Lilac Girls

I'll admit, I was skeptical coming into this book. Maybe it was the hyper-feminine cover that screams, “chick lit, read me at the beach!” Or just the fact that my mom bought this on a whim with 3 other books at the Target checkout because it was 20% off (the last time I fell pray to this, I ended up reading Fifty Shades of Grey...). It is certainly not what I would consider a timeless literary great, or particularly innovative, or particularly challenging. I won't read it again or rave about it to friends. And while I hate to so flippantly call it a good beach or plane read...it is (I actually read most of it on a plane). And being about 3 women, the narration intimately close to their consciousness - I would consider this “chick lit.”

But who said chick lit can't be expertly written, and as tender and heart-warming as it is devastating?
The 3 unique perspectives of each of these women (an wealthy but righteous American woman aiding in war-time relief efforts, a Polish woman who gets sent to a concentration camp, and a German, brainwashed doctor working at that camp) provide real insight into the experiences of women during WWII. There just aren't enough war books out there showing the perspectives of strong women, so I truly appreciate that. And the author is clearly well-researched. A plot-driven narrative, the way the women's stories come together is page-turning and ultimately haunting. Of course, a book about the Holocaust is always sad... but on the whole, the book was a very sweet, easy read - like dessert. Not nourishing, but tastes good and is fun to enjoy while it lasts.

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Dit boek past totaal niet in mijn gebruikelijke genre. Ik ben meer van het escapisme en ik vermijd dan ook vaak te realistische boeken over dingen die echt gebeurd zijn of kunnen zijn. Daarom dat dit boek dus meer dan een halfjaar onaangeraakt bleef liggen eer ik er mij durfde aan wagen. Mijn verwachtingen waren dan ook dat ik er niks aan ging vinden. Fout van formaat, dat kan ik wel stellen.

Jawel, Lilac Girls is pijnlijk, bruut en wreed, maar het is ook aangrijpend, ontroerend en aandoenlijk. Het is realistisch, echt, krachtig, boeiend en zo verder en zo voort. Hartverscheurend en hartverwarmend tegelijkertijd.
Echt, ik heb dit boek enorm graag gelezen, ook al waren er een paar passages die ik diagonaal hebben moeten lezen wegens te gruwelijk en ook al heb ik het boek een paar keer aan de kant moeten leggen om niet en plein public in tranen uit te barsten. Voor mij getuigt dit alles van de uitmuntende schrijfstijl dat je steeds weer naar binnen zuigt en weet te raken.
Een heel mooi, sterk verslag over het leven van deze vrouwen tijdens deze donkere tijd in onze geschiedenis, alsook nadat het ergste voorbij is en het normale leven weer moet worden opgepikt. Echt heel schoon en prachtig gedaan, zonder al te somber te worden.
Een dikke dikke aanrader voor wie van historische romans houdt. En oh ja, lees zeker het eindwoord van de schrijfster, want haar onderzoek voor het schrijven van dit boek is echt interessant om te lezen!

This book left me with many emotions. The evils and injustice that were the narrative of the lives of the prisoners during Hitlers reign are enough to snap breath from you. I confess that it took me a minute to get into this book. Felt it challenging to follow the characters at first although that may have been more my issue than the authors. But as I got going, I spent every free moment reading. My favorite part of this book is the hunger it gave me to know more. To look up the real-life bios of the characters that the author spoke of. I agree with one reviewer that Caroline could have had a little more depth in the novel as she was an amazing woman. The high society topics were my least favorite yet I came away from the book wanting to know more about the woman in the midst of it. To think that this was a first-time novel is mind blowing at best. So well done. I can't wait for the next one! I liked that this gave me a good experience with historical fiction because I have a hard time with the genre and this book made me more interested and curious so it was a win win for me.

As a fan of historical fiction about World War II, I was very excited to read this book. I am glad that I did. From this well-written, engaging story, I learned about a group of women in history about whom I did not previously know, and I saw an interesting side of a Nazi doctor (fictionalized, but intriguing nonetheless).

The story follows three women during WWII and the years following the end of the war. Caroline is a New York socialite who uses her resources to assist families in France during the war. Kasia is a Polish girl working for the resistance who ends up in a Nazi concentration camp. Herta is a German doctor who takes a job at the same concentration camp and participates in experiments on young Polish prisoners. These three women's lives intersect in the book in both positive and negative ways.

The story of the Rabbits, a group of female Polish prisoners at Ravensbruck concentration camp, is upsetting yet very interesting to read. The abuse these young women suffered is inexcusable, and the author presents it in such a way that the reader can sympathize with the characters. The strength the women exhibit in the face of such atrocity is inspiring.

There is a romance in the book between Caroline and a French actor that I feel is unnecessary to the book. It does not seem to connect with the other characters' story lines, so it feels a little bit like fluff to me. It adds some drama to Caroline's story line, but that drama is just not cohesive with the rest of the book in my opinion. I kept waiting for it to tie in to the rest of the plot, but it just never did.

Overall, this was an educational and engaging book that sustained my interest throughout. I am very interested in reading more by this author.

I wanted to love this book. Truly, I did. I wanted to sit on the couch with a box of tissues and cry those ugly kind of tears you hide from your husband, who invariably assumes someone's died when he sees you.

Unfortunately, this book did not do that for me. The characters were flat, and I can't even put into words how ridiculous it is to give that wench Herta “her side” of the story. She was a true monster, and it's almost (okay, it is) disrespectful to humanize her in any way.

I gave it a 2.5 (3 on here), because I'll admit I did want to know how it ended.

I didn't pay much attention to the description - the cover caught my eye, and I noted it was a story that took place during the 40's - so I bit and opted for the audiobook.
That cover looks like it's going to be a story of three chummy girls during the 40's. Um...it's not.
I'll note that I'm not sure I'd have picked it up if I'd done more than just skim the description. This is a book about three separate women and the horrors of the Ravensbrook concentration camp. The women's paths do cross - but they cross as victim, tormentor, and savior. I still don't know why it's called “Lilac Girls” - maybe that bit passed me by and I didn't catch it.
All that aside - I really really enjoyed this one. The story is well told, and the audiobook is well performed. Two of the women are based on real people - the third is a hybrid of several of the survivors of Ravensbrook. I was most impressed that the ‘baddy' is a three-dimensional character - not just bad for the purpose of being bad.
This book is definitely a piece of historical fiction. But good historical fiction makes you want to learn more about what you just read about. And this is the case with this tale. I realized I didn't know much about the Ravensbrook Rabbits - and I'd like to read more.