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A review by paperbacksandsketchbooks
The Sunflower House by Adriana Allegri
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Thank you St Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
This was a super deep, super heavy read about a horrible part of WWII (and even pre-WWII): eugenics.
Going into this book, I knew nothing about Lebensborn or eugenics or anything of the sort. It is not something I was taught in history classes. It disturbed me to my core.
We have our main character Allina, who goes to live and work at Hochland Home (a lebensborn facility) after the most horrible thing happens to her. I loved Allina. She was the perfect main character for this story. She wanted to change the program and actually help these children and treat them like humans. She despised the n*zis and their leader. Yet she does something I didn't think she would do -she falls for an SS officer, Karl.
I'm always iffy on books that feature members of the n*zi party as main characters. Karl is an SS officer. He is written well. He's also very ambiguous and I couldn't tell if he liked or hated what he had to do. Turns outhe hated the eugenics program and everything to do with the state of Germany in this time period. Doesn't excuse his actions, though.
I didn't love everything about this book(like how our MMC is smuggling the Jewish people out of Germany but continuing to hide behind his SS uniform... which I know they had to do back then but this is historical *fiction*, it could've strayed from reality a liiiitle bit there) , but I did love how this story was told and how much emotion was behind it, which is why it still gets five stars. It also taught me something I knew nothing about.
Overall, super emotional read with underlying feelings of hope for a better future. This book also reminds us that sometimes the truth isn't pretty but it should always be spoken.
This was a super deep, super heavy read about a horrible part of WWII (and even pre-WWII): eugenics.
Going into this book, I knew nothing about Lebensborn or eugenics or anything of the sort. It is not something I was taught in history classes. It disturbed me to my core.
We have our main character Allina, who goes to live and work at Hochland Home (a lebensborn facility) after the most horrible thing happens to her. I loved Allina. She was the perfect main character for this story. She wanted to change the program and actually help these children and treat them like humans. She despised the n*zis and their leader. Yet she does something I didn't think she would do -
I'm always iffy on books that feature members of the n*zi party as main characters. Karl is an SS officer. He is written well. He's also very ambiguous and I couldn't tell if he liked or hated what he had to do. Turns out
I didn't love everything about this book
Overall, super emotional read with underlying feelings of hope for a better future. This book also reminds us that sometimes the truth isn't pretty but it should always be spoken.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Antisemitism