Reviews
A little slow at places in the middle but the last approximately 100 pages really grabbed you. Heartbreaking and sweet.
I really enjoyed reading this! It was an optional summer pick for our book club, and my expectations before I really knew anything but the title and subject was that it was just another WWII story, this time set in Italy. While that is true, it is also a story that is crafted around the characters, and you come to love those characters. The city of Rome even becomes a character in the story, and there are so many places on my t0-see list now because of this book. The author does a great job of taking some actual events that happened and interweaving them with a fictional story that keeps your interest. The author's website also has a bunch of videos (without spoilers) that not only generate excitement to read the book, but also show you footage of her time in Rome doing research and her inspiration for some plot points and places in the book. Highly recommend!
I picked up this WWII historical fiction from the library. It is set in Italy which is new for me, most of my historical fiction tends to be set in England, France or Germany. While I was intrigued by the premise, I soon lost interest. I felt like the novel moved a bit too slow for me. While I like multiple POV, this one felt repetitive. We would get the same events from each character perspective before we would move onto a different event. I also found there to be too many POV’s in this one. I thought it would stick with the three main characters but soon it started giving the side characters’ perspectives as well which was a little too much. Some of the dialogue I found to be awkward and some historical points weren’t explained enough in context while others were over explained. I also found it a bit odd how the Jewish family who, as far as I could tell, were orthodox enough in their customs but then seemed to be eating a non-kosher meal...that really stuck with me as it is such an easy thing to replace. Not one I’ll be returning to but I will be on the lookout for more historical fictions set in Italy. If you have any recommendations please leave them below!
There are so many books about WWII, but this one is different from many in that it centers on Italy. Told through 3 main characters and how they each were affected by the events around them. Well written story that will leave you reflecting.
