Tone deaf.
As World War II comes to a close, a German teen and her sister struggle for survival.
It’s March 1945. Katja, 16, her older sister, Hilde, and their Mutti live alone on a Pomeranian farm; Papi was killed two years earlier fighting in the German army. Hilde’s boyfriend is also a soldier. Katja mourns the loss of her Jewish piano teacher, Herr Goldstein, who moved to Poland three years ago. When advancing Russian soldiers take over their home, the three depart on foot for the fictional town of Fahlhoff to stay with their mother’s friends, whom the girls call Aunt Ilse and Uncle Otto. On the long trip there, Russian soldiers shoot and kill Mutti. In Fahlhoff Katja and Hilde struggle to survive under Russian occupation. Katja vandalizes a Russian officer’s automobile, setting off a series of deadly consequences. Unfortunately, the novel feels somewhat myopic—Katja seems much less aware of the danger the Goldsteins faced than seems reasonable given the harsh pervasiveness of anti-Semitic rhetoric. She also seems relatively unaffected by losing her father and Germany’s defeat, making it difficult to relate to her and muddling her narrative arc. Katja’s persistent short-sightedness and flip-flopping emotions leave readers frustrated and bored. For a better treatment of this time period, read Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys (2016).
Tone deaf. (author’s note) (Historical fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: March 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-77321-365-1
Page Count: 360
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 6, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes
A gripping thriller in dystopic future Los Angeles.
Fifteen-year-olds June and Day live completely different lives in the glorious Republic. June is rich and brilliant, the only candidate ever to get a perfect score in the Trials, and is destined for a glowing career in the military. She looks forward to the day when she can join up and fight the Republic’s treacherous enemies east of the Dakotas. Day, on the other hand, is an anonymous street rat, a slum child who failed his own Trial. He's also the Republic's most wanted criminal, prone to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. When tragedies strike both their families, the two brilliant teens are thrown into direct opposition. In alternating first-person narratives, Day and June experience coming-of-age adventures in the midst of spying, theft and daredevil combat. Their voices are distinct and richly drawn, from Day’s self-deprecating affection for others to June's Holmesian attention to detail. All the flavor of a post-apocalyptic setting—plagues, class warfare, maniacal soldiers—escalates to greater complexity while leaving space for further worldbuilding in the sequel.
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes . (Science fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25675-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
BOOK TO SCREEN
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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