T This: Why did I read *This* book?
This was a reread. I read this book in 2016 and it has stuck with me since. This is a book I recommend to people. I have gifted it four or five times. I gifted this for my wedding (that didn't happen because COVID but...oh well). This book is one that I think everyone should read.
I have been wanting to reread this book for quite some time but I kept putting it off. Recently I felt in the mood for something sad and something familiar. This was glaring at me and telling me to pick it up. I had to listen. It was so good to be back in this world even though it is a book that rips your heart out and stomps on it.
A Atmosphere: How did it make me feel? What was the world like? This might include overall tone.
I felt so many things while reading this. It is a WWII historical fiction and seeing the suffering slowly unfold was heartbreaking. Seeing the people murdered and hated for being different was hard.
I used to read WWII historical fiction and wonder how that could happen? How could people stand by and let all that happen and then 2016-2020 happened and I realized that so many people can be complicit in hatred. So many people can embrace the systemic racism that they get caught up in it and things like this happened. You'd think we would learn from our history but it seems like hate will always be prevalent in our society.
The world came to life. My anger and sadness were palpable. It takes a good writer to make me fall in love with a place I have never been especially when that place is set during a horrible time in history.
S Style: What was the writing style like? Simplistic or sophisticated? Clunky or beautiful?
The writing style made the characters and world come to life. It was eloquent and beautiful and I felt like I was standing beside the characters while they were going through the scenes.
P Plot/Pace: Was it engaging? Were there holes? Did it feel too rushed or too long?
The plot was engaging and hooked me right from the start. It was reread but there were things I did not remember and they hit me hard. I think it was evenly paced and you got to see the growth and change in the characters over the years that the book takes place.
E Enjoyment: Was it a chore to finish or compelling enough that I picked it over other fun activities?
Enjoyment is a difficult one because this is a depressing book but at the same time it gives you hope and makes you believe that there are good people in the world. You see that characters and people are able to grow and change and I always love when we see that within a story.
C Characters: Were they believable, sympathetic, interesting?
All the characters were believable. I fell in love with the two main characters, Vianne and Isabelle. They were so different and so stubborn and they made so many mistakes along the way. They felt so real and seeing their growth and the exploration of changes humans go through was fundamental to the book.
The side characters seemed just as real and just as fleshed out. Sometimes side characters get lost in the main plot of the book but that did not happen here. Without the side characters the story would have been less full and less believeable
This was a five star and I will continue recommending it.
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