Well today is TGIF, a new meme hosted by the lovely Ginger at GReads! Ive been pondering the idea of creating a weekly wrap up post and color me happy, I found one already being done at Gingers!!
TGIF lets us wrap up the week and poses a weekly question.
Summer Love: Where is your ideal place to take a
summer vacation & get lost in a book?
I live in Michigan, I really like traveling and seeing other places, but seriously I really love where I live. My favorite place in Michigan is Ludington, a few hours drive from my house. Its a small town right on the Great Lake and its got a beautiful beach. I love spending the day there and reading, walking the pier and getting an ice cream cone. Ive never ventured out there by myself because the family loves it too, but its a great vacation spot.
This week at Tinas
The Saturday Spotlight (Nook Special)
Review: Legacy by Cayla Kluver
Giveaway! The Girl Who Circum. Fairyland
Review: Warm Bodies
Review: She Makes it Looks Easy
Tgif and Mini-Reviews!
How Huge the Night by Heather Munn and Lydia Munn
April 2011 by Kregel
Paperback, 304 Pages
Review Copy
Fifteen-year-old Julien Losier just wants to fit in. But after his family moves to a small village in central France in hopes of outrunning the Nazis, he is suddenly faced with bigger challenges than the taunting of local teens. Nina Krenkel left her country to obey her father's dying command: Take your brother and leave Austria. Burn your papers. Tell no one you are Jews. Alone and on the run, she arrives in Tanieux, France, dangerously ill and in despair. Thrown together by the chaos of war, Julien begins to feel the terrible weight of the looming conflict and Nina fights to survive. As France falls to the Nazis, Julien struggles with doing what is right, even if it is not enough-and wonders whether or not he really can save Nina from almost certain death.
Thoughts:
There is something riveting and heartbreaking at the same time whenever I read stories about the Holocaust or anything surrounding WWII. How Huge the Night takes on the perspective of 15-year old Julien and young Nina- a Jewish girl pretending to be a boy in order to evade Nazi soldiers. Julien while new in town, is basically the social outcast among his peer groups, due to suspicions and the chaos of war he doesn't really have any friends. Nina, risks everything to get her brother and herself to safety. Each character goes through harrowing circumstances and learns the value of friendship, love and above all else the will to survive.
I found HHTN to be an engrossing read, seeing the war and devastation through young eyes. The pacing at times moved along very slow, giving time for more thoughts, but making it hard to get through. It was a tad disappointing that Julien and Nina's story were not as together as I was expecting, I kept waiting for the story to bring them together like the synopsis eludes to, but it didn't work out the way. Regardless of that minor issue, I think this book would be fantastic for a book club or even a classroom setting (think Private-Christian) to get younger teens engaged in a discussion about that period in time. The book has very strong elements of faith and religion and that age old question of why and while it would be great for all teens to read, I would recommend this to those who enjoy books containing religion, history and thought-provoking, less entertaining values.
I found HHTN to be an engrossing read, seeing the war and devastation through young eyes. The pacing at times moved along very slow, giving time for more thoughts, but making it hard to get through. It was a tad disappointing that Julien and Nina's story were not as together as I was expecting, I kept waiting for the story to bring them together like the synopsis eludes to, but it didn't work out the way. Regardless of that minor issue, I think this book would be fantastic for a book club or even a classroom setting (think Private-Christian) to get younger teens engaged in a discussion about that period in time. The book has very strong elements of faith and religion and that age old question of why and while it would be great for all teens to read, I would recommend this to those who enjoy books containing religion, history and thought-provoking, less entertaining values.
3/5- Inspy-Historical
Thanks to Kregel for Review Copy
I actually have some cousins that have homes in Luddington. I've never visited, but someday I want to!
ReplyDeleteYay Michigan! I'm headed up there in July to Traverse City to visit my parents, and there's nothing prettier than sitting on a dock looking out over Lake Michigan:)
ReplyDeleteToo bad the synopsis for How Huge The Night isn't entirely accurate with regard to Julien and Nina, that's always a little frustrating!
Ludington sounds like a beautiful beachside town. Have a great weekend :)
ReplyDelete