Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave

Everyone Brave is Forgiven 
by Chris Cleave

Read: January 13-24, 2019

Publication date: May 3, 2016

Genre: Historical Fiction

It's 1939 and Mary, a young socialite, is determined to shock her blueblood political family by volunteering for the war effort. She is assigned as a teacher to children who were evacuated from London and have been rejected by the countryside because they are infirm, mentally disabled, or—like Mary's favorite student, Zachary—have colored skin.

Tom, an education administrator, is distraught when his best friend, Alastair, enlists. Alastair, an art restorer, has always seemed far removed from the violent life to which he has now condemned himself. But Tom finds distraction in Mary, first as her employer and then as their relationship quickly develops in the emotionally charged times. When Mary meets Alastair, the three are drawn into a tragic love triangle and—while war escalates and bombs begin falling around them—further into a new world unlike any they've ever known 

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Why did you read this book?

The first thing that really drew me in was the title of this book: “Everyone Brave is Forgiven”. I just loved it. I am also very interested in WWII era novels, so this book quickly made it to my to-read list.

What did you like about this book?

One unexpected thing about this book was the humor in it. There were several moments that a character would say or do something that made me start to giggle out loud. I am thinking specifically of the double date that the four main characters go on. Most of these moments I would then read aloud to my roommate. It is rare that a book makes me laugh, even intentionally comedic books, so the fact that this one did was pretty impressive. This book also managed to capture some of the worst parts of war in such a nonchalant way that left me in shock after it happened. I’d have to go back and reread several paragraphs just to make sure I read it right. Important moments happened so abruptly and the characters were left to deal with the aftermath. I think that is one area where this book shined — capturing the desolation and helplessness that comes after the characters go through what they do.

What didn’t you like about this book?

The pacing of this book fluctuated in a way that made it difficult for me to get through the book. It started slow, picked up a little, slowed back down, sped up, crawled, etc. The book felt like it went on for ages without anything happening. I have read books like this before and enjoyed them, but in those cases I felt very connected to the characters. I didn’t find that in these characters. Most of them I felt indifferent towards at best. Alistair was the one character I remotely liked and even then, he was just the best out of a handful of bland options. The main thing that really turned me off to this book was the unsatisfying conclusion. I can put up with a slow-paced book if the end is good. The ending to this book just...ended. The story lines that had been slowly building throughout the whole book were not resolved. I was very unsatisfied.

Bottom-Line:

I’m glad I read the book. It was worth reading at least once. I may even read it twice. However, this is not going to be a book that I pick up year after year, excited to reunite with the setting and the characters. I would recommend this only to lovers of books and lovers of history.

Favorite Quotes:

“The worst thing would be to decide that it was love, and then to discover - after one was taken - that it hadn't been. No: the worst thing would be to decide that it wasn't love, and then to discover years later - old and unconsoled - that it had been. No: the worst thing - the worst, worst thing - was this having to decide.”

“This was how a kind heart broke, after all: inward, making no shrapnel.”

“But what good is it to teach a child to count, if you don't show him that he counts for something?”

“To be in love was to understand how alone one had been before. It was to know that if one were ever alone again, there would be no exemption from the agony of it. It wasn’t the happiest feeling.”

“Stupid is you can’t learn, ignorant is you haven’t learned yet.”

Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy

Yellow Star
by Jennifer Roy
Read: March 3, 2015
Published: June 3, 2014
Genre: Historical fiction
Series: NA

                                                                                        "In 1945 the war ended. The Germans surrendered, and the ghetto was liberated. Out of over a quarter of a million people, about 800 walked out of the ghetto. Of those who survived, only twelve were children. I was one of the twelve." For more than fifty years after the war, Syvia, like many Holocaust survivors, did not talkabout her experiences in the Lodz ghetto in Poland. She buried her past in order to move forward. But finally she decided it was time to share her story, and so she told it to her niece, who has re-told it here using free verse inspired by her aunt. This is the true story of Syvia Perlmutter—a story of courage, heartbreak, and finally survival despite the terrible circumstances in which she grew up. A timeline, historical notes, and an author's note are included. (Amazon)

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Why did you read this book?

I'm not going to lie, if this book hadn't been an assignment for my children's literature class, I probably wouldn't have read it. I don't usually go straight for the historical fiction, you know? (Although I do enjoy a good historical romance.) But yeah, I had to read this book for my class.

What did you like about this book?

I actually really loved the format. It was written as poetic prose, which initially I was kind of dreading. Between creative writing and children's lit, I am getting so sick of poems. But this was written in a way that only looked like poetry, but didn't read like it. (so...poetic prose...) I felt that the title was perfect for this book, as so much relates back to the Star of David that Syvia is forced to wear on her coat. I've also never really read a Holocaust book from a child's point of view, so I liked that part of it. I have read Number the Stars, but that book doesn't deal with the concentration camps and atrocities committed against the Jews as in depth as this book does. Overall, it was a very good book and I read it in just a few hours.

What didn't you like about this book?

I hated that this was based on a true story. I hated that it actually happened. Although, there isn't anything that the author can do about that. In regards to the book, I didn't like the lack of dialogue. I realize that that is just how the book was written, but I love to hear characters talk. This book was entirely a narration from Syvia. The only type of dialogue was Syvia saying that someone said something. (Vague, right?)

Bottom-Line:

I realize this was a super short review, but it was a pretty short book. It was very good and I didn't really have many complaints about it. I don't think I will read it again (who knows, I might) and I know I won't add it to my shelf. I think some books you only need to read once. That being said, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in WWII and the Holocaust. Heck, I'd recommend it to anyone, regardless of their preferred reading topics.

"...because yellow is meant to be a happy color, not the color of hate." -Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy