kendall_paigeee's review against another edition
5.0
This book was so good. It really shows the choices you had to make in order to live in this time. Anke is such a strong character and I really like how the author incorporated g=flashbacks to before she was captured and some within the camps. I found it really interesting that Anke knew that she would draw attention to herself as a midwife so she pretended to be a sewer, until she was found out and put to use. I love the relationship between Anke and Dieter because it is a testimony to love in times of need and to show that yes Anke was a prisoner, but in different ways so was Dieter as an SS officer who didn't believe in Hitlers tactics and helped people out of Germany. The end was so powerful when Eva's baby was perfectly healthy with the exception of having a stub for a right hand, which was a deformity. Even as the fuhers wife/companion she knew that her baby would be taken away to be tested on so she asked Anke to get rid of the baby, in which Dieter smuggled out so the baby would grow up somewhere else.
mkeesler's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
msvenner's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this. It’s was a good read, thought not a lot actually happened. I expected a little more about the moral conundrum facing the midwife but somehow it still worked.
sjzuhlsallyn's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
caslater83's review against another edition
4.0
Hertbreaking.
Honestly, I don't think I could have done half of what Anke did without suffering a complete breakdown. Her job took guts and a level of inner strength that only few possess. I cried for the mothers and babies torn away. They did not deserve this. I value the family unit, so this book made me appreciate people like Anke who wanted to preserve life. War is hell, but this is an unspeakably monstrous kind of hell that has ever been brought to light. I can only hope that the world never sees this kind of evil again.
Honestly, I don't think I could have done half of what Anke did without suffering a complete breakdown. Her job took guts and a level of inner strength that only few possess. I cried for the mothers and babies torn away. They did not deserve this. I value the family unit, so this book made me appreciate people like Anke who wanted to preserve life. War is hell, but this is an unspeakably monstrous kind of hell that has ever been brought to light. I can only hope that the world never sees this kind of evil again.
hadeelolla's review against another edition
5.0
“There were only a few times in our thirty-year marriage when we talked of our shadows; we agreed on having been different people then. War had moulded us, but could never define how we emerged, as humans.”
drubyy's review
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
creaseinthespinebooks's review against another edition
5.0
I thought this was a brilliant story and the author did her research. . It has great characters and the novel is realistic and shows of the other atrocities and the suffering that happened in Germany in world war 2. i recommend completely
joanneisreading's review against another edition
4.0
HIGHLY RECOMMEND to anyone who is compelled by historical fiction of this era, and as an added bonus, has an interest in midwifery.