This is a tough one for me. It's one of my favorite genres to read and I couldn't wait to dig in. At first, I thought it was going to give me some back story and then get into the novel. Unfortunately, this whole novel is tell, don't show. There is very little dialogue here to work with and it didn't pull me into the story like I was hoping. Overall, I think the story would have been better if it had been written a different way.

This book came out a while ago, but I only saw it on Nergalley recently. It sounded interesting and that's why I decided to read it.

The premise sounds interesting: in a world shattered by war, one man's fight for survival blurs the lines between memory and reality. This is the harrowing journey of Peter Mayer, a forgotten hero of a forgotten war.

Unfortunately, it fell completely flat. I had much difficulty finishing it but somehow I remained hopeful for it be better a bit further on in the book. The answer was no. It reads as a summary of some long historical narrative but failed to make interesting. Short sentences, no depth in characters, story sometimes skips days/months (nothing happened?) and it was honestly just boring.

1/5 ⭐️

My first choice as a “reviewer” was a sorely disappointing one! I had such high hopes for this novel based on the summary.
I’m a huge fan of historical fiction, so this was right up my alley. Like I said, high hopes! The subject matter left the door wide open for so many different directions this story could take. Emotional of course, a family torn apart, uncertainty of survival, fear, anger, confusion, suspense, so many possibilities!
This story failed to capture my attention, I had to force myself to continue solely for the purpose of reviewing. I would best describe the writing style as ‘unevolved’ in that it reminded me of the stories my 13 year old daughter writes. Potential, but under developed. Short, undescriptive statements are used to tell this story, which fails to draw the reader in. Early in the story when the family is reunited, this could have been such an emotionally driven moment. The author could have used this opportunity to convey the fear and distress of the main character. Would he see his family again? Would they survive? Would he survive? Their reunion should have brought such a completely encapsulating sense of relief, but at the same time, more uncertainty. What now?
Instead what we are given is a summary. A brief, cold, undescriptive synopsis of a family reunited. Completely devoid of description and emotion. “They arrived. He opened the door. They sat and spoke of their experiences.”
The perspective of the story jumps around quite a bit. We open with the soldiers, again, potential for character development. Soldiers blindly following orders, unable to refuse despite any moral uncertainty. Jump to the family, the husband/father. Statement after statement, no real character development. Shift over to the mother/wife. Again, no character development. Back and forth between characters without giving them any depth. The children get lost in the details and it’s easy to forget they are part of the story.
I enjoy this genre because there are so many stories to tell, no two the same, and so many different perspectives and this particular one was new for me. A German ex-patriot ripped away from his Polish family and forced to return to the “Fatherland”. A new angle I have yet to explore! Sadly, this story did not deliver.