Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

from goodreads

4 stars

One of my book club friends is in a total reading slump. Even some of her go to authors haven't helped. How frustrating that must be.

I, on the other hand, seem to be on a reading high. Lately I have been reading some awesome books. The book I just finished yesterday I read in a day. I couldn't put it down. Poor Miss P probably felt neglected. Thank goodness for Peppa Pig compilations.

My fear now is that this high won't last and I will soon be in a slump! hopefully that won't happen, but you just never know.

Synopsis

Rose, a young American pilot, is caught by the Nazis and sent to Ravensbruck.

My Thoughts

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. While it is a companion/continuation of Code Name Verity, it could be its own stand alone book. You would not have to read Code Name Verity to understand the story.

I have read quite a lot about this time period and studied it in university. Yet, whenever I read a new book about this era it amazes me just how much more there was to WW II. It was all encompassing war and it seems that the Nazis were scattered in what they were trying to achieve. Instead of being focused on one way of achieving their goals they were spread all over the place trying tons of different things. I don't know if anyone could learn everything that went down back then in a life time. It overwhelms me.

Telling the story using "the rabbits" was an interesting angle. I know people know of the experimentation done in Auschwitz but I did not know about the experimentation in Ravensbruck. What horrible things to have happened to these women.

The cast of characters allowed for the portrayal of the various types of prisoners in the camps. Some of the situations or relationships were, perhaps, a bit contrived but it did allow for a broad overview of the camp and all the facets that went with it.  I would not call this the definitive work on Ravensbruck but it is definitely a great jumping off point to delve and gain an interest in this subject.

I like how this book was able to go beyond the war and showed the Nuremberg trials, and other tribunals, that went on to hold those people who did such gross things to humanity to account. That is one thing I think I would like to research more myself.

One character that I appreciated being included was Anna. She was a german prisoner who actually used to work at Ravensbruck and administered sedatives to the rabbits. Her character shows that there is a big grey area when it comes to the war. Some were all about inflicting pain and horror onto others. Some were merely trying to figure out how to survive themselves. Her character throws a wrench in the simplistic view of good and evil that is sometimes caste up on the German people when discussing this era of their history. It was not an all or nothing scenario.

Whenever I read stories like this, set in concentration camps, I always wonder to myself, what type of prisoner would I be? I would like to think I would be noble, and decent. But then, part of me things I might be like those prisoners who were kind of crazy and would grab food wherever they could and fight over a sock. For those who were able to keep part of their humanity I totally salute them.

This was a great and heart wrenching read. I think it was done very well. It was not over the top graphic, but it also didn't try to downplay the horrors. That is a balance that is hard to perfect, yet Wein did so. Definitely a must read.