book review: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

blurb:

France, 1939 - In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn't believe that the Nazis will invade France … but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne's home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.

Vianne's sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can … completely. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.

With courage, grace, and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of World War II and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women's war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France―a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime. TRIGGER WARNINGS: war, violence, sexual assault.

my review: 3.5 stars

This book was a slow burn for me. I was bored throughout the first half, but I'll be honest- at the end I was sobbing. It's told through an unnamed female author, who has survived WWII and was living in modern times as an old woman, presumably one of the sisters but it was unclear which one. Then there is an alternative timeline that follows both sisters during the lifespan of WWII.

I was a fan of Isabelle from the beginning- I saw a lot of myself in her (to an extent), she was fiery and bold, but she was naïve and far too soft for most of the situations she had gotten herself into. It's easy to see in her as child determined to become an adult, and I ached for her lost innocence. I understand Isabelle's instinctual acting out for attention, and I raged alongside Isabelle at the indifference that her father gave her.

Vianne, was a different story for the majority of the book. She did make an unbelievable comeback, but goddammit, she was infuriating. I hated how dependent she was upon her husband, and I was disgusted with her abandoning Isabelle as a child after she was married. I recognize that she herself was a child as well, and her circumstances were devastating, but I cannot imagine leaving my kid sibling for the world to swallow. I thought that unlike Isabelle, who was naïve but quick to learn, Vianne was intentionally ignorant about the world around. She believed in the honor of men to a fault, and maybe it's just the man-hater in me, but it's almost unforgivable; her steadfast faith in her husband, country, and even god damn Nazi solider billeted in her home. I hate an easily kept woman, and that is who I believed Vianne to be for a very long time.

Both sisters redeemed themselves in the end, they really did. I would definitely recommend this book if you are looking for female resiliency that overcomes even the harshest of environments. However, please please please be prepared to sob your eyes out. If you are looking for an easy, well-paced, novel with a happy ending, take a step away. Not kidding. I gave it 3.5 stars because when I'm faced with tragedies like WWII that have happened on such a mass scale, I don't like thinking about how many families are decimated, and this book definitely highlighted the loss of life, which is so hard to stomach. Hannah's writing was beautiful, and the French imagery was so clear, it was like you stepped foot into Vianne's village, Carriveau.

Despite the slow pace, and dislike of my first impression of Vianne, I think that most of my readers would enjoy "The Nightingale." If you've already tried it out, let me know in the comments below what you thought, and as always, thank you for reading <3