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There are currently 14 member reviews
for To Siberia
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Linda (Florida Molino)
Not my favorite WW Two saga
If you want to read a book about a dysfunctional family during WW 2, this is the book for you. I selected this book because I hoped the novel would link to the history and politics that time, but it was lacking. I do not plan to include To Siberia in my collection of WW 2 books for middle/high school reading.
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DeeAnn (Colorado Springs CO)
Difficult to finish, but glad I did
Although I didn't really enjoy this book, I did love the powerful images and the moving story. However, I did find it hard to follow the author's flow of the story, there were connections that were difficult to make as he jumped around in time. This is probably the reason he is so popular, however, the style did not appeal to me. I have read some about WWII and the German occupation, but this was the first time I have read anything set in Denmark, which was very interesting to have a perspective from there. I would recommend this book, however, being selective in the reader to whom I would recommend.
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Michele (Port Orchard WA)
A Challenging Read
As an avid historical fiction reader and reviewer, I am drawn to novels written in unique settings and time periods. Predictably, I couldn't wait to read To Siberia, by award-winning author Per Petterson, a novel about two siblings growing up in WWII Denmark and experiencing the Nazi invasion.
The novel is almost poetically written and events unfold as remembered by a 60 year-old woman. She recalls her bleak childhood growing up in a small town in northern Denmark and her special closeness to her brother, Jesper. The invasion of the Nazi's and the long-lasting ramifications of this event even after the war round out this sparse novel.
The story unfolds in snapshots; a snippet here and a snippet there. Time and place often change in the span of a single sentence. This isn't a novel you can whip through easily. It requires a quiet place, free from distractions, to follow and digest the story.
If you are looking for a quick, easy read then this probably isn't the book for you. There are no long, flowery passages and the book is free of sentiment. But if you are willing to put in the effort and pay attention to the author's words, you will be rewarded with images and observations that will stay with you a lifetime.
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Daniel (Belmont MA)
Didn't pull me in.
Couldn't get into it. Seemed too mundane. Maybe I didn't give it a fair chance, but life's too short to read a book that you can't get into. I frequently found myself wondering what I just read, too much daydreaming.
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Patricia (Yankton SD)
Intriguing but Disappointing
Written in the narrative voice of a young woman coming of age in Denmark during the German occupation, To Siberia is written in varying shades of gray, which overpower the story at times. The narrator jumps from past to present and from Denmark to Norway with little warning which makes the story hard to follow occasionally. However, the book is rich in description, which occasionally overpowers the plot.
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Joan,Walnut Creek CA (Palm Desert CA)
To Siberia - Disappointing Reading Experience
What a disappointment To Siberia was! Being a fond reader of historical fiction I had looked forward to this book with great anticipation. The opportunity to develop a meaningful story based on the teen viewpoint of the Danish resistance movement during the Nazi occupation of WWII as alluded to on the book jacket, slipped through the fingers of the author.
The reader was left with two unsympathetic teen characters living in a very were dysfunctional family struggling through a meandering dark story of the war years.
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Allen (New York NY)
To Siberia
This is a morose, slow moving novel in which the writer feels the need to describe every action in slow motion. It is very heavy on "telling" rather than "showing," and there is a paucity of dialogue and an overabundance both of unsympathetic characters and descriptions of places. The author often shifts tense between past and present without indicating that it is happening and this makes for confusing reading. Guaranteed to put you to sleep should you have insomnia, what with its long paragraphs!
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