June Book Reviews
The Book Thief, The Silent Patient, The Women and The Cabinet
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Historical fiction (WWII), Nazi Germany, family, coming-of-age, loss and grief
I never was one to be all that interested in history, particularly war related history. However, The Safekeep peaked my curiosity in WWII. So finally purchasing The Book Thief from my Kyobo wishlist was a no-brainer.
In fact, after starting this book I found myself falling so far down the Nazi German rabbit hole that I needed more factual context. Watching Hitler: The Lost Tapes of the Third Reich (DisneyPlus) and Schindler’s List (AppleTV) were how I filled many of the gaps in my historical knowledge. By no means were they easy to watch but they were incredibly insightful.
a summary
The Book Thief finds it’s uniqueness in being narrated by Death itself. During a time in history when human lives were treated as disposable having the perspective of an outside entity makes this war all the more harrowing.
At the center of it is Liesel, a young girl who loses her family and is placed with foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann. As Liesel adjusts to her new life, she begins to understand the power of words—first through her own small acts of rebellion as a book thief, and later through a secret friendship with Max, the Jewish man her foster family hides in their basement.
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Suspense, psychological thriller, murder mystery
This was an all too welcome short little book which was much need after a story as thick as The Book Thief.
At 350 pages, The Silent Patient was the perfect palette cleanser and reminded me how ridiculously addictive a good psychological thriller can be. The Silent Patient was a solid read and a good one to add to your lists.
I’ve heard that there’s a movie adaption in the works with Penn Badgley as the lead, which makes total sense!
a summary
The Silent Patient is a story of Alicia Berenson, a famous painter, who rather gruesomely murders her husband. She’s caught at the scene with the murder weapon in hand and, from that moment on, doesn’t say another word– thus becoming the mysterious “silent patient”.
The story is narrated by her psychotherapist, Theo Faber, who becomes somewhat obsessed with getting Alicia to talk and fixing her brokenness. We follow Theo as he partially takes on a detective role fuelled by both his concern for Alicia and his personal interest of furthering his career. Once he get’s his hands on Alicia’s diary we finally start to see a entirely different side to her.
Without giving too much away…I definitely didn’t see that ending coming!
The Women by Kristin Hannah
Historical fiction (Vietnam War), romance, coming-of-age, psychological war impacts, women in history
I totally get the hype around Kristin Hannah now. Her writing style is so easy and immersive– legit felt like watching a movie every time I picked up this book.
The Women was a longer read which initially seemed quite daunting but once I started I found myself effortlessly turning page after page. Again, I’m not all that knowledgable on war history, but Hannah lays out everything you need to know to feel the full emotional impact of this story.
a summary
Frances “Frankie” McGrath wants nothing more than to make her family proud. With a long history of hailed McGrath men who willing fought for their country, Frankie sees no other way to join their ranks than by enlisting in the Army Nurse Corps. We follow twenty year old Frankie as she heads into a war zone as a fresh and inexperienced nurse. We watch how the circumstances of war age her beyond her years and how the trauma of it all leaves its permenant mark on her. In a time when women were not seen to have contributed to the Vietnam War we watch Frankie as she tries to navigate the challenges of reintegrating into a society that constantly dismisses her.
final thoughts
This was a powerful and sobering read. One that not only tells a moving story, but also shines a light on the often-erased contributions of women in wartime. I closed this book with a heavy heart but a fuller perspective.
The Cabinet by Un-su Kim
Science fiction, fantasy, alienation, absurdity of modern life
Umm…weird but thought-provoking.
I bought The Cabinet on a whim ’cause I haven’t read any novels by Korean authors lately and well…it was all kinds of strange. It does however evoke a lot of thought on societal norms and the absurdity of our capitalist lives.
Although it’s specific to the Korean ideals of a modern life it still does leave you questioning why we just play into our roles and rarely choose to be disruptive. It’s odd, funny, intriguing, saddening, slightly suspenseful and sometimes infuriating. I needed to know where the story was going an why!
a summary
Mr. Kong is an almost insignificant office worker who, from the sheer boredom of his job, let’s his intrusive thoughts win and becomes very much entangled in filing cabinet 13. He finds the contents of the cabinet to be sort of unbelievable which is probably why he can’t pull himself away from reading all the patient files. These files tell the stories of “symptomers”– people with incredible (albeit not all that useful) abilities. But reading these files seems to come at a cost which Mr. Kong soon finds out. Does he care enough to be part of helping and protecting the symptomers or can he simply walk away from it all?
If you’re open to the strange and symbolic, and you don’t mind sitting with more questions than answers, The Cabinet is worth a try.
2 Responses
The Silent Patient is by far the best book I have ever read!
Definitely deserves 5 stars!
Whoa! 5 stars is pretty high praise. I don’t think your wrong, it was a great read. I guess our tastes are just different☺️ Let’s agree to disagree on this one.