I didn't have a lot of knowledge of the civil war in Yugoslavia, even though I was a young teen at the time. I do remember watching the news and seeing the stories about the war and I remember the genocide but unfortunately, since I was young, it didn't resonate with me at the time. This book was interesting in the way that (historical) fiction can be, you enjoy it but are incredibly thankful you haven't had to endure the atrocities and trauma the characters on the book do. It was an emotional read in the way that war based fiction usually is. It is hard to imagine the things that children of war endure and are force to participate in.
Wow, wow, wow this is a very timely book and I am floored that Lawrence Wright started it in 2017. It's a playbook for the Covid pandemic we are currently in. A plague overtakes the entire world, Russia is using cyber warfare to knock electric grids out and plant viruses in computer systems, Russia also building up troops on the Ukraine border and antagonizing adversaries. Is this virus naturally occurring or man made? Where did it start? Will civilization survive? This book took me a while to read because it was way too close to current life. I would definitely recommend.
The book had some interesting information in case the reader isn't familiar with the siege of Leningrad but it wasn't a book that I found completely compelling. I see some complaints about how the book perspective and the time shifts with little warning and it is hard to keep track. I found that to be the case as well but I am wondering if that was purposeful on the author's part as to make the reader feel as disconcerted and confused as Marina does with her dementia. Judging by the book description, that's probably not the case but that was my takeaway from the style of writing. If half stars were possible, I would rate it a 3.5.
I enjoyed this book but felt like it could have been shorter as the back and forth of them needing to be together and then needing to be apart over and over again became too repetitive. I found myself wanting the story to move forward into more depth aside from the on again/off again from one chapter to the next. I did “enjoy” the perspective of living through the Japanese occupation of Shanghai as most World War II historical fiction takes place in Europe.
This is definitely a sweeping novel. It was almost too sweeping as it contained an overload of experience crammed into one book. I would have preferred the story to just be about the mother's experience from leaving the USA for Russia and forward to 2008 instead of the back and forth in time and the chapter focus from the mother's story to the present day son's story. That is just personal preference as it would have been easier to retain the information and not need to switch perspective so often. It got tedious at times.
This book didn't seem to match the jacket description. I thought the book would be about saving Jewish children and was really interested in how the author was going to imagine that in filling in the missing journal entries of poet Elizabeth Bishop. That was a very small plot point of the book and I found myself becoming more and more disinterested in the book.
This was a very interesting book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I love books where I can picture the scenes and ponder what I would do in those haunting situations. If I was able to save an infant in that situation, would I continue to pretend the baby was mine because I fell in love with him? Would I convince myself that there is no reason to check if his parents survived and just move on? Or, would I be the person I would want myself to be and do everything I can to reunite that baby with his family? I do not know, but I hope I would be the latter.
This was an excellent book, both in terms of a mystery to solve and in a different perspective on war survival when it comes to World War II. I read a lot of historical fiction surrounding WWII and this was a completely different take on the time period. If you are looking for something different but set in that time period, this is the book for you.
I came across this book after I read The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. Kristin's book was so beautifully tragic and I wanted to stay in that time period of immense struggle. It is an interesting idea to imagine a story behind the photo of the “Migrant Mother” and what her life may have looked like and how that photo came about. I understand the reason behind the current day history professor his story but I could have done without that part of the book. That's personal preference as I thought the book would have been compelling even without that storyline. It seems that dual storylines are popular with novelists but sometimes it's not necessary.
I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway and am I ever glad I did. This book follows an American nurse stationed in The Philipines and the sister of a Filipino nurse during WWII. One aspect of the book I enjoyed was some chapters written in first person and others in third, depending on which character the paragraph referred to. I have not read many WWII genre novels that take place in the Pacific theater and this was a good one. I definitely learned what the internment of the Angels of Bataan may have been like and also some history of The Philipines. The imagery was plentiful as was the emotional aspect of the subjects. This is a must read book in the hisorical fiction genre.
It was not obvious from the cover or synopsis that this was a Christian historical fiction. I don't have any issue with that genre but I did not like that the two main characters escape the Nazis because of Jesus's love and their Christian faith. I also found it disturbing that the reason they were being hunted was because the main character, a reporter, received a letter from her mother informing her that three sets of her grandparents were Jews who had converted to Christianity. Of course, her letter was read by the Nazis who then then considered her to be Jewish. They stole her passport and replaced it with German passport marking her as a Jew so she couldn't escape. In light of the real atrocities of the Holocaust, I just found the entire premise disgusting. Millions of people were tortured and killed during the Holocaust and these two managed to escape that fate because of their Christian faith.
I was lucky enough to win this in a Goodreads giveaway. My true rating would be 4.5 stars if I had that option. It's an excellent book. The only thing I wish was that part of the plot wouldn't have been so predictable. The book stirred all sorts of emotion and I had a hard time putting it down. If you have the chance to choose this book, snatch it up, find a comfy reading spot, and enjoy!
I was really excited to read a Cold War book as that's a genre I am currently interested in. This book was a disappointment. The premjse was good, the execution not so much. I found it to be all over the place and the sudden, violent rape just put it over the edge of terrible for me. I am not sure why the author felt the need to put that particular scene in when it was completely unnecessary to carry the plot. It really felt like it came out of nowhere.
I did not realize how short this book was when signed up for the giveaway. I did win it in a Goodreads giveaway. I was expecting an actual cookbook, not a book that tells you to eat vegetables and popcorn. Unfortunately, I was disappointed in this book and I am glad I didn't purchase it. I am an avid cookbook purchaser and enjoy flipping through them, but I didn't find this helpful or inspiring at all. I am sure there are some people out there who might find it very helpful, I unfortunately, am not one of them.
This book was amazing in my opinion. You definitely have to be open to the Vietnamese perspective of the Vietnam conflict and what that experience might have been like for a family. I felt like I was there for the trauma and heartbreak of this family through all the years of war and upheavals in their lives.
I was hoping I would enjoy this third book more than the first to, but alas, I think I liked this one the least. I only read it so I could finish out the trio. I have found all three to be almost fantastical which is unfortunate, as the premise and I am sure, the real life experiences would be compelling on their own. Unfortunately, I feel Heather Morris is in search of a book that can be made into a movie over writing novels that are closer to the true, real lived events. In my opinion, the books would be more palatable if she just wrote them as fiction, instead of tying them back to real Holocaust survivors. As far as the writing, I find it simplistic and the sisters didn't come across as very compelling. Whenever I have read a book that deals with concentration camp experiences, whether biographical or historical fiction, I have always felt a connection and empathy for the people experiencing this atrocity. I unfortunately do not feel this way with this trio of books as I don't feel the books were written in a way to make me feel those emotions. I guess I am not into this type of romance/action when it relates to WWII atrocities.
It was an interesting read in terms of how it was to be a German teen during World War II. It did seem kind of unbelievable that her family wasn't particularly political yet she felt the need to join the army at 16 without letting her parents know. I guess I can't discount her since it's her memoir but I think they might have been more fervent than the author wants people to think. I found it disconcerting that at no point did she really acknowledge the atrocities that people suffered during the Holocaust but she felt very sorry for herself in her struggles in post war Germany. Three stars because it's a memoir and it takes a lot to put yourself out there but I didn't particularly enjoy the book and I was disappointed that the author didn't really seem to be interested in anyone's suffering but her own.
I would like to thank the author for allowing her readers a glimpse into life in North Korea. I can't even imagine how brave she is and how much courage it took to break free from that regime. Books like this always make me wonder if I would be able to do the same thing. I hope I never need to find out.
I have tried to add in books that take place in different geographical places and times in history that aren't as common to be written about. This book brought me into Afghanistan in a way I would never know about. It was a beautiful story of resilience. It really makes you think about how quickly the world and our comfortable surroundings can change. This would be a fantastic book club book.
This book was not what I expected after reading the jacket but it was “great” in an unexpected but also devastating way. A lot of people DNF or didn't like it because of the subject matter, which I can understand, especially since it can be very triggering. It gave me a perspective on generational trauma that I, thankfully, never experienced in my own life.
I won a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway. I really enjoyed this book after I got used to the first person narrative. I don't read a lot of books from that perspective, so it took getting used to. I enjoyed learning a bit about WWI nursing experience, although I wish the book delved a little deeper into the medical aspect a bit more. That's just a personal preference, the author specifically didn't want to have to much gore in the book and wanted it to be about the personal relationships in the book. I think I would have given a five star review if the book went deeper into the medical experience and the influenza outbreak, being that the title is “The War Nurse” and the synopsis mentions the influenza outbreak. It just seemed to only scratch the surface of what it could have and I was expecting the novel to have more “meat” to it. That being said, I gave it four stars because the book is well written and it kept my interest enough that I wished I could manage to stay awake longer at night to just read one more chapter. I am a huge fan of historical fiction and I especially appreciate when authors introduce me to people I would never know about otherwise. I am planning on reading “The Engineer's Wife” as well at some point.