Kristin O. (book2bed) reviewed on 7/20/2009 + 4 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 5

I found this book to be quite dismal and bleak. It was a long book and I was disappointed in the end and was left wondering why I continued to read it. I regretted the time it took me to spend reading it.

It is the story about a family that escapes Germany during the war to America. Although educated they find themselves in menial work and place in society. This is met with much bitterness and mistrust on their part. I found myself mostly being angry with the main characters as I felt although they did meet with some predujice they also limited their own experiences because of their mistrust and bitterness. I wanted a glimmer of hope for their lives but got little. As I felt they tried little. They took their bitterness over their circumstances out on each other which eventually ended up in destroying their family and each other.

Although the young girl rose way above her circumstances that she was raised with, she still had an attitude of self defeatism and I felt little joy and happiness in her circumstances. In the end there was a small nugget of joy but it was drowned out by the whole of the book.

Maybe that was the authors intention?????

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