An interesting journey that needed more historical context
This story is dual point of view from the perspective of Maria in first person and Kostya in third person. Each chapter has the narrator's name labelled and this format works well with the story. Maria is Polish and has just been released from a German work camp, travelling home amidst the chaos of warring factions hoping that her family will still be there. Kostya has been working with his cousin and others with the Ukrainian nationalist movement. They meet under stressful circumstances and though their nationalities mean they are sworn enemies they embark on quite the adventure together. I found their journey compelling and the best part of the book.
While I felt the characters had strong personalities, I think they were also a bit contradictory, or maybe I was just confused by what was going on. I don’t think there were too many characters, but they all had unclear loyalties and relationships. The book included Germans, Polish, Ukrainians, Soviets and referred to several military groups NKVD, Polish Resistance, Ukrainian Insurgent Army, etc. There’s a good index and a list of the characters in the back of the book that is useful; however, it doesn’t explain the relationships between all the factions which was necessary for context and I don’t feel like the story satisfactorily explained those details that were needed to understand the motivations and loyalties of the characters, especially since several of the characters appeared to be spying on their own factions or just plain double agents.
Overall, while well written with remarkable characters, the book read like a supplement to a history lesson that I didn’t attend. The story also ends rather abruptly. I was attracted to this book because I wanted to learn more about the history of the region, but I don’t feel like I learned anything significant.
Thank you to Bookish First and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the free copy provided for an honest review.
While I felt the characters had strong personalities, I think they were also a bit contradictory, or maybe I was just confused by what was going on. I don’t think there were too many characters, but they all had unclear loyalties and relationships. The book included Germans, Polish, Ukrainians, Soviets and referred to several military groups NKVD, Polish Resistance, Ukrainian Insurgent Army, etc. There’s a good index and a list of the characters in the back of the book that is useful; however, it doesn’t explain the relationships between all the factions which was necessary for context and I don’t feel like the story satisfactorily explained those details that were needed to understand the motivations and loyalties of the characters, especially since several of the characters appeared to be spying on their own factions or just plain double agents.
Overall, while well written with remarkable characters, the book read like a supplement to a history lesson that I didn’t attend. The story also ends rather abruptly. I was attracted to this book because I wanted to learn more about the history of the region, but I don’t feel like I learned anything significant.
Thank you to Bookish First and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the free copy provided for an honest review.