eviebookish 's review for:

Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman
2.0

I have read my share of stories revolving around Nazis and Hitler in my high school years, as they make up a huge chunk of required reading lists in any Polish school, but I have never come across a YA romance featuring someone related to the Hitler himself. I am honestly baffled and not quite sure how to feel about it. I feel repulsed but also oddly fascinated. I guess my problem with this book stems from my opinion (personal opinion) that not every historical event/period/person is right for a romanticized Young Adult do-over, and some things are just too dark and too painful to make a fitting background to a YA romance.

However, historical premise aside, I found Prisoner of Night and Fog simply unappealing. The characters were quite stereotypical and one dimensional, the writing style - bland, uninspired and devoid of any deeper emotion. I found myself struggling to remain focused on the plot line, I had a hard time connecting with the characters and I really did not care about the outcome. This is, basically, an Americanized and heavily romanticized (=skewed) vision of Nazi Germany. Yes, it's extremely well researched and grounded in actual historical events, but it doesn't feel authentic and it didn't convince me at all.