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celia_thebookishhufflepuff 's review for:
Caging Skies
by Christine Leunens
There has only ever been one book I've read where I would honestly argue the movie did a better job than the novel. But looking at [b:Caging Skies|42793999|Caging Skies|Christine Leunens|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1560049490l/42793999._SY75_.jpg|45459223] and its recent adaptation, Jojo Rabbit, I honestly argue that the movie did a much better job of telling the story.
The story's premise is that there is this kid named Johannes (or Jojo in the movie), living in Austria during WWII. He is an active member of the Hitler Youth, but his parents are also hiding a Jewish girl in their attic. Johannes slowly discovers her and starts to question his views and what he's been told by his Hitler-centric schooling.
In the novel, Johannes is fifteen or sixteen when he discovers Elsa, and he comes to lust after her, mostly because he doesn't really have contact with the outside world after an accident that keeps him from working actively with the Hitler Youth. He is fully capable of making his own decisions, and is old enough to understand the repercussions of the war from both sides.
In the movie, Jojo is ten years old, an impressionable kid. In a lot of ways, I appreciated that portrayal of his character much more than that of young adult Johannes, because I feel like it captured the elements of satire better than [a:Christine Leunens|1147487|Christine Leunens|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] did with her imagination of this novel. I just didn't see the story as satirical as it claimed to be. With the movie, on the other hand, I feel like it did a good job of capturing the truth of the war in a more relatable, but also roll-your-eyes-funny kind of way.
I hate to see a movie before I read a book, but in this case, I fully believe I would not have gone to see Jojo Rabbit if I knew it was based on this novel. One of the biggest themes in [b:Caging Skies|42793999|Caging Skies|Christine Leunens|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1560049490l/42793999._SY75_.jpg|45459223] that was thankfully missing from the movie was the idea of forced Stockholm syndrome. But that was exactly what he did, reasoning that Elsa would love him if only given time.
The movie ends at about the halfway point of the novel. Again, I usually don't respect this, but there was a lot of unnecessary action that follows the war in the novel, namely the Stockholm syndrome thing. I would not recommend this book to anyone who has had a traumatic experience with Stockholm syndrome, kidnapping, or anything of the like, because of the way [a:Christine Leunens|1147487|Christine Leunens|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] deals with it.
Truly, I am glad that [a:Taika Waititi|17735961|Taika Waititi|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] won Best Adapted Screenplay for Jojo Rabbit. A book with this many character flaws is very hard to adapt into something as good and heartwarming as that film was. I first wondered why [a:Christine Leunens|1147487|Christine Leunens|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] first wrote a version of this novel in 2008, and then there was no 2nd publication date until 2019. After reading the novel, I understand why she needed to cut out more than a hundred pages, and why reactions may have been such that would keep her from republishing for more than ten years.
Disclaimer:
The story's premise is that there is this kid named Johannes (or Jojo in the movie), living in Austria during WWII. He is an active member of the Hitler Youth, but his parents are also hiding a Jewish girl in their attic. Johannes slowly discovers her and starts to question his views and what he's been told by his Hitler-centric schooling.
In the novel, Johannes is fifteen or sixteen when he discovers Elsa, and he comes to lust after her, mostly because he doesn't really have contact with the outside world after an accident that keeps him from working actively with the Hitler Youth. He is fully capable of making his own decisions, and is old enough to understand the repercussions of the war from both sides.
In the movie, Jojo is ten years old, an impressionable kid. In a lot of ways, I appreciated that portrayal of his character much more than that of young adult Johannes, because I feel like it captured the elements of satire better than [a:Christine Leunens|1147487|Christine Leunens|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] did with her imagination of this novel. I just didn't see the story as satirical as it claimed to be. With the movie, on the other hand, I feel like it did a good job of capturing the truth of the war in a more relatable, but also roll-your-eyes-funny kind of way.
I hate to see a movie before I read a book, but in this case, I fully believe I would not have gone to see Jojo Rabbit if I knew it was based on this novel. One of the biggest themes in [b:Caging Skies|42793999|Caging Skies|Christine Leunens|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1560049490l/42793999._SY75_.jpg|45459223] that was thankfully missing from the movie was the idea of forced Stockholm syndrome.
Spoiler
While Johannes did have to help Elsa after his parents died, he had no reason to do what he did afterwards by not telling her the war was over, for four years, and keeping her a prisoner in his own house.The movie ends at about the halfway point of the novel. Again, I usually don't respect this, but there was a lot of unnecessary action that follows the war in the novel, namely the Stockholm syndrome thing. I would not recommend this book to anyone who has had a traumatic experience with Stockholm syndrome, kidnapping, or anything of the like, because of the way [a:Christine Leunens|1147487|Christine Leunens|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] deals with it.
Truly, I am glad that [a:Taika Waititi|17735961|Taika Waititi|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] won Best Adapted Screenplay for Jojo Rabbit. A book with this many character flaws is very hard to adapt into something as good and heartwarming as that film was. I first wondered why [a:Christine Leunens|1147487|Christine Leunens|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] first wrote a version of this novel in 2008, and then there was no 2nd publication date until 2019. After reading the novel, I understand why she needed to cut out more than a hundred pages, and why reactions may have been such that would keep her from republishing for more than ten years.
Disclaimer: