Good Morning Lovelies :)
I pray today that wherever you're reading from, that you're doing well, and that you're feeling God's presence upon you no matter what circumstances you're currently facing.
As always, I'm so grateful that you've chosen to stop by my little corner of the internet, and I'm always excited to share my love of books with you all.
Today's review is for a title that had been on my tbr list for quite sometime, and I finally got the chance to read it.
I hope you'll all keep reading down below to find out what I ended up thinking about it.
Things We Didn't Say by Amy Lynn Green:
Source: Library
Publisher: Bethany House
Publication Date: November 3rd, 2020
Genre: Christian Fiction/Historical Fiction/World War Two Fiction/Epistolary Style
Synopsis:
Headstrong Johanna Berglund, a linguistics student at the University of Minnesota, has very definite plans for her future . . . plans that do not include returning to her hometown and the secrets and heartaches she left behind there. But the US Army wants her to work as a translator at a nearby camp for German POWs.
Johanna arrives to find the once-sleepy town exploding with hostility. Most patriotic citizens want nothing to do with German soldiers laboring in their fields, and they're not afraid to criticize those who work at the camp as well. When Johanna describes the trouble to her friend Peter Ito, a language instructor at a school for military intelligence officers, he encourages her to give the town that rejected her a second chance.
As Johanna interacts with the men of the camp and censors their letters home, she begins to see the prisoners in a more sympathetic light. But advocating for better treatment makes her enemies in the community, especially when charismatic German spokesman Stefan Werner begins to show interest in Johanna and her work. The longer Johanna wages her home-front battle, the more the lines between compassion and treason become blurred--and it's no longer clear whom she can trust.
(synopsis from goodreads)
My Review:
I've had Things We Didn't Say on my TBR list for quite sometime, and I was looking forward to finally getting the opportunity to read it. As someone who loves both World War Two fiction and epistolary novels, I went into this one fully expecting to love it. Unfortunately, that ended up not being the case.
A lot of the issues I had with this one involved the main character Johanna. She was an incredibly frustrating character to want to root for, and her better than everyone else attitude irked me to no end. She's treated her family, friends and community in Iron Lake terribly over the years, and her reasons didn't seem to justify her actions. Her attitude was off putting and frustrating, and I couldn't comprehend her treatment of those closest to her with her championing of the inhumane treatment of the POW's. It seemed a giant contradiction that made little sense to the reader.
The faith element was also a problem for me as it was basically superficial and almost non-existent. It went so far as to feel like other religions were touted over Christianity, and it left a bad taste in my mouth. While some readers might have felt this was resolved by the end of the story, I didn't personally feel so and nothing ended up feeling authentic or probable where Johanna's faith journey was concerned.
While I enjoyed about the first third of the story, the rest of it dragged considerably, and I had a hard time staying invested in the plot. Considering I read that first third in about an hour, it's a little telling that it took me over a week to finish the rest.
Overall, while I did enjoy the epistolary style, the author's talented way of handling multiple POV's, and getting to opportunity to read another fictionalized account of the POW's in America, this one unfortunately wasn't what I was hoping for or expecting.
Final Rating: 3/5.
I'm glad I gave it a chance, but it won't be a reread for me, and I'm not sure if I'd rush out to try another book by this author or not.
Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day :)
This is not a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The photo does not belong to me, and all rights to the respective owners.
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