Search This Blog
June Reviews Link-Up
July Reviews Link-Up
August Reviews Link-Up
September Reviews Link-Up
October Reviews Link-Up
November Reviews Link-Up
December Reviews Link-Up
2024 Literary Escapes Challenge
- Alabama (1)
- Alaska
- Arizona (1)
- Arkansas
- California (3)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia (1)
- Hawaii
- Idaho (2)
- Illinois (1)
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky (1)
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (1)
- Maryland
- Massachusetts (2)
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York (3)
- North Carolina (4)
- North Dakota
- Ohio (1)
- Oklahoma (1)
- Oregon (2)
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island (1)
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (3)
- Utah
- Vermont (2)
- Virginia (1)
- Washington (2)
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin (1)
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.* (1)
International:
- Australia (1)
- Canada (1)
- England (8)
- France (1)
- Indonesia (1)
- Ireland (2)
- Italy (1)
- Scotland (2)
- The Netherlands (1)
2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge
Friday, August 17, 2007
Why I Abandoned The True Story of Hansel and Gretel Before I Was Even Halfway Through
8:39 PM
I made it almost halfway through this one before I had to quit. Don't get me wrong, The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy is well-written and undeniably compelling, but I just couldn't stomach the violent imagery.
The novel begins with a Jewish couple speeding across the Polish countryside trying desperately to outrun the Nazis on their tail. At a hidden bend, they slow their motorcycle only long enough to rush their two children off into the forest. The father urges the kids to head for a nearby village and find a farmer willing to feed them. The children - now dubbed Hansel and Gretel - discover a cottage in the woods, where Magda, the town witch, takes them in. In order to get extra food rations for the children, Magda concocts a story to explain their presence to the Nazis, who control the town. While on this errand, pretty Gretel captures one of the officer's attention, which I assume leads to trouble later on.
The book follows the children's story as well as that of their father and stepmother, who also manage to evade their Nazi pursuers. The couple flees into the woods as well. There, they encounter a ragtag group of men eager to exact revenge on the Nazis and all Poles who aid them. It was when this group hangs a woman out of her bedroom window that I closed the book.
As I said before, the book is well-written and spellbinding. I cared about some of the characters, especially the kids, but not enough to stick with a story that made me sick to my stomach. I have too many books in my TBR pile to force myself to finish this one. If anyone else has read it, let me know what happens to the kids...
The novel begins with a Jewish couple speeding across the Polish countryside trying desperately to outrun the Nazis on their tail. At a hidden bend, they slow their motorcycle only long enough to rush their two children off into the forest. The father urges the kids to head for a nearby village and find a farmer willing to feed them. The children - now dubbed Hansel and Gretel - discover a cottage in the woods, where Magda, the town witch, takes them in. In order to get extra food rations for the children, Magda concocts a story to explain their presence to the Nazis, who control the town. While on this errand, pretty Gretel captures one of the officer's attention, which I assume leads to trouble later on.
The book follows the children's story as well as that of their father and stepmother, who also manage to evade their Nazi pursuers. The couple flees into the woods as well. There, they encounter a ragtag group of men eager to exact revenge on the Nazis and all Poles who aid them. It was when this group hangs a woman out of her bedroom window that I closed the book.
As I said before, the book is well-written and spellbinding. I cared about some of the characters, especially the kids, but not enough to stick with a story that made me sick to my stomach. I have too many books in my TBR pile to force myself to finish this one. If anyone else has read it, let me know what happens to the kids...
2 comments:
Comments make me feel special, so go crazy! Just keep it clean and civil. Feel free to speak your mind (I always do), but be aware that I will delete any offensive comments.
P.S.: Don't panic if your comment doesn't show up right away. I have to approve each one before it posts to prevent spam. It's annoying, but it works!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(Atom)
Reading
Listening
Followin' with Bloglovin'
-
-
-
Compared7 hours ago
-
-
Monthly Round-Up: May 202413 hours ago
-
Wyrd & Wonder ~ Sunbolt Readalong Week #414 hours ago
-
Pretty Things by Janelle Brown15 hours ago
-
-
Bookish Quote of the Day!!!19 hours ago
-
-
-
-
First Lines Fridays: May 31, 202423 hours ago
-
Review: Ravensong by TJ Klune23 hours ago
-
You Are Here by David Nicholls1 day ago
-
May Reflections1 day ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Bookshelf Bounty6 days ago
-
I have been reading...1 week ago
-
-
The Mayfair Dagger by Ava January1 week ago
-
Sunday Post 5542 weeks ago
-
Reading Recap April 20242 weeks ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
March Monthly Wrap-up1 month ago
-
-
-
-
-
What Happened to Summer?7 months ago
-
6/25/23 Extra Ezra11 months ago
-
-
-
-
-
Are you looking for Pretty Books?1 year ago
-
-
-
-
-
Grab my Button!
Blog Archive
- ► 2021 (159)
- ► 2020 (205)
- ► 2019 (197)
- ► 2018 (223)
- ► 2017 (157)
- ► 2016 (157)
- ► 2015 (188)
- ► 2014 (133)
- ► 2013 (183)
- ► 2012 (193)
- ► 2011 (232)
- ► 2010 (257)
- ► 2009 (211)
- ► 2008 (192)
This one is intriguing to me based on your description of it...went to my library system only to discover that the county doesn't own a single copy of the thing. Darn. That means more of a search will be involved, but thanks for the heads up.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't find this one in any library where I live. I finally bought it at Borders, because the premise sounded so interesting. Unfortunately, I took it back to Borders or I would let you have my copy. Sorry :( You should be able to find it at Borders or online.
ReplyDelete