Plot: (Back of Book) In Poland, as World War II rages, a mother hides with her young daughter, a musical prodigy whose slightest sound may cost them their lives. As Nazi soldiers round up the Jews in their town, Róza and her 5-year-old daughter, Shira, flee, seeking shelter in a neighbor’s barn. Hidden in the hayloft day and night, Shira struggles to stay still and quiet, as music pulses through her and the farmyard outside beckons.
My Review and Thoughts:
This is a beautiful, touching story of the what if reality. A personal journey of survival and the love of a mother to a child. WW2 was a horrible devastating reality that left many broken families and many broken dreams. Death and horror destroyed bonds and connections. Jennifer Rosner has written a book that pulls at the heartstrings of the reader.
There are moments of sadness and dread as Roza strives to save her daughter through any means. The struggle to hide and to survive plays a vivid role in this story. The depictions of Roza surviving rape and miscarriage are graphic and real for the reader. Mother and daughter hiding in the hay loft of a farm, struggling to stay quite to stay safe plays a sad and dreadful reality of the struggle of trying just to live through the outside horrors taking place.
The book is a force of visual realities of war time through the perspective of the eyes and imagination of a little girl and her imaginary yellow bird. A bird like a safe spot, a safe idea, a safe imaginings. Music plays a vibrant wonderful role throughout this depressing and rich story of emotions. Most of all the love of mother and daughter bring the pages flowing with emotional connections for the reader.
Roza pushes and pushes and pushes to do whatever it takes and to do whatever transpires only to protect, save, find her daughter. There is a bond rich with love written on these pages. This love is personal and cannot be taken as a simple notion, for it is the beating heart of the story. A moving force of clarity of love.
This is a novel of perfected storytelling at its finest. A page turning triumph. A debut novel that bleeds the sense of reality into each sentence. Moving, powerful, beautiful, vibrant, dark, sad, dreadful, perfection.
Would I Return to It Again: Yes I would, I felt this story and it ultimately became apart of me.
Would I Recommend: Absolutely. It's a book that needs to be read and that demands to be read.
My Rating: 4 out of 5
Four Final Words: Passionately written. Brutally depicted.