A review by worldlibraries
Serenade for Nadia by Brendan Freely, O.Z. Livaneli, Zülfü Livaneli

3.0

I enjoyed what I learned from this book, but I feel it should have more focus on the actual Struma itself and the people who were on it. I imagine the people who were on it to be quite accomplished. I felt the Jewish victims of the sinking of the Struma almost came across as a background for the foreground story of single Mom, Maya, and her son, Kerem. It may be that there isn't extensive archives about who was on the Struma, but the book would have been more powerful if the Struma story had taken center stage.

That said O.Z. Livaneli's ability to portray a single mom character is extraordinary. Maya seemed so real.