Fiction Book Review

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Book Title

War on the Margins

Score: 52/60

Section 1

Did the story read like a movie?  7
Did you feel involved in the story?   yes
Could you identify with the primary characters?  yes

Addtional Comments

This is a hard book to put down. Gripping.

Section 2

Was the story compelling enough to keep you turning the pages?  9
Did you find the central theme of the book interesting?   yes
Could you identify the theme early enough to keep your interest?   yes

Addtional Comments

The reader feels the fear that these people had to endure.

Section 3

Did you find the primary characters to be believable and interesting?   9
Did they have individual personalities and patterns of diction?   yes
Did each have an agenda of their own?   yes
Did those varied agendas provide enough conflict to keep you interested?   yes

Addtional Comments

The author was able to portray these ordinary people in a way that you felt they could be your neighbors.

Section 4

Did you find areas to be appropriately emotional/suspenseful?   9
Did you feel sad or worried/tense or anxious when you should have?   yes
Was there skillful build up in the story to create a forward push?   yes

Addtional Comments

Great suspense at the beginning, waiting to see what would happen. The growing threat was palpable.

Section 5

Was this book carefully edited and formatted?   9
Did you find word choices and tone to be appropriate to this book?   yes
Did you find yourself distracted by typos, grammatical an/or punctuation errors or other formatting issues?   no

Addtional Comments

Section 6

Would you recommend this book to the reading public?   9

Short Book Review: (300-500 words)

The story is gripping from the beginning. You see how different people react to various levels of danger. The effect becomes more intense when you realize that these events really did take place. Libby Cone gives you the story with clever use of actual correspondence and public notices from the time. She weaves her characters around those building each scene on the facts. The evil that was the Nazis is carefully but clearly developed in the story. People lived in fear not only of the Germans, but of each other too. The book does an excellent job of draping the whole in a cloak of doubt and suspicion. This is one good read.