This is Kate Breslin's first novel. It was different from what I expected, but I liked it. I would describe it as a Christian Romance novel set in a concentration camp in WWII, mimicking the story of Esther from the Old Testament. Who could have possibly guessed that by the cover - or the synopsis on the back cover?! Certainly not me!
This is the story of Stella Muller (Hadassah Benjamin) who gets rescued from the Dachau Concentration Camp by a SS Kommandant Colonel and taken to Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia. Theresienstadt was considered a "transit camp" in WWII. People were brought there temporarily until they could be put on a train to Auschwitz. Stella was brought there by the SS Kommandant Colonel, Aric von Schmidt, because her papers said she was a gentile - and she had the blond hair and blue eyes to prove it - but her papers were stamped that she was a Jew and she was taken to Dachau because of that. Aric allows her to recover her health from living at Dachau, and then makes her his secretary. Aric and Stella's relationship is the "romance" of the novel.
Each chapter of the novel starts with a bible verse from the book of Esther which relates to what you are going to read about in that chapter. The story of Stella follows the story of Esther. Stella's father figure in the novel (her uncle) is Morty; Esther's father figure (her cousin) in the Bible is Mordecai. Stella and Esther both pretend to be a gentile and both figure out ways to help the Jews (their people) and both influence the men in their lives (Aric and King Ahasuerus) to help the Jews. This is the "Christian" part of the novel.
The historical events in the novel obviously revolve around Theresienstadt, the persecution of the Jews, the evil demonstrated by the Nazi's, the Nazi's preparing for the Red Cross to inspect Theresienstadt, what the Nazi's proclaimed was a ""Paradiesghetto" - a sort of "resort city", when in fact it was another concentration camp, and WWII itself.
I liked the book. It was fast-paced, tragic, redeeming, nerve-wracking, romantic. Was it completely plausible? No. But it is nice to think the ending could have happened. I guess that's enough for me!
Wendy's Rating: ****
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness
As much as I liked the time travel back to the past, the historical figures weighed down the story. The sheer number of them made it difficult to keep straight who everyone was and what significance they had in history, much less the story. And then throw in that some were humans, some were witches, some were daemons, some were vampires.... Seriously, it was just too much. There were too many characters to move the story along. Instead of historical fiction, this was fictional historical characters. Very weird.
I didn't remember that Em had died - and Diana didn't know either when she returned to Sept-Tours at the end. What happened to her again? (Other than she died to save Nathanial and Sophie's baby, apparently.) I actually couldn't even remember the importance of Nathanial, Sophie and Margaret! I don't need the whole first book reviewed, but a few reminders along the way would have been nice. It actually took me awhile to remember why Matthew and Diana were going back in time!
I thought the whole Kit thing was weird. Obviously, he was in love with Matthew and he didn't want Diana around. But, he was apparently Matthew's "closest friend" in the past. Diana certainly didn't like him or trust him. So the thing that bothered me the most was when Diana leaves Queen Elizabeth's castle with Kit. What?? Why would she do that? It just didn't make sense to me at all. The thing that bothered me second-most about Kit is that Diana decides that before she and Matthew leave the past to head back to the future, Matthew needs to forgive Kit for Kit's attempt to kill her so that things are "right" between the past Matthew and Kit once the future Matthew leaves the past. NO WAY. There is no possible way that Matthew would "forgive" Kit for trying to kill his wife. Honestly, that is too much. Matthew was way too possessive of Diana for there to be anything resembling a relationship left between Matthew and Kit.
So, what did I like? I liked that the relationship between Matthew and Diana has evened out a bit. Diana can hold her own now. I remember thinking - and blogging - that Diana was too whiny in the first book about Matthew "controlling" her - even while acknowledging that he was a vampire, and vampire's control people. So, she chose Matthew, but then constantly complained about his possessiveness. Diana seemed much stronger in this book, which I liked. I like the actual story. If Harkness could actually just stick to the main storyline it would be even better. I liked getting to know Matthew's father - and Diana's father a bit. I liked Gallowglass. ;)
I definitely need to know how this story ends. With a couple of exceptions ("Catching Fire" for one), I think that "second books" can be the weakest in a trilogy. So, bring on #3!
Wendy's Rating: ***3/4
I didn't remember that Em had died - and Diana didn't know either when she returned to Sept-Tours at the end. What happened to her again? (Other than she died to save Nathanial and Sophie's baby, apparently.) I actually couldn't even remember the importance of Nathanial, Sophie and Margaret! I don't need the whole first book reviewed, but a few reminders along the way would have been nice. It actually took me awhile to remember why Matthew and Diana were going back in time!
I thought the whole Kit thing was weird. Obviously, he was in love with Matthew and he didn't want Diana around. But, he was apparently Matthew's "closest friend" in the past. Diana certainly didn't like him or trust him. So the thing that bothered me the most was when Diana leaves Queen Elizabeth's castle with Kit. What?? Why would she do that? It just didn't make sense to me at all. The thing that bothered me second-most about Kit is that Diana decides that before she and Matthew leave the past to head back to the future, Matthew needs to forgive Kit for Kit's attempt to kill her so that things are "right" between the past Matthew and Kit once the future Matthew leaves the past. NO WAY. There is no possible way that Matthew would "forgive" Kit for trying to kill his wife. Honestly, that is too much. Matthew was way too possessive of Diana for there to be anything resembling a relationship left between Matthew and Kit.
So, what did I like? I liked that the relationship between Matthew and Diana has evened out a bit. Diana can hold her own now. I remember thinking - and blogging - that Diana was too whiny in the first book about Matthew "controlling" her - even while acknowledging that he was a vampire, and vampire's control people. So, she chose Matthew, but then constantly complained about his possessiveness. Diana seemed much stronger in this book, which I liked. I like the actual story. If Harkness could actually just stick to the main storyline it would be even better. I liked getting to know Matthew's father - and Diana's father a bit. I liked Gallowglass. ;)
I definitely need to know how this story ends. With a couple of exceptions ("Catching Fire" for one), I think that "second books" can be the weakest in a trilogy. So, bring on #3!
Wendy's Rating: ***3/4
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