The ending of this book was good and heartbreaking at the same time. As the war came to a close there were ups and downs and Vianne and Isabelle reflected on their experiences. While they experienced total different situations, they borth understood one another.
Vianne was relieved as the Nazi staying with her was leaving because Germany was giving up on war. I felt so relived and happy for Vianne because of the horror that man out her through. She is brave and went through things unimaginable. Her and Sophie began their search for Isabelle as Vianne and Isabelle’s dad said he would die for Isabelle and confess as himself being the Nightengale. This part showed the love their dad had for his kids he was just so affected by the war he fought in that he lost himself in the process.
Moving on to Isabelle, she was suffering severely from being held hostage and then transfered to the concentration camps. While on her way to the last concentration camo the U.S entered and she was saved. Although she got out of the camps, she faced horrible trauma from the malnutrition and circumstances. She was starving and very sick. She eventually found Vianne and they lived together for awhile until Isabelle ended up passing.
All in all I loved the last half of this book and how Kristin Hannah writes in depth.
This section was hard to read near the end because of the brutality. The beginning jumped ahead to Vianne’s future again with her kid and she recieved in invitation back to France. This was still pretty confusing because she doesn’t have a son in the past yet but maybe it’s foreshadowing. The jump to the present also shows that Vianne must’ve moved out of France after the war.
Later on the story went to Isabelle. Gaetan had to leave for the war again which was so sad. I just want these two to have a happy ending. The rest of the section didn’t really have anything else about Isabelle which was kind of weird but this is when everything picked up SIGNIFICANTLY.
Moving on to Vianne, the Nazi billeting her started to question her name and the kids she had now that she was hiding, The Nazi began abusing her and hurting her whenever he got the chance. He also sexually assaulted her several times whenever he was angry at anything and in the end he began raping her. This was so so hard to to read it was sad and the detail was horrifying. This showed Vianne’s bravery and strength.
A common theme in this book has been suffering. The Nazis do everything they can to make individuals suffer whether they are Jewish, French, or just people they choose not to like. They are cruel and the things done are inhumane and horrifying.
This section was CRAZY. So much happened which was nice because it was moving pretty slow, but a lot of the things that happened were heartbreaking. The section started off with Vianne being really sick from winter and not having enough food and resources to stay healthy. This part really showed how much Vianne cared for her daughter Sophie because Vianne was willing to give her life for her daughter’s. She was giving Sophie everything they had and allowed herself to suffer. Surprisingly, this was the calmest part of the section.
As the World War II progressed, the Nazis were locating the Jews and making them wear yellow stars. They also began sending them to “work camps” which we know were concentration camps where Jews were abused, dehumanized, and killed. This section was really sad because Vianne’s best friend Rachel and her daughter Sarah were Jews and they knew they would be found eventually. Beck gave advice to Vianne to help Rachel escape to the other side of France into what was called the Free Zone. While going there, the Nazis at the border opened fire and started shooting anyone and they ended up hitting Sarah (Rachel’s daughter) several times. This part was HEARTBREAKING. It showed how brutal the war was THEY WERE SHOOTING INNOCENT CHILDREN. The worst part was Rachel had to run from the border as fast as she could and couldn’t even grief her daughter. A couple days later Vianna had to tell Sophie about Sarah. I could never imagine my best friend dying especially in the way that Sarah did.
Moving forward, Beck warned Vianne and Rachel that the Nazis would soon be going to every home looking for the Jews on their lists. Rachel ended up hiding in the cellar that Isabelle had made before the war just in case. After hiding in there all day like Beck suggested, Vianne went and got Rachel because the Nazis never arrived. THEN as soon as they walk out of the cellar a Nazi appeared and took Rachel. Vianne ended up taking her other son, Ari, and renamed him Daniel so he didn’t have his original Jewish name. This part really emphasized the danger and cruelty of the war. It ruined childrens’ childhoods and left them without family.
Shifting to Isabelle’s side of the story, she continued her job with transporting soldiers and pilots but the Nazis were starting to figure things out. The only thing they didn’t know was who was transporting the people and their route of escape. In this section, Isabelle’s story remained pretty much the same and continued UNTIL THE END. As an American plane was shot down she went and searched for the pilot before the NAzis could find him and kill him. Once she found him, she was helped by Gaetan and Henri. They ended up going to the cellar at Vianne’s house WITH THE PILOT. This is when everything escalated.
Before Vianne knew about Isabelle’s return, Beck arrived home angry about not finding a pilot (the pilot Isabelle tried to save). When Beck was leaving, Vianne noticed the cellar was different. She thought it was Rachel who had escaped from the Nazis, but when she got there, everything changed. Vianne was angry and said things she shouldn’t have which I understand because Isabelle put Vianne and Sophie at major risk. When Beck returned from work he ended up searching Vianne’s house and then Vianne got extremely worried. This part kind of made me angry. Beck was so loyal before and kind and then he switched out of nowhere. He ended up going to the cellar and honestly I thought the next part would be like those movie scenes where the bad guy gets there and the person magically disappeared. BUT NO… Beck saw Isabelle AND the dead pilot and then Beck shot at Isabelle as Isabelle also shot at Beck AND Vianne ended up hitting Beck with a shovel and he died. THIS PART WAS INSANE. I was not expecting it at all.
Once the two realized what happened, they realized they needed to hide both the body of the pilot and now Beck. They are in a lot of danger now because of Beck being a Nazi. the other Nazi’s will come looking for him and the girls will need a plan and a good story to not be questioned or killed.
Throughout this book so far, Kristin Hannah has showed a common theme of perseverance through both of her main characters, Vianne and Isabelle. As the war progresses, both of them have to find a way to survive no matter how hard things get. Vianne faces exhaustion and she’s low on money so she is worried about the approaching winter and keeping her daughter Sophia safe. From the other perspective, Isabelle, is fighting for her beliefs and she refuses to back down.
In the beginning of this section, the book was focused on Vianne after Isabelle had left, and Vianne was happy Isabelle was gone. This part I could understand from Vianne because Isabelle is very outspoken and fights for what is right which could put Sophia at risk. At the same time though, Isabelle is Vianne’s sister and personally I would be afraid if my sisters were roaming around during a brutal war.
Also In Vianne’s portion of the section, more teachers were taken from the school and either killed or brought to concentration camps. Vianne actually tried to speak out for one of the teachers but she ended up losing her job in the process. I thought it was nice to finally hear Vianne speak up about the issue instead of just watching her peers be abused, but then she was in trouble for doing it so that was sad. Hopefully her and Sophia will be able to find an income or some way to survive.
Moving on to Isabelle, she started a big adventure in this section and many thing surprised me, like a lot. Isabelle was talking with her group who’s trying to get soldiers out of Germany and back in France and then Gaetan came out of nowhere and he confessed that he was the one who told the men about her being a good fit for the job. This part surprised me so much; he was there THE WHOLE TIME. I hope they figure things out and finish their love story.
Also Isabelle met this other soldier who was hiding from the Germans and she took him in even though she was making a big risk and her dad could’ve found out. I thought this was really nice of Isabelle and showed her true character which was interesting because she has been the exact opposite the whole story. Although this was good, Isabelle’s father found out about him and got really angry. BUT THEN he confessed to knowing about EVERYTHING. He knows about Isabelle’s secret job, the pilots, the plans. This caught me way off gaurd. Isabelle has been so secretive and he knew everything the whole time.
At the end of this section, Isabelle started her journey over the mountains in the dark to get to Germany with the soldiers. The treck there was brutal and dangerous, so when they go back to France with even more soldiers it will be very difficult to get past the German soldiers without being killed. I am excited for the next section I think there will be more action and it will be easier to read.
To start things off, the beginning of this section started off pretty interesting. As I talked about in my last post there is a German soldier staying in Vianne and Isabelle’s house. The soldier asked Vianne for a list of people who didn’t follow the German rules such as being Jewish or homosexual and Vianne gave him the list and SAID HER BEST FRIEND RACHEL. This part made me mad. I understand following the rules for her own safety, but throwing her best friend under the bus like that was very selfish to me and she waited a long time to confess to her friend.
Another important part was Isabelle agreeing to a dangerous mission that could get her killed by the Germans. I don’t think she was being smart in this decision at all. I think she will get caught or something will happen and add to the plot. With this new job she had to go to Paris and live with her dad. Her and her dad haven’t spoke in years and he did not like this plan. I’m very surprised Isabelle was able to convince her dad to stay and she had to lie as to why she was really staying. Also with Isabelle and this new job, Henri is the guy who convinced her to do it and him and Isabelle have been flirting a lot. Isabelle definitely has feelings so I think in the next section or two they might become a thing.
In this section the author starts to talk about Vianne’s christianity. I thought this part was really interesting and added some more background to Vianne’s perspective. She talks about how her faith got her through her miscarriages and the bad times with her family. Vianne also expresses how she’ll use her faith to get through the time of war.
There was a short chapter in this part that was in the perspective of a totally new person who had a son. I was really confused because it never talked about them before and didn’t after that either so maybe they will be a bigger part of the story later??
All in all, this book has been alright but honestly it’s not as entertaining as I had hoped. It definitely has a good plot and has a lot going on but I don’t like it as much as the last book I read by Kristen Hannah. I hope there will be more action in the next section I read so it will be easier for me to read.
This section section had a little more going on in the plot which made it a little easier to read. During this section it focused on the war amping up and how Isabelle and Vianne have conflicting perspectives on how to survive in the new society as Nazi’s take over France.
As the Germans take over, soldiers have the right to house with any family. The family either allows them to move in or else the family has to leave. In this section a soldier moves in with Vianne, Sophie and Isabelle. Isabelle believed it was a bad idea because he was a German and didn’t trust him, but Vianne didn’t want to get rid of her house. This created a conflict between the two. I agreed with Isabelle in this part and thought they should’ve left, but I understood Vianne’s point of of view
In addition to the soldier moving in, the German almost seemed to be flirty with Vianne which was really weird to me especially when he said he was married with kids. He would get really close to her in the kitchen and act like they were looking at the stars together at night if they were outside together.
The conflict between the two sisters increased because Vianne wanted to follow all of the rules that the Nazis enforced for survival and to protect her daughter, but Isabelle on the other hand wanted to protest and go against everything because she wanted to fight for what was right. Reading about Isabelle’s perspective was difficult sometimes because she was stubborn and sometimes selfish and didn’t think of Vianne’s daughter. I also struggled with Vianne’s perspective because although she was trying to protect her daughter, she didn’t want to listen to Isabelle’s idea of leaving for safety which I didn’t understand. Vianne was so focused on the idea that her husband would return but in reality he wouldn’t and she needs to focus on her own safety and future.
This first section of my book honestly started out pretty boring and slow but now it’s starting to get interesting. It was also kind of confusing at first because, in the beginning, the book started off from the perspective of one of the main characters, Vianne, and then switched to Isabelle’s point of view which is Vianne’s sister. The first half of this section was a lot of background information about Vianne’s and Isabelle’s lives, then the second half was about the war beginning in France when they were invaded by the Germans.
Starting off with Vianne, I have learned that her and her husband Antoine have a daughter named Sophie. Along with Sophie the two also had several miscarriges which lead to Vianne puching away Isabelle years prior. There wasn’t much reasoning as to why she pushed her away. Also Antoine was drafted into the war and Vianne and Sophie had to learn to live on their own.
Moving on to Isabelle’s perspective, she wanted to make a difference as the war approached. She believed that women could do great things and she wanted to do better for her country in the war. The society at this time believed that “women are useless in war” and their only job was to wait for their husbands to come home from war. This big idea was portrayed throughout the rest of the section I read when Vianne repeated how she wanted to help.
As France was invaded in the second part of the section I read, civilians including Isabelle faced countless obstacles. Everyone was trying to flee the country and many were refugees and homeless. Isabelle met Gaetan who was a homeless man her age and is now helping her become a part of the war and become a nurse or some other form of help in the field.
I like how author Kristan Hannah starts off the plot pretty quickly because it makes it easier to read and stay hooked. This book reminds me of “The Women” which I read last. I’m not too surprised because it has a similar plot line so far with the war and the stereotype that women are under men. I hope the book does get a little more intense and in-depth because so far it’s pretty straightforward and slow.
The book I am reading is “The Nightengale” by Kristen Hannah. I picked this book because it connects to the last book I read which was also by Kristen Hannah and I liked how she wrote the story and the details she includes. My book is about the Nazis invading France and a girl who experiences challenges and decisions of life or death. I am looking forward to starting the book. I think the story will keep me wanting to read more which will be helpful for me to reach the goal number of pages I need each week. I’m a little apprehensive about the length of my book because it is hard for me to sit down and read. To ensure success I will read every day and meet my goal stopping point by the time it’s due. I will also read ahead and make notes throughout the book to prepare for my final one-pager.
De Las Casas’, “The Very Brief Relation of the Devastation of the Indies,” fits into the idea of Cultural Encounters and Frontiers by showing the conflicts between Christian and Indian cultures encountering one another. De Las Casas states, ” This was the first land in the New World to be destroyed and depopulated by the Christians, and here they began their subjection of the women and children, taking them away from the Indians to use them and ill use them, eating the food they provided with their sweat and toil” (De Las Casas 89). As the Christians entered the New World and Indian territory, they became cruel and took harsh advantage of the Native Americans. When De Las Casas states “destroyed” and “depopulated” he’s portraying the idea that the Christians were moreover taking over the land of the Indians and trying to destruct the culture that the New World was originally found upon. Also, the author uses “to use them” and “sweat and toil” to show how the Natives were similarily treated as slaves. All in all, the encounters of cultures can produce conflicts due to feeling of superiority.