A review by lachateau
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

“In love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are. Today's young people want to know everything about everyone. They think talking about a problem will solve it. I come from quieter generation. We understand the value of forgetting, the lure of reinvention.”

“She wanted to bottle how safe she felt in this moment, so she could drink of it later when loneliness and fear left her parched.”

Have placed this hold since July but I just had my copy last week!!!! This lead me to a huge expectation towards this book. This book told you about two French sisters who lived in the second world war, looking for the guide to make thing works and hold their own values highly; even somehow it was far away from the ethnic purposed them to be. It's about a book that showed you different kind of thinking that came from gap years and generation (Vianne and her rebel sister, Isabelle) and pictured how desperate Jewish on the Nazi's dictator before and on Holocaust. I read this book on May 2023 so it was before the Ceasefire from Israel to Gaza- that I wonder the Holocaust survivor made it into the gas chamber and do it again to other people, which is so sickening and triggering.

The language! I thought it would be a whole hard phrases to understand but voila, it's kinda like a YA historical fiction. I found many common dictions that make this book easy like a flowing wind. It's like a diary that has written by a 18 years old girl about finding her identity and value in the middle of chaos and war from east to the west. The ethnocentric from each parties of Jews and Nazis really studied in this book (that I wonder how they survive to live in that era) but I love how the writer wrote the story goes on ways. 

The Nightingale is a book about survival, family love, and war. You will find many exact events that Kristin stated on this book that came from deep research. The body language of the army at that time... and how they can easily mocking or even, hurting each other that came from purely hatred and evil that made them do it. The story is full of tenses and mystery, the emotional rollercoaster driven through each page as I turned into one by one. I honestly expected a bit more (since a recall how long I've been waiting for this book) but it's still worthy to read and definitely has special spot for readers who love historical fiction.