One statement before I
start: I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK. So my review may be a little biased
towards the good in the story.
(Disclaimer: Apologies if
I spell any names wrong, I listened to it on audiobook)
PROS:
*The
Characters. Asdfghjkl all of the characters (excluding for
Alfred) grew on me throughout the story. Joana + Florian= OTP.
They're absolutely adorable. Emelie's storyline was so incredibly
sad. I had so much compassion for her, that poor girl. I have no clue
how to spell her daughter's name (I listened to an audiobook) but how
sacrificial she was for her was heartbreaking in a good way. I loved
the somewhat minor characters Eva (I love how she said sorry after or
before every 'offensive' thing), the Shoe Poet, Ingrid, and the
orphan boy.
*The
Storyline. It makes me sad that the core storyline (not the
characters obviously) actually happened. This story really opened my
eyes to WWII.
*Alfred??
It's not his character itself that got him a place on the
pro-and-con list. It is totally for Ms. Sepetys. The way he saw
things, the thoughts he had, the general distaste for most of
humanity..She wrote him in a way that made me absolutely sick. I
applaud you, Ms. Sepetys.
CONS:
*Alfred?? She made me detest him. His thoughts/though process is, again,
absolutely sick. (to the people who haven't read this book yet: 1. GO
READ IT NOW PLEASE and 2. He's a Nazi.)
*The
Writing. Well, some of the writing. For the most part, I liked
it, but some of the sentences seemed a tad awkward.
I
know this seems like an extremely short and kind of vague list but I
can't put in to words how much I loved it. All I can tell you is
please go read this. (There is some slightly gory stuff towards the
end, comment if you would like specifics. I did not think that it was
too bad though.)
I
gave this book 5 out of 5 stars.
E.C.
