Storyline: 4 Stars
I read this book after a friend recommended it to me. My favorite part of the book was getting an Italian perspective on World War II. I know that some of the details of the book are fabricated, but it is based on a real person that was interviewed by the author, which makes me confident that the main details are true. We often overlook the Italian involvement in World War II, especially towards the end when the general population and even the Italian leaders were not in alignment with Germany anymore.
The only reason this book did not get a five star rating was because I though the writing style was off at times. The author spent an unecessary amount of time on mundane events, and then when something really significant happened, the author often rushed through it. The pacing was a little off because of that, but for the most part it was a solid book.
Parental Guidance: 65% Recommend
I would recommend this book 65% for the content. As with most World War II books, there is a lot of violence. There are bombs and killings all the time. For the most part those scenes are not overly graphic due to the author not spending much time on the significant moments as mentioned above, but the events were often so jarring that they were still awful to read. I would not recommend this book to someone who would not be comfortable with the violence and death.
Additionally, there were some relationships, along with one of the Germans having an affair and at times being rough with his mistress. The main character also gets into a relationship and intimacy is implied but not described.
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The pacing was a little off, and sometimes I didn’t quite feel Pino. I really wanted to get into his story and feel with him, but it was difficult, especially in the first half. He did not have much of a personality and he didn’t really have many internal struggles which made it harder to dive into his story. Despite that, I still cried when Anna died. I think all the backstory still allowed me to feel the emotions when she died, and I will give the author credit for that because at the beginning of the book I did not think I would care about the characters much.
I really did like the Italian perspective, especially since the book was at the very end of the war. We often overlook the Italian contribution towards the end because Italy is ashamed of what happened during the war, especially at the beginning. Overall, it was definitely worth the read!
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