A review by eileen_critchley
Margot by Jillian Cantor

3.0

Everyone knows who Margot Frank was, but we don't know her nearly as well as her sister Anne, which is a shame. It's too bad her diary wasn't also recovered after the war, as less of her story would have been lost to history.

I found the premise of this book interesting, but unfortunately some of the writing fell into pet peeve territory for me (constant descriptions and reminders of a character's physical traits.. Joshua's "brown curls" (although at one point they were described as "chestnut", perhaps he was sitting in the sun), his "gray-green eyes", Peter's eyes "blue like the ocean". Also the cringey phrase "I released a breath I didn't realize I was holding". The repetitive mention of the cardigan and it's purpose.. we get it. Overall, the writing felt a little YA to me.) These didn't ruin the book for me to the point where I didn't finish it, but I did find it distracting at times.

I do like stories like this-alternate history, what might have been. It made me think also about Light Perpetual, which I read last year. That book was also about people lost in WWII but was more speculative and about less well known people. Perhaps the execution wasn't quite on the money for me with this one. It almost felt like Margot and her story were a bit trivialized.

Spoiler

also to me felt a bit unrealistic that she wouldn't have contacted her father? Some of her feelings towards Anne were less grief, more jealousy in parts

Maybe I didn't like the "happy ending" spin on what was ultimately such a tragic story. I wish it were true, and that Margot, Anne, Peter, and millions of others had had the opportunity to go on and live a full life.. But it did make me think about Margot, and reminded me of how very sad her story, and that of so many others, is.

{library, kindle}