Book Review: The Thread

DETAILS: The Thread by Victoria Hislop. Copyright 2011. Historical fiction.

SUMMARY: Set in Thessaloniki, Greece, this is a story of love and friendship that spans two World Wars.

PROS: This is a beautiful, sweeping book.  It moves at a perfect pace and is just the right length.  The setting is so real, I felt as thought I'd been to Greece after reading it and the characters are human and engaging and believable.  I often have a complaint with historical fiction that they tend to wax poetic about the scenery or the setting for far too long, but this book captured the essence without overwriting.  I loved the story and I loved the unique perspective on the World Wars from a part of Europe that seems often forgotten.

CONS: None.

BOTTOM LINE: A beautiful book.  Highly recommended.  Five stars out of five.

Book Review: You Are Not Like Other Mothers

DETAILS: You Are Not Like Other Mothers by Angelika Schrobsdorff.  English version copyright: 2012. Original German copyright: 1992.  Historical fiction.

SUMMARY: A story of love, culture and motherhood following a family of German Jews before and during World War II.

PROS: This story was very interesting.  The author is a contemporary and reading a World War II story from the perspective of German Jews was very interesting.  The writing was very well done and the attitudes were, I imagine, very similar to those of people in those days.

CONS: The characters were not very relatable, I thought.  I didn't particularly enjoy the first third of the book and I found the mother in the story very spoiled and annoying.  Perhaps this was a product of the translation, but the author very strangely switched back and forth between first and third person, often within a single paragraph, which was very distracting.  Also, this book is divided into three sections and beyond that, there are no chapters.  Again, this may be something that got "lost in translation" but it made it difficult to find a stopping place.

BOTTOM LINE: This was a unique and often enjoyable World War II story.  Three stars out of five.

Book Review: A Reliable Wife

DETAILS: A Reliable Wife: A Novel by Robert Goolrick.  Copyright 2009. Historical literary fiction.

SUMMERY: It's Wisconsin, 1907.  Ralph Truitt has advertised for a wife, not for love but for convenience.  But when she comes, she is not what he expected, a woman with a hidden past and a secret agenda of her own.

PROS: The storytelling is masterful, the story is filled with unpredictable twists and turns.  Mr. Goolrick weaves a master tale of love, loss and lust that leads to an unforeseen but satisfying ending. I wondered many times what would happen, as I could see a thousand possibilities.  But the choices Mr. Goolrick made were not what I expected, but were more fitting and satisfying than the ones I had thought of.

CONS: The book seemed a little slow to get going, it took me a couple of chapters to get into it.  Occasionally I felt the descriptions went on a little long.  His habit (albeit surely an intentional one) of starting consecutive sentences with the same pronoun, grated on my nerves a bit.  Also a warning to readers of a sensitive nature: this book would be rated R for sexual content, so just be aware of that going in.

BOTTOM LINE:  The story is a little slow, but perfectly woven. Fans of Cormac McCarthy's writing will enjoy this book as well.  Four stars out of five.