A review by lizbethandthelifeinbetween
My Real Name Is Hanna, by Tara Lynn Masih
4.0
Interview with author at the bottom!
I got this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I think this book was written beautifully. Hanna's attention to detail and youthfulness came out in the novel. They had a strong, loveable voice that I could hear in the back of my head I read the book. The description in this novel was amazing. Little things were described with just one extra word, the flowers were yellow, and it somehow made the book more complete. It made Hanna feel like a fully fleshed-out person living in the real world. It might seem like nothing in just one small example, but when many are strung together they paint an amazing picture. The author managed to hit the sweet spot with the description. It was just a bit more than I'm used to, but not enough to be boring or to take away from the story.
There wasn't much in the way of the plot. It was a survival story about families and struggles and ties. I found it slow at some points for there wasn't much action. Still, I never completely lost interest in this novel, which was surprising as having it on my laptop meant I sometimes when a while without reading it and I wasn't carrying it around with me everywhere as I do with paper copies of books. This book always drew me back in.
The family feeling in the book was very present. I felt connected to all the characters and none of the relationships felt forced or unnatural. My hopes and desires were with them as I read. I was entirely captivated by all their dynamics and their necessity to stay together and I felt as sad as Hanna did when they all had to part ways.
I loved the aspect that it was Hanna telling tp story to her children. While knowing this from the beginning, I knew that Hanna had to live, but I still felt like she was in physical danger at times and was always concerned for those around her. It seemed a bit odd that it was told in the present tense, but it was an engaging choice as it was narrated in the first person.
Storytelling was a big aspect of this book. There was a bit where the adults were just telling stories to the children, and it was so interesting to see what they decided to tell. They talked about family mostly, and I loved how I could see what they valued and what they wanted their children to value when they could finally be free.
Interview with the author Tara Lynn Masih:
Q: What are the differences between writing short stories and a novel?
A: For me, it's a huge difference. The length of the course comes into play. I have a natural tendency to condense, as poets do, so it was a struggle for me to expand the narration. I get bored when there is too much filler in books, so I had to find a good balance between making the reader feel like they are living in Hanna's shoes, but not letting the story get too mundane for me. Still, it's a short book. Some don't like its brevity, but luckily, so far, most do.
Q: Why did you choose to write this book in the present tense?
A: That's an excellent question! The first final draft was actually in the typical past tense, but some editors complained that the action did not seem immediate. My preference has always been to write in the present. My writing flows better. But being that this was the first novel, I tried to fit it into the standard mold that editors find more acceptable. Bad idea. Go with what your strengths are. I painstakingly converted the whole manuscript back to present tense, and we got multiple offers.
Q: What do you think the ethics are of writing about historical events and figures?
A: Another wonderful question. I can't speak about ethics in general for all writers, I can only speak about what I tried to follow. First, I was inspired by a real family, the Stermers. But I did not want to "steal" their story. I believe it should mostly be left for their descendants to tell, out of respect for their trauma. So I fictionalized a whole town and family, and only borrowed impersonal events, dates, survival skills, and two small quotes. Also, in writing about the Holocaust, I did not go fully into the nightmarish atrocities that befell the Jewish population, as some other books have. But my personal feeling was that if I did, I would somehow be desecrating it.
I got this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I think this book was written beautifully. Hanna's attention to detail and youthfulness came out in the novel. They had a strong, loveable voice that I could hear in the back of my head I read the book. The description in this novel was amazing. Little things were described with just one extra word, the flowers were yellow, and it somehow made the book more complete. It made Hanna feel like a fully fleshed-out person living in the real world. It might seem like nothing in just one small example, but when many are strung together they paint an amazing picture. The author managed to hit the sweet spot with the description. It was just a bit more than I'm used to, but not enough to be boring or to take away from the story.
There wasn't much in the way of the plot. It was a survival story about families and struggles and ties. I found it slow at some points for there wasn't much action. Still, I never completely lost interest in this novel, which was surprising as having it on my laptop meant I sometimes when a while without reading it and I wasn't carrying it around with me everywhere as I do with paper copies of books. This book always drew me back in.
The family feeling in the book was very present. I felt connected to all the characters and none of the relationships felt forced or unnatural. My hopes and desires were with them as I read. I was entirely captivated by all their dynamics and their necessity to stay together and I felt as sad as Hanna did when they all had to part ways.
I loved the aspect that it was Hanna telling tp story to her children. While knowing this from the beginning, I knew that Hanna had to live, but I still felt like she was in physical danger at times and was always concerned for those around her. It seemed a bit odd that it was told in the present tense, but it was an engaging choice as it was narrated in the first person.
Storytelling was a big aspect of this book. There was a bit where the adults were just telling stories to the children, and it was so interesting to see what they decided to tell. They talked about family mostly, and I loved how I could see what they valued and what they wanted their children to value when they could finally be free.
Interview with the author Tara Lynn Masih:
Q: What are the differences between writing short stories and a novel?
A: For me, it's a huge difference. The length of the course comes into play. I have a natural tendency to condense, as poets do, so it was a struggle for me to expand the narration. I get bored when there is too much filler in books, so I had to find a good balance between making the reader feel like they are living in Hanna's shoes, but not letting the story get too mundane for me. Still, it's a short book. Some don't like its brevity, but luckily, so far, most do.
Q: Why did you choose to write this book in the present tense?
A: That's an excellent question! The first final draft was actually in the typical past tense, but some editors complained that the action did not seem immediate. My preference has always been to write in the present. My writing flows better. But being that this was the first novel, I tried to fit it into the standard mold that editors find more acceptable. Bad idea. Go with what your strengths are. I painstakingly converted the whole manuscript back to present tense, and we got multiple offers.
Q: What do you think the ethics are of writing about historical events and figures?
A: Another wonderful question. I can't speak about ethics in general for all writers, I can only speak about what I tried to follow. First, I was inspired by a real family, the Stermers. But I did not want to "steal" their story. I believe it should mostly be left for their descendants to tell, out of respect for their trauma. So I fictionalized a whole town and family, and only borrowed impersonal events, dates, survival skills, and two small quotes. Also, in writing about the Holocaust, I did not go fully into the nightmarish atrocities that befell the Jewish population, as some other books have. But my personal feeling was that if I did, I would somehow be desecrating it.