this wasn’t my most favorite historical fiction I’ve read, I will absolutely still be keeping my eye on this author in the future as I do find her extremely talented!