TheKaitlynBlog

Lauren Fox

★ ★ ★

This book should have been so pretty and touching. I was so bored, and so confused.

Another telling on World War II, another alternative timeline that weaves between war-torn Europe’s conflict. In this case, an alternating timeline that jumps between Jewish characters in the beginning of Hitler’s rise to power and their grandchildren in the present day, said grandchild stumbling upon something that urges her to connect to her lineage. A potentially beautiful story and prose.

Well, yes and no. This is a noteworthy telling of following young Annelise experiencing the spread of anti-Jewish sentiments that will alter the course of her and her family’s lives. But the story lacks connectivity. There’s no time for attachment or true story telling in only 272 pages. It’s a fine story but I felt it incredibly difficult to finish. The book could have been so much more profound and heartbreaking, but there was something missing in the literature.

The alternative timelines in this book can also be tricky to understand — at least it was for me. I felt constantly confused and like I couldn’t keep up with the character’s (who was who, who was what age, which timeline they existed in, etc). I don’t love alternating timelines in literature for this reason because when it’s as dense as a World War, it can get really complicated. The lack of indication at which POV you were at made this book choppy and hard to understand.

It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. It had so much potential, just not enough time or structure. The plot was original and unique — it just needed more.