The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah* (St. Martin's Griffin, 2015, 608pp, $17.99) Wall Street Journal Best Book of the Year. Major motion picture with Dakota and Elle Fanning. Also in Large Print**
.jpg)
"Oh, no! Not another humungously long book" - at more than 600 pages (I'm used to 200-pagers), I groaned, but started it on a Friday. By Sunday, I had finished it. And I will read it again. And again.
Another Heart-Stopping Novel by Kristin Hannah
How does she do it? It must be magic: an incredible story, well-told.
I have read a lot about World War II but Kristin Hannah not only tells the reader what it was like to live during that uneven upheaval, she shows the reader: you are there, experiencing everything but wish it were not so.
Again, we have two sisters and a family torn apart by death, the aftermath of one war, and daily life during another war with the sisters as different as night and day. Fighting, both realistically fighting to live and, figuratively, fighting to save others. Finding love in those times of trial and tribulation, and pain and unfairness. And finally, the reader identifying with both sisters, who have chosen different routes, different roles to play but each one just right for her own character and personality.
Powerful
It is France beginning in 1938 and going through 1945. And it is Oregon in 1995. One sister struggles to save her family and friends who are Jewish while the other, a mere teenager, fights in the Resistance. Each one not knowing what the other is doing (for their own good) and then Father compounds the situation.
Although some might consider Nightingale to be a good candidate for a DVD or television movie, I suggest a series. And though several of the action sub-plots are unsurprising (guessable in advance, predictable), nonetheless, the book is one that you will carry around with you, hoping to sneak in a few pages while standing in line or waiting at a red light even: you are so enthralled with both the plots and the characters that they seem like friends who you can't wait to get back to.
The Nightingale is considered Hannah's best novel and is the best selling. Read it!
*Also by Kristin Hannah: Magic Hour
**Try reading Large Print books: you can read them in bed at night with low light!
No comments:
Post a Comment