My good friend Katharine loves to read too, and recently discovered the value of a public library card. So she talked me into starting our very own 'book club.' I love the term 'book club,' and we continue to use it even if we are the only two official members of said club. :) We were often recommending good reads to one another and thought it made more sense to just read a book together instead. That way we could talk about it. We had our first official 'meeting' last night and it lived up to all of it's expectations. We talked about the book we'd been reading, learned a little history along the way, and then just talked for an hour or so longer just for fun. It was perfect!
I had two distinct feelings about this book.
one. I LOVED the beginning. The first 170ish pages of the book were addicting. Don't get me wrong, it is quite possibly one of the saddest accounts of WWII history I have ever read, but you are just totally swept away by the story of the little girl. The woman is mildly interesting in the beginning, but the little girl just completely overshadows her. We both kind of felt like we were rushing through the woman's chapters just to find out what happens to the little girl.
two. I strongly disliked the end. Past page 170ish, the girl disappears and we are left solely with the woman's stories. I find her to be a rather whiny character. She makes a whole big deal out of a lot of little things (and some big things rightly so I guess.) After being totally captivated by the little girl's story, the woman's story seems a little contrived and just somewhat unimportant. I can't figure out why we are are left with half of the book focusing on the woman. In the end I felt like I was just trudging through so I could be done.
Over all, I liked the book. I felt like it was worthwhile to read because of the first half alone. I am not sure if I knew in advance how it was going to end if I would have wanted to even read the end. Someone could have just summarized it for me and I would have probably gotten just as much out of it. (Maybe that's too harsh? I don't know, what you do think Katharine?) I guess it just wasn't overall as good as some other books I have read lately.
On that note, I really enjoyed The Help and The Glass Castle.
