You know before going in this isn't going to be a happy story, the subject it deals with is one far too harrowing. And it's hard to say you enjoyed reading something so sad, but it flowed quite well and you were invested in the characters.
The author uses the viewpoint of young twin sisters, with alternating chapters for each one, to give us a different view of the atrocities. A sometimes too innocent view of what is going on, not quite understanding things.
The monstrous Josef Mengele manages to make himself appear as the cheery old uncle to the children, all the while performing the most horrendous experiments on them - always on just one of a pair so he could see how it affected the other one.
The girls have little games they play to help them get through the experience - always with hope that something better will eventually happen. But as this is based on history we all know better.
The ending of the book however let me down, i can't say why without spoiling it. One way of looking at it is that it is a good ending, i just didn't feel it was a fitting or true one for me after all that had come before, it felt more like a convenient one. From the blurb I was expecting something along the lines of The Book Thief, which it sort of was except for the ending which didn't have quite the same impact on me that The Book Thief did.
The author uses the viewpoint of young twin sisters, with alternating chapters for each one, to give us a different view of the atrocities. A sometimes too innocent view of what is going on, not quite understanding things.
The monstrous Josef Mengele manages to make himself appear as the cheery old uncle to the children, all the while performing the most horrendous experiments on them - always on just one of a pair so he could see how it affected the other one.
The girls have little games they play to help them get through the experience - always with hope that something better will eventually happen. But as this is based on history we all know better.
The ending of the book however let me down, i can't say why without spoiling it. One way of looking at it is that it is a good ending, i just didn't feel it was a fitting or true one for me after all that had come before, it felt more like a convenient one. From the blurb I was expecting something along the lines of The Book Thief, which it sort of was except for the ending which didn't have quite the same impact on me that The Book Thief did.