Read by Saskia Maarleveld
10 hours, 53 minutes
Published August 2023 by Hanover Square Press
Publisher's Summary:
All her life, Zofia has found comfort in two things during times of hardship: books and her best friend, Janina. But no one could have imagined the horrors of the Nazi occupation in Warsaw. As the bombs rain down and Hitler's forces loot and destroy the city, Zofia finds that now books are also in need of saving.
With the death count rising and persecution intensifying, Zofia jumps to action to save her friend and salvage whatever books she can from the wreckage, hiding them away, and even starting a clandestine book club. She and her dearest friend never surrender their love of reading, even when Janina is forced into the newly formed ghetto.
But the closer Warsaw creeps toward liberation, the more dangerous life becomes for the women and their families - and escape may not be possible for everyone. As the destruction rages around them, Zofia must fight to save her friend and preserve her culture and community using the only weapon they have left - literature.
My Thoughts:
Aggghh! This is one of those books that I didn't write a review for soon enough and my thoughts have kind of been lost to me so I'm going to piece things together as best I can. As always, let's start with the things that didn't work for me and work our way to what I liked about this book (I always like to end things on a positive note, when I can!).
What Didn't Work For Me:
- Books played a major role in this book, and Zofia's life, until they didn't. Suddenly, she became a resistance fighter for that last quarter (?) of the book. Nothing wrong with that, it felt true to Zofia's nature, but it seemed to veer away from what the premise of the book had been.
- Even before the Nazis invade Poland, Zofia, Janina and another friend are already reading, as a group, books that Hitler has banned in Germany. A couple of other girls in their school horn in on their group, girls it's clear that Zofia doesn't really like. But it quickly becomes clear that these girls have interesting thoughts about the books and are really contributing to the discussions. I never felt like they really became part of Zofia's circle or that she acknowledged that she may have misjudged them so it felt odd to me that they brought into the story and remained there, as peripheral characters, to the end.
- Things began to feel rushed to me as the book went on and time sort of collapsed.
What I Liked:
- Of course, I loved that so much of this book centered around books being a driving force in educating people, in being a part of their culture, and in being a way to help them survive the worst. I loved seeing these people so passionate about saving these books not only because books are so important to them but also as an act of rebellion. These people were, quite literally, willing to put down their lives in defense of books.
- Zofia's and Janina's relationship. Their friendship never wavered and Zofia was willing to do anything (and did) to protect and help Janina.
- In fact, a lot of the relationships, including Zofia's and her mother's, which changed tremendously throughout the book. Also, I appreciated that while Zofia and a young man who joins their group are clearly falling in love, nothing happens between them until the very end - it's logical that strong emotions would occur but a romance in the middle of the book would have felt out of place.
- I've read a lot about what the Nazis did to the Jews in Germany, much less about what happened in Poland so I found this book a good reminder of what it was like to be in Warsaw and Poland, not just as a Jew but as a Pole. And, if I'd known, I'd forgotten, that the Soviets came into Poland, not so much to chase out the Germans but to take over.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and would definitely recommend it for book clubs as there is so much to discuss in the book.
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