During WWII, Alina is a teenager on a Polish farm and her long-time love, Tomasz, is in Warsaw getting a medical degree when Hitler’s Army arrives and takes control of Poland.
In 2019, Alice is doing the best she can to be a good mother to both of her children, one of whom is a genius and the other is on the autism spectrum, despite a husband who isn’t very hands-on with the kids. When her grandmother has a stroke and insists that Alice go to Poland to find some part of her past, Alice experiences her first time being away from the kids while on her grandmother’s mysterious quest.
I always hesitate to read WWII-based novels. It’s just that they are so heart wrenching and infuriating and I’ve already read so many stories from that time period. It’s not like I’m uninformed. It’s the opposite. I feel very well-informed about the atrocities, despair, and hatred of the Nazis as well as the strength, love, and resilience of the survivors. I’ve read stories from soldiers’ points of view as well as secret operatives’ and civilians’. I just don’t enjoy the depression I feel when I’m forced to face the realities of the Holocaust. But this novel came highly recommended and, honestly, there wasn’t any other appealing audiobook available at the library. So, I decided to give The Things We Cannot Say a try.
I’m so glad I did! I was completely engrossed. Both storylines had great characters and situations that pulled me in. Alina’s and Alice’s situations were entirely different and they highlighted how the times have changed since WWII. Neither one could have imaged what the other had to deal with. I wanted to know how everything would turn out in both of their stories. Plus, I had to find out about Alice’s grandmother’s secrets. Kelly Rimmer’s writing was perfectly paced and her characters’ situations were never boring. The trials these characters faced felt very authentic. As predicted, it was both a heartbreaking and heartwarming story. As someone whose family is from Poland, the stories felt even more personal and interesting to me. And I thought the way the mysteries played out, while not surprising, were well done in terms of the story-crafting between the timeframes and stories.
The audiobook was narrated by Ann Marie Gideon and Nancy Peterson, each narrating one of the points of view. They were both terrific for their roles and had a nice repertoire of character voices and accents. I’ll give them As.
No comments:
Post a Comment