Marianne Kaurin

Resum: https://www.pageseditors.cat/ca/un-estiu-de-luxe.html
Aquest estiu, l’Ina no anirà de vacances enlloc, però l'últim dia de classe explica als seus companys que ella i la seva mare passaran uns dies al sud en un complex hoteler de somni. «El sud no és cap lloc concret», protesta una de les nenes de la classe. I és ben cert que el sud no és cap país que un pugui assenyalar al mapa del món. Una altra cosa ben certa és que, aquest estiu, l’Ina no sortirà de la modesta cooperativa d’habitatge on viu amb la seva mare. Però podria passar que les vacances que ella preveu que siguin les pitjors de la seva vida acabin sent les millors. Perquè, si un hi rumia bé, el sud pot ser qualsevol lloc, i les bones amistats neixen quan un menys s’ho espera.… (altro)

I love historical fiction and will read any WW2 books I can get my hands on...
With that being said, this one wasn't as good as others I've read. While I enjoyed the book a lot, it didn't feel complete to me. There were so many perspectives that it came off a bit scattered. Like I get Hermann and Ilse's parts, but the family ones were built up to go no where... I think maybe if the book was longer and better developed I would have appreciated those parts more.

What I did love about this book though were the lessons that were so intricately weaved into the story. The words taught us that time is precious and to never hold back. It also gave us a great perspective of what survival looks like.

I'm torn. I keep going back and forth between 3 and 4 stars... On one hand it's history and that's important, but on another I craved more of that raw emotion that comes with war. I wanted to feel like the characters were in desperate situations and instead I felt like they were just going through the motions... riding the boat, sitting on the bed, stripping down... Where were the heart breaking scenes of turmoil? And also, why didn't we get more info on the paper that Hermann worked at... I guess looking at the book as a whole I just need to settle on a 3. I wanted to love this one, but it needed better execution.… (altro)