This was a beautiful book. Sad, brutal
at parts, but beautiful. It puts a very human face on the tragedy of
war, and does so in a fresh way.
The writing is at times too descriptive
for my personal tastes, a bit too poetic, and I do sometimes wonder
if someone who uses the verb “purl” twice within twenty pages is
maybe trying a little too hard. However, this is all very
subjective, and overall I really liked and admired the writing
itself: the velvety language and unusual combinations, the perfect
choice of details, the slow builds.
The main characters were well-drawn and
I the author made me love them.
The story moved slowly at times, but in
that rich, beautiful way that I like.
The plot was engaging, all the separate
strands working well together.
I did get temporarily confused
sometimes with the time jumping because the author didn't always do
enough to orient us at the beginning of each jump, instead just
dating the sections and expecting us to remember the dates of the
others sections. I never remember dates like that, so I had to flip
back and forth a couple of times. Still, a minor issue.
I did wonder about a few small details,
like the can of homemade peaches. Wouldn't it be a bottle? A few
things about the resistance's communication didn't quite make sense
to me either, but that was probably just me. Again, tiny issues in
such an good novel.
The ending worked for me, though most
if it was pretty sad. Yet amid all the sadness--through the whole
book--there was hope and beauty too.
A very, very good book.
4.5 Stars
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