What readers think of Tamar, plus links to write your own review.

Tamar is a moving story. It brings back in time into the second world war and makes you feel like you are living through it. The authors use of detail is impeccable and the way the author wrote the story allows you to personally relate to it. Tamar is a great story and should be considered one of the greatest stories of our time. I first read the book a year ago and I want to read it again and again. I would recommend this book to people who like to read or who want a story that will take them on a journey.

I love this book, it's a real keeper. I just got it at the library and now I'm gonna buy it just to keep around and maybe read again. I say it should be a book we have to read in school.

This is an absolutely amazing book!

I loved this book! It is indeed the best book I've ever read. I will never forget it. Young Fiction is such a degrading category to put such a beautiful book in.

Tamar, by Mal Peet, is historical fiction at its finest.

Tamar is 15 when her grandfather dies, leaving her only a box of mysterious objects. She feels sure her grandfather has deliberately left her a puzzle to be solved. In doing so, she uncovers secrets about her family and her grandfather's past.

The book bounces back and forth between Tamar's quest and her grandfather's experience as a fighter in the Dutch Resistance during WWII, with most of the narrative focusing on the earlier time period. The WWII sections of the book are well-researched and wonderfully written. This is obviously the part of the story the author put his heart into. The modern-day text is well-written as well, but not as entertaining - more like filler than an essential part of the story. It felt rather contrived, as if the author was trying too hard to find some literary device to attract more readers to what is primarily a historical fiction novel.

Still, given the overall high-quality of the book that's a minor quibble. Overall, Tamar was very enjoyable and quite difficult to put down -- a real page-turner.

It's unfortunate that Tamar has been publicized primarily as a young adult book. There's nothing juvenile about the story or the writing. It doesn't surprise me at all that it's one of Bookbrowse's favorite books of 2007. I will unreservedly recommend it to my reading friends.