This was a well-written and well-crafted novel. The characters and events were so real to me that it was easy to play this out as a movie as I read.
One of my recent favorite reads was about a circus (Night Circus is highly recommended by me) and I've always enjoyed books about World War II, because, I think, it makes the events of WWII more real in my head. I can read about it all I want in a textbook, but when I'm reading stories about people who suffered (granted, most of them are made-up) I feel so much more and can imagine so much more and understand the war so much more. This novel combined the two in a beautiful and entertaining way. I also learned of the Jewish circuses that took place before and somewhat during the war, and I find that incredible.
I appreciated the narration style a lot. Had the whole book been told by one character, I might have gotten bored. Too many different narrators would have overwhelmed me. Jenoff uses the two main characters, Noa and Astrid, to tell the story, and that was a good choice. Each chapter bounced back between the two, and that helped keep me on my toes, and kept me reading. It was interesting to see the two very different perspectives these two provided, and it was cool to see the friendship bloom between the two from each person.
I was so frustrated when I got to the part where Astrid is beaten by the police. I wanted to stop reading because I was so mad at all that had gone wrong in her life. It was so unfair! I kept reading, though, and I was somewhat able to move on and let that go, but I was greatly relieved when I got to the end. There was a part of me that either guessed that would happen or just really wanted to happen, so I wasn't too surprised, but very thankful. Thanks, Jenoff! Good ending!
This was a beautiful tale of friendship, loss, struggles, and love. It's a very different take on WWII then I've previously experienced, and I quite enjoyed it!
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