elliemcc11's review
5.0
thought provoking novel documenting the worst civilian disaster in WW2 England.173 people died in a shelter in the tube network, due to one person falling. the author has cleverly taken a fictional set of characters and weaves a story which is believable and makes you wonder what it would have been like there in the shelter.
sfoster2309's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
booksinbedinthornhill's review against another edition
4.0
This review contains SPOILERS. The Report is very-well written, but I'm confused. The author asserts her work is fiction, so I'm assuming the Barbers and Mrs W. and Baby Saul/Paul don't really exist. Why does this fiction book turn the Bethnal Green tragedy into an antisemitic incident, the result of Ada Barber pushing and then trampling over the Jewish refugee woman on the tube-station steps? I recently watched a YouTube documentary that blames the noisy weapons testing in nearby Victoria Park for the panic which caused the crush in the tube station. Witnesses in the video testified to the horrendous noise and lights which they assumed were German retaliation for a recent air raid on Berlin. The novel acknowledges the Victoria Park testing but doesn't present it as a cause of the crush, as there was no generalized panic on the night of March 3, 1943, in Bethnal Green. The novel presents Dunne (the report-writer who learned about Ada's actions on the night of the incident from Ada's young daughter, Tillie) as deciding not to write about 'the true cause of the incident' in the report so as to avoid the creation of bad feelings amongst the survivors. But grown Paul asks the question, "What would you have done if the situation were reversed, if the Jewish woman had pushed a gentile woman, thereby initiating the tragedy?" The Report presents an interesting premise (as "anti-refugee feelings" did exist at the time) but why create a version of events like this if it has no basis in fact? I want to see antisemitism uncovered where it does exist, but why bring it into an historical event if it didn't play a part?
kategolledge's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Hidden London history
chrissireads's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed reading this book which was easy and quick to read despite the subject matter. It is the story of an accident that claimed the lives of some Londoners at the entrance to an air-raid shelter in 1943 and how the community dealt with the aftermath. It is based on an actual incident during WWII. I would recommend this book, Kane writes in a very compelling way.
bibliobethreads's review
4.0
I'm still recovering from the effect this book had on me. I have read a lot of WWII books and this one was particularly poignant. I don't know if it was the subject matter - that is to say, the largest loss of civilian life that was NOT caused by a military incident or if it was the writing style, which I have to say was beautiful and compelling.
vanessammc's review against another edition
3.0
I wasn't expecting The Report to be historical fiction written as a mystery. It was a pleasant surprise. The Report depicted Britain's World War II homefront from the working class perspective. Overall, a moving story that reminds the reader of war's horrors and lasting impact.
baklavopita's review against another edition
4.0
This book was totally engrossing. I want to read more about Bethnal Green. Most of the characters were very real to me, although I did get a few of them confused---all those generic sounding British names!
lemkegirl's review against another edition
3.0
I was lucky enough to win this advanced copy of the book through firstreads. While it was a quick read for me, that didn't diminish the story at all. I liked the different perspectives from different people and their perspectives as time went on.
Good read, well done.
Good read, well done.
bjr2022's review against another edition
5.0
Like Jessica Francis Kane’s recent book, [b:Rules for Visiting|41880608|Rules for Visiting|Jessica Francis Kane|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1543636791l/41880608._SY75_.jpg|65372790], The Report has a controlled energy that slowed my own. In the beginning I stopped reading after each short chapter, not because I wasn’t interested—on the contrary, I was mesmerized—but because I was sated. I needed to metabolize and not think. But as the tension built, I found myself reading beyond satiation, and somehow I handled it.
The Report is the story of the workings of crowds through a horrific historic event. A very different book than Rules for Visiting, yet it shares a motif: both books are essentially reports. The events play out, they are reported, the facts accrue into a story. And the art of this writing makes them into an experience that is hard to explain. But let me try.
The cover of The Report (designed by Kyle G. Hunter) gives a metaphor for what happened to me as a reader, but for the longest time I didn’t even notice it: The picture is a dark AP photo. Whether it is of the actual incident of people in an underground bomb shelter in the East End of London (Bethnal Green) during WWII doesn’t matter. It is what I envisioned. But so subtle that you don’t even see it unless the cover happens to be tilted up so the light hits it in just the right way is typeface superimposed onto the photo—the report of this incident. That is a perfect depiction of Kane’s style.
There is nothing flashy, no sentences you can quote to illustrate poetic beauty, no obvious “writer’s technique.” Nevertheless, the writing enters your psyche, commanding that you slow down and see and feel every detail; I swear my heartbeat synced with something larger that I surmise directs Kane’s writing. Likewise the elegance—a meticulous elegance to every word and sentence—is so understated you might miss it.
I am obsessed with the responsibility of people in crowds and crowd movements, so I love the content of this book. And I love this writing!
The Report is the story of the workings of crowds through a horrific historic event. A very different book than Rules for Visiting, yet it shares a motif: both books are essentially reports. The events play out, they are reported, the facts accrue into a story. And the art of this writing makes them into an experience that is hard to explain. But let me try.
The cover of The Report (designed by Kyle G. Hunter) gives a metaphor for what happened to me as a reader, but for the longest time I didn’t even notice it: The picture is a dark AP photo. Whether it is of the actual incident of people in an underground bomb shelter in the East End of London (Bethnal Green) during WWII doesn’t matter. It is what I envisioned. But so subtle that you don’t even see it unless the cover happens to be tilted up so the light hits it in just the right way is typeface superimposed onto the photo—the report of this incident. That is a perfect depiction of Kane’s style.
There is nothing flashy, no sentences you can quote to illustrate poetic beauty, no obvious “writer’s technique.” Nevertheless, the writing enters your psyche, commanding that you slow down and see and feel every detail; I swear my heartbeat synced with something larger that I surmise directs Kane’s writing. Likewise the elegance—a meticulous elegance to every word and sentence—is so understated you might miss it.
I am obsessed with the responsibility of people in crowds and crowd movements, so I love the content of this book. And I love this writing!