Jami H. (howell27) - , reviewed on + 50 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
An amazing,haunting, well written book that will stay with you for a long time. The main story of the book only covers 5 days, and then is filled with all the back stories of the main characters, told out of order so you don't really see how it all ties together until the end. A large portion of this book is back story, so there is a lot of telling how the characters got to the present situation, less dialog than normally prefer, but it held my interest throughout.
This book attempts to cover the history of the Chechen and Russian war using this small band of intricately linked people. I've seen comments where others felt the characters were too closely linked to be believable, but I felt it served a purpose of showing how each individual choice had an effect on so many. As with all war books, it is not an easy read, this war is not glamorized or glossed over by Marra, and yet it doesn't feel overly graphic or gratuitously violent. I particularly liked how the main characters were shown, warts and all...no larger than life characters. They felt like real people trying to live through a horrible situation and dealing with the choices they have made.
I actually listened to this from Audible but still would like to get this book to keep in my library. The title, explained near the end of the book, fits so well with this story and is one I will remember for a long time. I highly recommend reading this book.
This book attempts to cover the history of the Chechen and Russian war using this small band of intricately linked people. I've seen comments where others felt the characters were too closely linked to be believable, but I felt it served a purpose of showing how each individual choice had an effect on so many. As with all war books, it is not an easy read, this war is not glamorized or glossed over by Marra, and yet it doesn't feel overly graphic or gratuitously violent. I particularly liked how the main characters were shown, warts and all...no larger than life characters. They felt like real people trying to live through a horrible situation and dealing with the choices they have made.
I actually listened to this from Audible but still would like to get this book to keep in my library. The title, explained near the end of the book, fits so well with this story and is one I will remember for a long time. I highly recommend reading this book.
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