Reviews

A Friend, a good Friend (Als die Dunkelheit hereinbrach)

(2014-07-07, www.amazon.co.uk)

A very novel approach to a very painful subject

The slow encroaching horror of life under the Nazi Regime during the 1930s is presented through the eyes of pre-teens children. The small group of friends, a mix of boys and girls, Jew and Gentile, initially cannot believe what they are witnessing, both at school and in the streets were they live. Their naivety is paralleled by the attitudes and responses of their parents. When both adults and children realise the full extent of the predicament some of them are in, it is too late. A very novel approach to a very painful subject.

original review

Ársals Abenteuer: Blumenritter

(2013-12-17, www.goodreads.com)

*without title*

Cute little story for younger readers who enjoy fantasy. Though I'm no particular fan of the genre, I enjoyed reading this novel. Yet I recommend to read this to your youngsters.

original review

A Friend, a good Friend (Als die Dunkelheit hereinbrach)

(2013-07-10, www.goodreads.com)

Suited for students*

A young Jewish girl experiences the rise of the Nationalsocialists to power. As they start to take over the control of politics and daily life alike, it becomes harder and harder to just exist. Especially if you are belonging to one of the groups the Nazis do not like...

I like how the daily life is described from young Maria's point of view. She sort of takes the reader along through the difficulties that arise from the new settings of political power and the new ideology. Several scenes really make you wonder if there was any good in human kind at that time, first and foremost if these people wore uniforms.

original review

Thoughts are Free (Während der Schnee leise fiel)

(2013-06-06, www.goodreads.com)

This novel surprised me*

It is written in an easy to read style, for young adults (I'd say 12 years onwards). The story is set in Second World War Germany, in the city of Hamburg. There lives 17-year-old Paul Kirchhoff who lives his daily life with all the hardships that a war-winter and being non-wealthy bring. He notices many things that go on around him, like violence against Jewish people and arrests by notorious Gestapo secret police. He has to decide what he thinks about the events he witnesses. His life takes a turn, when one day he finds a pamphlet, written by a resistance group called The White Rose (Die Weisse Rose).

This short novel was a goodread and I learned something about that dark time in European history that you usually don't get in history books - how daily life was.

What's nice is the appendix where there are some words, historic persons, places and events explained that were specific for that time and that I at least would not have known by heart.

All in all, I can recommend this book.

original review

* Review abbreviated analogously. To read the full review, please click on the link to the original review.