Scan barcode
A review by opheliapo
Sophie Scholl and the White Rose by Annette Dumbach, Jud Newborn
2.0
Sophie Scholl and the White Rose frustrated me from beginning to end. Not because of the facts collected within, which were fascinating in themselves, but because the format and style of the novel was so juvenile and convoluted that I was unable to concentrate on the story itself.
By right I feel that I have been neglected as a reader, and deprived of the emotional reaction I should have had to such a climactic story.
The book cannot seem to make up its mind whether it is a biography, a history book, or a novel, and ends up reading like a patronising, convoluted, but very well researched pile of mish-mashed sentences.
The narrative is stiff and unyielding, and often judders when tenses, points of view, and scenes are changed, seemingly at random. On top of that, the book has little personality and uses an unnecessarily oversimplified vocabulary.
It felt like a poorly formed fanfiction about Sophie Scholl, the enduring visionary and Mary-Sue, a warped version of a real human being. Once again, I repeat that the effort and time taken to research this book is not the problem, but these stories are retold so poorly that I still question Dumbach and Newborn's competence.
I felt as though I were reading a high school English essay, and am sure that the wasted potential of this book could have easily been remedied if Dumbach and Newborn had just hired someone who knew how to craft a fucking sentence.
By right I feel that I have been neglected as a reader, and deprived of the emotional reaction I should have had to such a climactic story.
The book cannot seem to make up its mind whether it is a biography, a history book, or a novel, and ends up reading like a patronising, convoluted, but very well researched pile of mish-mashed sentences.
The narrative is stiff and unyielding, and often judders when tenses, points of view, and scenes are changed, seemingly at random. On top of that, the book has little personality and uses an unnecessarily oversimplified vocabulary.
It felt like a poorly formed fanfiction about Sophie Scholl, the enduring visionary and Mary-Sue, a warped version of a real human being. Once again, I repeat that the effort and time taken to research this book is not the problem, but these stories are retold so poorly that I still question Dumbach and Newborn's competence.
I felt as though I were reading a high school English essay, and am sure that the wasted potential of this book could have easily been remedied if Dumbach and Newborn had just hired someone who knew how to craft a fucking sentence.