Reviews with content warning for Confinement - The Light in Hidden Places

Representation: N/A?
Score: Seven points out of ten.

So. It's not clear why I decided to hold this book off for so long, putting delay after delay, but now only a few days ago, I picked it up, cracked it open, and read this. I have a statement though, historical books tend to be a hit or miss, since the last outstanding ones were I Must Betray You and Words on Fire. I read those months ago. But! Afterwards, I read a string of dissatisfying books so I desperately wanted an enjoyable one. This was it. On the plus side, it's based on a true story during World War II. It starts with the main character Stefania Podgórska, or Stefania for short, and she lives in Poland during the war, I wouldn't want to live in that time considering the circumstances, I noticed the book had a unique attribute going for it, it sometimes can jump from time to time, making this book non-linear. Stefania sometimes uses pseudoynms or false names like Fusia but for simplicity's sake, I'll still call her Stefania, now that I said that she is working for another family called the Diamants even though they are Jewish, and she is Catholic. Not many pages afterwards, the Germans arrive and occupy the town of Przemysl leaving Stefania and her sister Helena by themselves, and the way the author wrote this was immersive and compelling, no wonder this got a Western Australian Young Readers' Book Award this year, unfortunately this is the only book from this author my library has so I can't read any more books from her yet, if they do get more books from her, I'd gladly read them. From this point on, Stefania must make some choices for herself, so first she hides a Jew from the Germans inside her attic (because of reasons...) then she hides twelve more, I never felt at ease when reading this since the author wrote this with so much suspense and tension, and Stefania shared my feelings since she was also living uneasily which led up to the climax and I won't spoil it but it's not anticlimactic (I'm looking at you, fizzling out books...) and it's also a high note. Wow.

Content Warnings

sarahflanders's review

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emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Content Warnings

a1ice_booklover's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Content Warnings

kayladaila's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

This is not a bad book. In fact, it is very well written. However, this book is incredibly problematic for some of the same reasons Boy in the Striped Pajamas is. Stefania Podgorska was a real woman who really did save 13 Jews during the Holocaust, and her story sounds amazing. Sharon Cameron chose to fictionalize this tale, and that is where the issues arise.

The protagonist of The Light in Hidden Places is a Christian Pole who hides 13 Jewish people during the Holocaust. This is her story, and the Jews become a plot device to further that story, rather than its focal point. Throughout the novel, Stefania refers to the people she is hiding as “my thirteen,” removing any individual identity they have outside of how it relates to the nonJewish protagonist. These characters are truly hidden from the readers unless Stefania needs one of them.

It is also evident that Sharon Cameron did quite a bit of research on everything Polish, but very little Jewish. At the beginning of the story, Stefania is taken in by a Jewish family and learns some Yiddish. Later on, she tries to provide the people she is hiding with a small Hanukkah celebration, she refers to a Hanukkah lamp. Not a menorah, not a hanukiah. It’s clear which culture Cameron paid attention to.

I’d like to reiterate that if this was Stefania Podgorska’s nonfiction story, I would not have had these issues. It’s only with a fictionalized retelling, where the author could have made an effort to create three-dimensional Jewish characters and actively chose not to, that I take issue.

Content Warnings

loverofvenus's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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elisweets's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Such an amazing and heartbreaking story.
I absolutely loved the writing.
Stefania’s and her groups story is so sad but brave, and I’m happy it was told in such a way.

Content Warnings

maggiemercutio's review against another edition

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dark hopeful sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

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