Sunday, September 01, 2019

2019 book 105

Alice Hoffman's The World That We Knew
Hoffman's books are hit or miss for me, but this one falls more on the hit side for sure. How could it not, when one of the main characters is a woman golem created by a rabbi's daughter and a mother desperate to protect her daughter in 1941 Berlin???? Like, talk about Alicia catnip! The other characters were slightly less enthralling to me—a girl being protected, two boys she meets in Paris, the rabbi's daughter, various members of the Resistance, etc. I did find some of the scenes very moving (particularly the interlude in a convent hiding Jewish girls, and most of the scenes involving the angel of death) but wish less of the story rested on a teen romance. Still, I loved the golem and her character arc, and really liked the end. More books with awesome Jewish folklore, please! A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on September 24th.

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