Young Catherine (Cat) has a secret that she cannot share with anyone, and by keeping the secret to herself, she perpetuates a lie concerning the death of her late friend, Nicolette. So she begins to write the chronicle of events that led up to the tragedy, and in searching for answers as to why things transpired the way that they did, she intersperses her father's account of the German occupation of Guernsey, where she lives, and his brother's role, with her own confession. Lies abound in this tale, and lives are forfeited because of those lies.It was an interesting story, but left this reader somewhat unmoved. I always find it difficult to understand why some prefer to bear the burden of a dark deed alone when confession would bring such relief. These are not very sympathetic characters. No one comes off as the good guy (or gal) here. These people live insular lives, in every sense of the word. There is very little that connects one character to another, except in the most tenuous ways. The book is well-written, but the story lacks a certain spark of humanity.However, it is interesting, if only to offer a glimpse into the lives of the people of Guernsey, and how the German Occupation in WWII affected life there. i thought i would give this book a go a year or so ago. it's not my usual genre but i thought i would experiment a bit so i took this on holiday with me.. oh dear. i have a poor amount of knowledge on historic events and i genuinely had NO IDEA what was going on. i would not say it is a bad book altogether - i found it frustrating and bland though i largely amount that to the fact i couldn't understand the events going on. because of this i would have given it a least 3 stars but i took the third away because i found i had little connection to the main character which made the story harder to get into and the annoying footnotes (though i admit actually they helped a bit from time to time).i did finish it, though i barely enjoyed it. the bits i did like were the sub-ploys because i understood them at least.. anyway maybe i should get some history lessons or maybe it really is just boring with cold and unlikable characters.
What do You think about Een Boek Vol Leugens (2011)?
Liked the book but the ending was too ambiguous for me....
—EvilGummiBear
Great book! Very entertaining. I like her style....
—wh1tesn0w
