Just this past weekend, I finished reading Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay. This book swept me up and carried me through the character's life - as though I was seeing it with her eyes and literally wearing her shoes. It goes back and forth between the present-day Julia and another character, Sarah, who becomes her growing focus and subject of the story. Wonderfully written, unlike anything else I've ever read about France's occupation during WWII and the experience of a Jewish family who experiences the horrific Vel' d'Hiv Roundup in 1942 - a dark time in France's history.
Often throughout this book, I felt as if I could feel the Parisian weather and even see the characters that Julia was interacting with. It drew emotion out of me that I haven't experienced from a good read in a very long time. I really appreciate this level of detail and highly recommend this book to anyone even remotely interested in historical fiction.
Recently, I read 'The Things They Carried' by Tim O'Brien. This isn't something I would've grabbed off the shelf to read on purpose, but hence the reason I joined a book group recently. I chose to join to push my reading genre above and beyond. I have been pleasantly surprised with the outcome!
This book opened a window into the author's experiences in Vietnam - both past and present - through a series of short stores compiled together as a novel. The opportunity to get to really know the types of characters that he was surrounded by during wartime, and then after his return home and how the world appeared to him, is a story I think we hear repeated in many different platforms from our country's past. However, Tim O'Brien sheds light on his experiences much differently. I found it raw, emotional and, well, pretty darn REAL. I had to contemplate throughout this book, how would I have dealt with that? It left me wanting more - to know what was his writer's fabrication and what were his own realities. Anything that I'm left thinking about after-the-fact is a good read in my opinion. I recommend it.
