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ricefun's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
I appreciate the personal family-centered story about returning art stolen from Jewish and undesirable families during WWII. But the writing felt a bit thin to me.
morsecode's review against another edition
This is the kind of book that I should have loved. I’m very interested in the subject matter and have a professional interest in research. The author/narrator began to grate on me. I didn’t mind that she writes so much about herself. That’s neither here nor there. I hated how oblivious she kept showing herself to be (oops, cousin, no wonder you don’t want to talk about this, I forgot your father was murdered at Auschwitz; oh no, I can’t read the records in the German archives that I traveled to Germany to see because they are written in German). She also contradicts herself a few times within the narrative and, most frustrating of all, doesn’t follow through (or explain the choice not to) on tracking the other stolen paintings or investigating more deeply why her family received such comparably good treatment.
evelyn_parkhouse_reads's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
katsherms's review against another edition
3.0
Dry frustrating read on a very important and interesting topic
nanikeeva's review against another edition
3.0
an interesting account, but the narration isn't the most pleasant - calling a Monet dull? acknowledging her own tactless behavior but plowing on? meh.
mackeylime's review
Ultimately, the hypocrisy, delusions of grandeur, and dullness got to me. One breath it’s confidence and the next it’s crippling self doubt, and not in a good way. TL;DR: A bored housewife tried to write a memoir. Honestly could be good source material for a movie, but stick with articles or podcasts about this, and skip the book. I echo a 2 star review by “Amy” on GR