My teacher recommended I read this book for a teenage reviewing challenge, and I'm really glad she did because I really ended up enjoying this book.This book is incredibly underrated, and I feel this book is a lot better than some other books I've read that have been set in Nazi Germany. This was also one of the first young adult books I ever read and I think the fact it was a young adult book made it even better, because this book was able to explore how impressionable teenagers in Nazi Germany were, and how vulnerable they were to influences such as the government, the Hitler Youth, and people's attitudes towards anti-Semitism in general.The story features Peter, a lovely Aryan boy, who looks like he could be the poster child for the Hitler Youth. After his parents die, he is sent to live with an awful, prominent German family. The reason why I found them awful was because they were incredibly miserable and stuck up.I don't want to say too much more, because I may end up giving the plot away, but read this book for yourselves, it's a good read I promise. It's got quite a good plot twist at the end, which I personally didn't see coming, but I guess it's all down to interpretation so check this book out for yourselves.4 stars, an incredible, underrated book. Well, it is practically impossible to read a WW2 book without finding death in it, especially for the people who tried to help the condemned & the condemned themselves. You start reading this kind of book with a predisposition to shed some tears and feel sorry for humanity; Ausländer doesn't do that for you, instead it gives you a pretty real picture of the atrocities committed by the Nazis from the point of view of a Polish young boy who is sent to Germany after losing his parents in a car crash and it makes you think about how twisted and fanatic people can turn into with the right amount of verbosity. Dowswell saves up the drama and tells the story straightforwardly, some parts were sort of hurried, parts such as Peter meeting and dating Anna in the blink of an eye (I get it, the romantic love kind of story wasn't intended to be the main topic in the book). I would've really appreciated a little bit of detail on the process of getting to know a person you would be willing to risk your life for, but it was a good read in spite of those little details. In conclusion Ausländer is a really good story, definitely a book worth reading, specially for WW2 enthusiasts like me.
What do You think about Ausländer (2009)?
This book is more for teenagers. But it was interesting because a lot of it is based on facts.
—raychill0915
It was very different to other war stories, because the protagonists escape alive.....
—twinhart
Absoloutly amazing story. The idea of it is fantastic, and it's so moving.
—Anotherhito
