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A review by joypouros
Winter of the World by Ken Follett
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This is the second of a trilogy. I had read the first two years ago, so I only vaguely remembered the characters. I think Follett does a good job jogging your memory about how you knew them before without too much exposition and without it being necessary to this book.
This covers WW2 and follows many of the same characters and families as before. It does not focus very much on concentration camps, though it does not ignore them, but instead the every day family life of families in the USA, Germany, Britain, and the USSR. As such, families are divided on politics, men go to war willingly or otherwise, many people just try to survive. I liked that the focus was more broad, because there are a lot of books focused on the concentration camps.
Maude, who moved from England to Germany after marrying a German in the first book, is there with her husband and two kids as the Nazis take power. Her husband dies for asking too many questions when their maid's handicapped child is killed. She and her daughter are against the Nazis, but her son joins them.
In the USSR, an intelligence agent does his part for Stalin while fighting doubts about communism.
An American daughter of a gangster cares more for her own social status than politics, but a loveless marriage and circumstances change her in many ways.
The stories are always so neatly entwined.
It ends on the brink of the cold war, which is where the last book will pick up.
This covers WW2 and follows many of the same characters and families as before. It does not focus very much on concentration camps, though it does not ignore them, but instead the every day family life of families in the USA, Germany, Britain, and the USSR. As such, families are divided on politics, men go to war willingly or otherwise, many people just try to survive. I liked that the focus was more broad, because there are a lot of books focused on the concentration camps.
Maude, who moved from England to Germany after marrying a German in the first book, is there with her husband and two kids as the Nazis take power. Her husband dies for asking too many questions when their maid's handicapped child is killed. She and her daughter are against the Nazis, but her son joins them.
In the USSR, an intelligence agent does his part for Stalin while fighting doubts about communism.
An American daughter of a gangster cares more for her own social status than politics, but a loveless marriage and circumstances change her in many ways.
The stories are always so neatly entwined.
It ends on the brink of the cold war, which is where the last book will pick up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and War