IT WAS A VERY HARD READ. THE WRITING WAS QUITE GOOD, BUT THE IMAGES WERE QUITE STARK AND VIOLENT. MOST OF THE CHARACTERS WERE HORRIBLY KILLED, SO I FOUND MYSELF DISTANCING MYSELF FROM ANY OF THE CHARACTERS; SO I WOULDN'T BE UPSET WHEN THEY TOO WOULD BE KILLED. I USUALLY IMMERSE MYSELF IN A BOOK, BUT THIS ONE WAS TOO HORRIFIC TO GET TOO CLOSE.

I thought this was a really good book! It was a very quick read! Although some parts were hard to get through because it was graphic I got through it knowing it could have actually happened! I also loved the ending! I thought it was a nice way to end the book!

well written, good character developement, hard to put down but graphic due to the subject matter

A compelling story of an old Prussian family - especially the women - coming face to face with the brutality that was WWII. The war is up close and personal primarily through the eyes of a civilian family. The story stays with you long after the last page is turned.

Multi-layered, at times complicated, and incredibly addictive. I was thinking of the characters day and night until I finished. I listened to the audio. Perhaps that added to the experience because the person who read the book did an amazing job with the accents and creating a different voice for each character. It was a great experience overall and definitely on of those books that has stayed with me for a long time (I listened to it about six months ago.)

I think this would be a great book for book discussion, even though I read it on my own. I would recommend it to book clubs.

Very realistic, depressing look at three different storylines that meet in the last days of WWII. One is of a Jew who jumped from a train transporting him to a concentration camp and lived by impersonating various German soldiers. Another is of a Jewish girl in a camp. The third is of a Prussian family reduced to refugee status and forced to see the reality of what Germany had done to others. Story very well told but haunting in the sheer misery endured by all three. Excellent book for book club discussion. Lots to talk about.