The Martels are one of many families of German heritage whose ancestors have farmed in Ukraine for more than a century. But after already living under Stalin’s horrifying regime, Emil and Adeline decide they must run in retreat from their land with the wolves they despise to escape the Soviets and go in search of freedom.
Caught between two warring forces and overcoming horrific trials to pursue their hope of immigrating to the West, the Martels’ story is a brutal, complex, and ultimately triumphant tale that illuminates the extraordinary power of love, faith, and one family’s incredible will to survive and see their dreams realized.
Comment: Two years ago, I got this book for two reasons: the cover is gorgeous and I had seen some references by several people on GR who seemed to have enjoyed. Thus, without much investigation, that is true, I assumed this would be an historical fiction story, and a heartbreaking one at that. Still, I've decided to give it a go.
It's 1944 and Adeline and Emil Martel traveled with their two sons and other family members from a region under the rule of Stalin to another one, in Germany, where they would stay apparently safer since their family is descendant from "pure blood" Germans. The problem is that, at this time, between politics and poverty, there isn't much hope in their future and who knows when something changes again. the Martels decide to go as west as they can, but will they succeed?
As soon as we started this book, we are presented with an author's note saying this story is based on true facts, on real people and their life story and how they should be recognized by the terrible fate they were dealt and by how amazing their resilience and ability to suffer in the grace of God was. I could immediately tell I would not really enjoy the "vibe" of the book, but since I had already decided...
Besides, I have read other books based on real people or in historical facts/events and some have been great and addictive. However, this wasn't so, I'm afraid. I also see now that the average for this book on GR is quite high but I must join the group of those who didn't really have a great time... perhaps the time I hesitated before buying this book because something about it didn't "grab" me despite the cover and so on should have been a warning I should have paid more attention to, after all.
There is nothing wrong with the writing, it is certainly competent, correct, easy in the sense that the grammar and the graphic separation between chapters and situations within the chapters make for an effortless experience. For me, the problem is with the style, which I've found to be boring, simplistic, dull. The way this is written is competent, yes, but made me have zero interest in paying attention or in wanting to know what would happen next. I only finished because I pushed myself and because I was already imagining I would be able to donate this to my local library.
The book includes, at the end, two pictures of the Martels, which was great, yes, as was the knowledge of what efforts the author took to prepare himself to write this book, including traveling trough the current countries which are part of the path the Martels traveled since leaving their place in what is now Romania or Ukraine, until they reach Germany. I also liked knowing these were real people, who survived, obviously, and who had quite a tale to tell their children and grandchildren. For these things alone, I graded this story higher than what I thought at first.
I disliked the writing, though. The Martels go through a lot but this is told to us in such a way that it felt more like a paper and a list of all the tragedies they faced/lived though. I mean, of course, but wasn't there a better way to convey the story? Wasn't there a different tone to describe the narration? I wonder if this was so that the family would accept/validate the publishing of the book somehow? I also didn't like how religious aspects were made to seem so important. I can accept that they were for the family, but the author should have found a better way to include this.
I conclude that the author should have simply written a non fiction book, just like other readers have said in other(better) reviews. I don't feel this story should have been fictionalized this way because while i can appreciate the real people who went though all this, the characters in this story were just too one dimensional, lacked development and evolution in a believable manner, as one would expect from a fiction narrative. Again, perhaps this was so that the family would feel honored, I don't know.
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