Reviews tagging 'War'

The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman

6 reviews

atamano's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Antisemitism, and Genocide

Moderate: Abandonment, War, Car accident, Grief, Medical content, and Sexual assault

kaylaramoutar's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Murder, Sexual violence, Antisemitism, War, and Police brutality

livlostinstereo's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is so beautifully written. Alice Hoffman has a way of telling heartbreaking stories without detracting from the subject. In this case, she utilized Jewish folklore to weave a story about the Holocaust; all done without diluting the atrocities and hardships of those who lived through this horrific period in human history. There are fantastical elements, but the root of the story remains the same: love and survival and the difficult choices many Jewish families faces in Nazi-occupied France. Hoffman again provides a master class on character development and weaving stories together.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Death, Antisemitism, Hate crime, Child death, Genocide, Mass/school shootings, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, Torture, War, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, and Body horror

cocacolor's review against another edition

dark inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

This is an important book that reads like something that's two-thirds fairy tale and one-third history text, both genres that miss the depth of character that fiction readers are used to.  Reviewers praise the humanity of this novel, but it seems to me that there's very little humanity at all: the characters are all pure of heart and action, more like archetypes than people, the world around them is unrelentingly, factually, evil, and there's very little in between, which is where I would say humanity lives. As a fairy tale and history text, it doesn't allow us to savor the moments when Hoffman's plotting shines;

Ava's stratagem to keep Azriel away from Lea, in the last chapter,

reads more like a dream than a thriller. The writing is extremely beautiful and the history vivid; this would probably work best for fans Paulo Coelho's writing style and a certain kind of teenager reader.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Death, and Deportation

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Police brutality, and War

Minor: Child death

nicoleanthony's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Antisemitism, War, Murder, Hate crime, Grief, Genocide, Death of parent, and Child death

ofpagesandparagraphs's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-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? N/A

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Death, Genocide, Murder, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Violence, and War