I've had this on my list for a while. Found it at Better World Books.

It baffles me how this book has so many excellent reviews. I read a LOT of books in the WWII / historical fiction genre, and this is by far one of the worst I've read. The best word to describe both the writing and the story is DULL.

Any time I read a non-fiction / memoir, the only way it will be a hit with me is if:
1. It's a really compelling story, even if it's told in a mediocre way -- OR
2. It's a mediocre story, but it's told in a really compelling way

This one fits neither of these requirements and therefore makes it a FAIL for me.

I'll give some credit in that I appreciate the author did a ton of research, and that this story is about her own relatives makes it personal. I also recognize that the heart of the story is about the sacrifices women make in challenging situations specifically and life in general. But the way the story is told is utterly boring, and the writing is so elementary in many ways - the dialogue is absolute snoozeville. It's like reading a textbook. The first half of the book needed to be edited severely - I almost completely gave up halfway through, but decided to soldier on. The ending honestly wasn't really worth the time.

One of my biggest gripes is that a major plot point was completely skimmed over or not given remotely enough attention. Apparently one of the characters does something to sabotage the letters between Nina and Pietro, but it's so glossed over, we don't really even know what happened. Then the character just disappears from the story. This letter theft is a pretty pivotal reason for the essential conflict between two main characters in the novel, and we're just going to gloss over it and not even talk about it at the time, or later? That's just poor writing (and poor editing).

The best thing I can say about this book is that it has a pretty cover. I won't be recommending it to anyone.

Left in the LFL at the Brevard County Government Offices in Viera.

>^..^< >^..^< >^..^< >^..^< >^..^< >^..^< >^..^< >^..^<

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