ritareadstrash's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
"This is what it's like to be Jewish
in Europe.
Every beautiful thing
has horror buried under it."
-The Ghosts of Rose Hill by R.M. Romero
When I tell you, there are at least a dozen quotes like this that made me pause my reading to really mentally and emotionally digest what I read.
I'm not one to pull quotes, but it was a struggle to choose just one this time. I landed on this one because my heart squeezes when I think 6 horrors we walk on daily.
It's so hard to find the words to explain how this book hurt my heart, but also kept a continuous thread of hope the entire time. I think being in verse really drives this story, too. To top it off, this is an own voices author, which adds so much emotion to the story.
I don't know how I stumbled upon this book. I don't remember if I placed a hold or randomly picked it up, but it's one of the best decisions I've made this year.
in Europe.
Every beautiful thing
has horror buried under it."
-The Ghosts of Rose Hill by R.M. Romero
When I tell you, there are at least a dozen quotes like this that made me pause my reading to really mentally and emotionally digest what I read.
I'm not one to pull quotes, but it was a struggle to choose just one this time. I landed on this one because my heart squeezes when I think 6 horrors we walk on daily.
It's so hard to find the words to explain how this book hurt my heart, but also kept a continuous thread of hope the entire time. I think being in verse really drives this story, too. To top it off, this is an own voices author, which adds so much emotion to the story.
I don't know how I stumbled upon this book. I don't remember if I placed a hold or randomly picked it up, but it's one of the best decisions I've made this year.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Antisemitism
lindsaybarrows's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Antisemitism and War
rynicolereads's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Antisemitism, and Death
Moderate: Kidnapping and War
preciouslittleingenue's review
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Finished this in pretty much one sitting. It went very fast and the writing was not my favorite. I feel like I could take a shot every time the author used “like a fist” as a metaphor and gotten pretty wasted. This was very obviously a YA novel so I’ll blame it’s simplicity on that.
The thematic metaphors were very strong. I was VERY struck by the graveyard of children’s shoes in the Black House. Super deliberate Holocaust reference that wasn’t too heavy handed. Even just the fact that Wasserman was German preying on a Jewish cemetery. You don’t need to squint to see the parallel but it’s not beating me over the head either. My favorite culmination of these parallels was Ilana’s “my people will always outlive you.” Because she doesn’t just mean her descendants will last longer than his single lifetime. She means every violent act against her people, every attempt to eliminate the Jews…has always and will always fail. They will outlive every attempt to remove them as a people from the world. I found that really beautiful.
It was such a brief work that I didn’t really feel the love connection between Ilana and Benjamin, but they’re also only sixteen. I don’t know, I just wasn’t that devastated when they were separated forever by his crossing over. But at the end of the day, the crafting of the narrative and it’s parallels was pretty expert, even if language and characterization was not. This was a great quick/short read for me to use to desperately reach my 2022 reading goal as December rapidly approaches.
OH. EDIT. Because I forgot to mention how much I loathed the audiobook narrator. Her German accent was actually painful to sit through. And her delivery of certain phrases was so cringeworthy. Maybe I’d have cared more about the characters and felt more connection between them if she wasn’t so awful.
The thematic metaphors were very strong. I was VERY struck by the graveyard of children’s shoes in the Black House. Super deliberate Holocaust reference that wasn’t too heavy handed. Even just the fact that Wasserman was German preying on a Jewish cemetery. You don’t need to squint to see the parallel but it’s not beating me over the head either. My favorite culmination of these parallels was Ilana’s “my people will always outlive you.” Because she doesn’t just mean her descendants will last longer than his single lifetime. She means every violent act against her people, every attempt to eliminate the Jews…has always and will always fail. They will outlive every attempt to remove them as a people from the world. I found that really beautiful.
It was such a brief work that I didn’t really feel the love connection between Ilana and Benjamin, but they’re also only sixteen. I don’t know, I just wasn’t that devastated when they were separated forever by his crossing over. But at the end of the day, the crafting of the narrative and it’s parallels was pretty expert, even if language and characterization was not. This was a great quick/short read for me to use to desperately reach my 2022 reading goal as December rapidly approaches.
OH. EDIT. Because I forgot to mention how much I loathed the audiobook narrator. Her German accent was actually painful to sit through. And her delivery of certain phrases was so cringeworthy. Maybe I’d have cared more about the characters and felt more connection between them if she wasn’t so awful.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Antisemitism, Child death, War, and Genocide
bookishjaybird's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
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
I want to thank NetGalley and PeachTree Teen Publishing for a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!
I genuinely am not sure where to start with this book other than I absolutely loved it so much.
I’m generally not a fan of novels that are inverse because it’s just a hard format for me to follow, but I started this and I couldn’t put it down. The story was so beautiful and made me cry several times, especially the last few chapters.
I so so loved Ilana and Benjamin and their relationship. I thought the cleaning of the cemetery and them bonding over that and their Jewishness was beautiful, even if it was heartbreaking that Ben was a ghost.
If I went on, this review would get extremely repetitive because all I can say about this book is that it was so so beautiful. The story, the message, the artwork, the ending, every single thing. If I had to nitpick ANYTHING, I wish there had been a more closed ending with her family and friends, but that’s just because I like more closed ended books.
Other than that, this book is possibly my favorite that I’ve read of the entire year and I want to recommend it to any and everyone.
I genuinely am not sure where to start with this book other than I absolutely loved it so much.
I’m generally not a fan of novels that are inverse because it’s just a hard format for me to follow, but I started this and I couldn’t put it down. The story was so beautiful and made me cry several times, especially the last few chapters.
I so so loved Ilana and Benjamin and their relationship. I thought the cleaning of the cemetery and them bonding over that and their Jewishness was beautiful, even if it was heartbreaking that Ben was a ghost.
If I went on, this review would get extremely repetitive because all I can say about this book is that it was so so beautiful. The story, the message, the artwork, the ending, every single thing. If I had to nitpick ANYTHING, I wish there had been a more closed ending with her family and friends, but that’s just because I like more closed ended books.
Other than that, this book is possibly my favorite that I’ve read of the entire year and I want to recommend it to any and everyone.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, Child death, and Antisemitism
joanna77_'s review
dark
emotional
sad
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? Yes
4.25
“𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐬. 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞. 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐚 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡, 𝐚 𝐯𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐫, 𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞.”
This book was absolutely heart-wrenching. From beginning to end I was just filled with this sense of melancholy. This book is all about the Jewish experience in Europe. It talks about abandoned cemeteries and the Holocaust. It describes the communist regime and the desecration of monuments. This whole books serves as a testimony of what Jewish people have been treated like for centuries.
It was really hard to read at several points, because like I said, it’s just so sad. I really liked how it was written in verse, I thought that made it super impactful and I liked all of the interludes from the main bad guy and the presence of music throughout the story.
I thought the villain was absolutely terrifying. He was just so wicked, reading his point of view was terrifying. He served as a great metaphor. The inclusion of Slavic mythology was also fantastic!
Overall, I really loved this, but I did have some issues with the age gap and ghost romance stories kind of freak me out a little bit, but other than that, this story was top notch.
I’ve loved every book by this author and encourage everyone to pick them up.
“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐧.”
This book was absolutely heart-wrenching. From beginning to end I was just filled with this sense of melancholy. This book is all about the Jewish experience in Europe. It talks about abandoned cemeteries and the Holocaust. It describes the communist regime and the desecration of monuments. This whole books serves as a testimony of what Jewish people have been treated like for centuries.
It was really hard to read at several points, because like I said, it’s just so sad. I really liked how it was written in verse, I thought that made it super impactful and I liked all of the interludes from the main bad guy and the presence of music throughout the story.
I thought the villain was absolutely terrifying. He was just so wicked, reading his point of view was terrifying. He served as a great metaphor. The inclusion of Slavic mythology was also fantastic!
Overall, I really loved this, but I did have some issues with the age gap and ghost romance stories kind of freak me out a little bit, but other than that, this story was top notch.
I’ve loved every book by this author and encourage everyone to pick them up.
“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐧.”
Content Warnings
Moderate: Antisemitism, Child abuse, and Child death
sarasreadingnook's review
4.0
Haunting, entrancing, and so poetic.
Absolutely beautiful story of a biracial Jewish girl who is sent away to stay with her aunt in Prague. I was soon hooked after reading the first chapter and read this book late at night finding it difficult to put down.
Ilana is torn between pursuing her parent’s wishes of having a stable career, for example in the sciences or medicine, and becoming a violinist. While she’s in Prague, she learns about a forgotten Jewish ancestry, encounters a ghost name Benjamin and also a man with no shadow, Rudolf Wassermann and is compelled to know their stories.
The book stresses the importance of remembering our history. Quick and impactful read - I recommend this to anyone who enjoys poetic storytelling and is intrigued by the synopsis.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a review copy. All opinions are my own.
Absolutely beautiful story of a biracial Jewish girl who is sent away to stay with her aunt in Prague. I was soon hooked after reading the first chapter and read this book late at night finding it difficult to put down.
Ilana is torn between pursuing her parent’s wishes of having a stable career, for example in the sciences or medicine, and becoming a violinist. While she’s in Prague, she learns about a forgotten Jewish ancestry, encounters a ghost name Benjamin and also a man with no shadow, Rudolf Wassermann and is compelled to know their stories.
The book stresses the importance of remembering our history. Quick and impactful read - I recommend this to anyone who enjoys poetic storytelling and is intrigued by the synopsis.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a review copy. All opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Antisemitism, and Genocide
amberinpieces's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Death, and Grief
Minor: Child death, Genocide, Violence, and Antisemitism