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jenweening 's review for:
We Were the Lucky Ones
by Georgia Hunter
Lately, I've been finding that a lot of the WWII / Holocaust fiction I've been reading has been very popular but I haven't enjoyed it at all. "Refreshing" is not a good word for this book, but when compared to the recent stuff of the same genre that I've read, it does apply. This book was actually well written, and I didn't find myself getting annoyed at the author for the narrative style. It didn't take me long to get into it, and once I started it was hard to put it down.
The story was sweeping, covering a lot of characters in different places, but for the most part I could keep things straight. I found myself referring to the family tree at the start of the book on a regular basis, as I had a hard time remembering which characters were the children of the main parents and which were in-laws or partners. It would have been helpful to see a bit of a larger cast of characters listed at the front, in addition to the immediate family.
I was intrigued to read the afterword and find out that the author was Addy's granddaughter. I knew that this was the author's family story, but for some reason, I didn't expect it to be that of Addy. In any case, Addy's story of fleeing to Brazil was an aspect of the war that was brand new to me. The whole thing with the ambassador signing visas to try to help save people, to the chagrin of the leader of the country, was interesting.
Along those same lines, the transfer of the Polish prisoners to Siberia was another thread of the history of WWII that I wasn't familiar with, especially of the split between the Soviets and the Germans and how that ended up affecting the outcome of the war. (As a side note, the brief summary of main historical events that were placed between pertinent chapters was a huge help for understanding the place of the characters in the larger story.)
The parts about Mila and Felicia I found hardest to read. Having a daughter myself I'm sure had something to do with it. I was sick with worry as I read these sections, especially the scenes with the close calls. The thought of that mother's sheer agony if anything were to happen hit me hard. And then I realized that for hundreds of thousands of mothers, they weren't as "lucky" as Mila and Felicia. It is heartbreaking.
Finally, it really is astounding that the entire immediate family survived. In Felicia's words in the author's note, "We were the lucky ones." How true indeed.
The story was sweeping, covering a lot of characters in different places, but for the most part I could keep things straight. I found myself referring to the family tree at the start of the book on a regular basis, as I had a hard time remembering which characters were the children of the main parents and which were in-laws or partners. It would have been helpful to see a bit of a larger cast of characters listed at the front, in addition to the immediate family.
I was intrigued to read the afterword and find out that the author was Addy's granddaughter. I knew that this was the author's family story, but for some reason, I didn't expect it to be that of Addy. In any case, Addy's story of fleeing to Brazil was an aspect of the war that was brand new to me. The whole thing with the ambassador signing visas to try to help save people, to the chagrin of the leader of the country, was interesting.
Along those same lines, the transfer of the Polish prisoners to Siberia was another thread of the history of WWII that I wasn't familiar with, especially of the split between the Soviets and the Germans and how that ended up affecting the outcome of the war. (As a side note, the brief summary of main historical events that were placed between pertinent chapters was a huge help for understanding the place of the characters in the larger story.)
The parts about Mila and Felicia I found hardest to read. Having a daughter myself I'm sure had something to do with it. I was sick with worry as I read these sections, especially the scenes with the close calls. The thought of that mother's sheer agony if anything were to happen hit me hard. And then I realized that for hundreds of thousands of mothers, they weren't as "lucky" as Mila and Felicia. It is heartbreaking.
Finally, it really is astounding that the entire immediate family survived. In Felicia's words in the author's note, "We were the lucky ones." How true indeed.