Book: Those Who Save Us

Those Who Save Us

by Jenna Blum

Length: 496 pages

Format: Hardback
Price: Free - checked out from library

How I heard about it: Lindsey

Basic Premise: Dr. Trudy Swenson is a professor of German studies at the university. Her German mother, who lived near a concentration camp during the war, has remained remarkably tight-lipped about her experiences, despite Trudy's many efforts to unlock her torturous memories.

My Take: 6 out of 10 (scale here)

I loved the style of this book. A dual narrative, the novel moves from Trudy's point of view in 1997 and Anna's in the 1940s and the alternating perspectives worked well. The author was artistic and poignant, and I very much liked her fresh approach to historical storytelling. That part would get a 9. I just didn't like the story. I almost feel like I can hardly hold that against the book itself - what novel - or at least, what honest novel - set in this time period is really going to tell a truly LIKEABLE story? But I really hated what happened. It is definitely an adult novel, but even that didn't bother me much. I wanted more information from the author, particularly about Anna's participation in resistance efforts, and I did not like what I felt was the lack of resolution at the end. And even though my mind can understand it, my heart aches for the decisions that were made and the hurts and confusions that could have been healed but weren't. Um...also, THERE WAS NOT A SINGLE QUOTATION MARK IN THAT BOOK. I'm not sure how the author got away with this, but it drove me mad. MAD. It was hard to tell who was speaking, or whether the speaker was thinking or speaking the words out loud. I can't imagine why a publisher would allow such a thing!

List progress:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Parenting with Love & Logic by Jim Fey
Silver Star Jeannette Walls
Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp
Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum
Mocking Jay by Suzanne Collins