My true rating for this is 3.5 stars: The evocation of how the propaganda permeated Nazi Germany was fascinating--talk about the banality of evil!--and the story moved at a good pace. I know some readers complained that it moved too slowly, but I thought the slow dawning on the protagonist of just what German society was like at the time was spot-on. But the writing was pedestrian at best. At first I thought that it was a stylistic choice, in keeping with the relative youth and naivety of the main character, but as the story and POV widened, it became clear such wasn't the case. A shame, as the merely serviceable prose keeps this from being a truly moving story. Just couldn't bring myself to keep reading. And for me to not finish a story set in the Holocaust, well, that is saying something. It read very cut.and.dry.and.precise. (periods intentional) It lacked emotion. I found I just didn’t care about Peter or him realizing his predicament.I must note that I read this in the midst of an unfortunate stint of not being pulled-into books/stories. I hit a real dry spell in October and maybe, as I often say, I would enjoy it or find merit if I read it at a different time.
What do You think about The Ausländer (2011)?
"a superb addition"; "combines action-packed adventure with blood-chilling history" SLJ Sept/11
—qwert
interessant om eens vanaf een ander perspectief de 2e wereldoorlog te bekijken
—arnaud
Difficult subject, very nicely handled. Good ending. Great.
—paresh
