Welcome to Litsy!

Another YA from the TBR pile. this was stark and unrelenting in its portrayal of the experience of life for those forcibly removed from the Baltic states by the USSR during WW2. Lina is a wonderfully drawn protagonist - at times selfish, at times incredibly brave she is well rounded esp for a YA even if I did want to shake her! If I had a criticism, it‘s the end. Incredibly abrupt with a postscript as though the author ran out of steam or words

How to describe this? Ultimately, I kind of loved it, but with reservations. I felt like there were too many storylines, and some of those weren‘t fleshed out enough. It feels like she tried to pack SO MUCH into the book but left out some important parts. That being said, I LOVE her writing and I love her characters. What does it say about me that some of Vera‘s “madness” made sense? 😂🤷‍♀️

I‘m going backwards in Thorpe‘s writing and this is the third book I‘ve read of hers. While I‘ve quoted this book several times I have to say this book felt a little too ambitious. A trip to Lithuania in honor of his grandmother who escaped from a concentration camp with a teen who has experienced a psychotic break, the story covers a lot of ground and feels a bit too much. I was captivated while reading it but ultimately disappointed.

The author put this quote both in her novel and in her acknowledgments. It hit me hard each time I read it. A great description of my current understanding of the world.

“No one seemed amazed that in Lithuania, in order to deal with the end of communism, local artists had made a statue of Frank Zappa.… And now Frank Zappa has become sort of a patron saint, if you will, of Uzupis, but also of Vilnius and even Lithuania as a whole.”

Who knew?

I‘m posting one book a day from my massive collection. No description, no reason for why I want to read it.

#ABookADay2025

Thanks to Litsy encouragement, I surpassed my goal of reading 12 books. Started the tagged book on Monday ~ the writing is easy to read while the content is heartbreaking. 🩶

A fitting end to the series! This was the first mystery series I‘ve read that had an ending - well I guess Marple and Poirot did?

#2011 for #192025

Exploring my paternal heritage in hopeful anticipation of a family trip next year.