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A review by tinkerspence
Caging Skies by Christine Leunens
4.0
This book was adapted by Taika Waititi into the award winning film JoJo Rabbit.
Now I am going to say something controversial... I liked the movie better than the book. This I feel was due to Taika’s decision to make the main character younger and thus much more innocent and sympathetic than his book counterpart. The movie also only covered the first half of the book, which was a good choice as some of the things Johannes does in the second half made me despise him.
Putting the movie aside... this book was good to read for context during these trying times. Being isolated to your house is a luxury compared to the inner lining of a wall/under the floor boards for years at a time like the Jews had to do to avoid death. By the end of the book Johannes ends up losing everything as he is disabled in the war so he cannot get a job, you go through periods of hating the way he treats Elsa (especially lying to her for years that the Germans won the war so he can keep her to himself) to feeling pity for what he has to suffer through due to his country looking down on his disability.
This is a brilliant book, especially worth the read if you need some perspective right now. My rating
Now I am going to say something controversial... I liked the movie better than the book. This I feel was due to Taika’s decision to make the main character younger and thus much more innocent and sympathetic than his book counterpart. The movie also only covered the first half of the book, which was a good choice as some of the things Johannes does in the second half made me despise him.
Putting the movie aside... this book was good to read for context during these trying times. Being isolated to your house is a luxury compared to the inner lining of a wall/under the floor boards for years at a time like the Jews had to do to avoid death. By the end of the book Johannes ends up losing everything as he is disabled in the war so he cannot get a job, you go through periods of hating the way he treats Elsa (especially lying to her for years that the Germans won the war so he can keep her to himself) to feeling pity for what he has to suffer through due to his country looking down on his disability.
This is a brilliant book, especially worth the read if you need some perspective right now. My rating