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Resistance Women


An enthralling saga, inspired by real events, that recreates the danger and ...
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Did the sheer scope and length of the book add to your understanding of how long Jewish people and those in the resistance lived in fear and suffered?

Created: 02/27/20

Replies: 18

Posted Feb. 27, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
davinamw

Join Date: 10/15/10

Posts: 3442

Did the sheer scope and length of the book add to your understanding of how long Jewish people and those in the resistance lived in fear and suffered?

Resistance Women is around 600 pages long, and it covers events in Germany from 1929 through 1946. Did the sheer scope and length of the book add to your understanding of how long Jewish people and those in the resistance lived in fear and suffered? Did it make any other impression on how you view the events of WWII and the Holocaust?


Posted Feb. 28, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
PinkLady

Join Date: 01/22/18

Posts: 187

RE: Did the sheer scope and length of the book add to your understanding of how long Jewish people and those in the resistance lived in fear and suffered?

Yes. Starting the book in 1929 gave a much better foundation for what they endured than any other WWII book I have read. The book made me very frustrated with the US and other countries that allowed these events to unfold. I felt some sense of frustration for those who didn't try to get out sooner but I also can't understand the choices they were faced with.


Posted Feb. 28, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Marcia S

Join Date: 02/08/16

Posts: 505

RE: Did the sheer scope and length of the book add to your understanding of how long Jewish people and those in the resistance lived in fear and suffered?

I liked that the book revealed how Hitler was able to take over Germany through propaganda and force. It laid the foundation for what was to come. It also demonstrated how the people were turned against the Jews and blamed them for everything bad. The media is a very powerful weapon and can be used to convince people of almost anything. We see that in the biased reporting of main stream media today.


Posted Feb. 29, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
dianeh

Join Date: 08/01/16

Posts: 70

RE: Did the sheer scope and length of the book add to your understanding of how long Jewish people and those in the resistance lived in fear and suffered?

At times I felt that the book was too long but, in hindsight, the scope of the novel definitely emphasized the length of time that the Jewish people were subject to the tyranny fo Hitler. I have read many books on WW11 but this is the first one that took the reader back to 1929. I do feel that I have gained a greater understanding of the events leading up to the war.


Posted Feb. 29, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
flute4u

Join Date: 08/14/13

Posts: 50

RE: Did the sheer scope and length of the book add to your understanding of how long Jewish people and those in the resistance lived in fear and suffered?

I enjoyed the detail and time length of the story. It gave a depth of perception to how the German people evolved into the Nazi nation we think of today during the war years. The book also gave a spectrum of responses by the Jewish people living in Germany. The disbelief by war veterans and prominent business men contrasted by the growing acceptance that Hitler was going to destroy the Jewish people made a deep impression on me.


Posted Feb. 29, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
judithc

Join Date: 02/28/20

Posts: 31

RE: Did the sheer scope and length of the book add to your understanding of how long Jewish people and those in the resistance lived in fear and suffered?

I think the book needed to be long to tell the whole story from the beginning and give us the facts, as they happened, leading up to the "Final Solution". Hitler had a plan from the start and managed to hoodwink the German people into thinking the Jews were responsible for everything bad that had and was happening to them. I liked the book so much I didn't really notice it was long.


Posted Mar. 01, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
terriej

Join Date: 07/28/11

Posts: 422

RE: Did the sheer scope and length of the book add to your understanding of how long Jewish people and those in the resistance lived in fear and suffered?

I thought the book was a bit long, but I appreciated the level of detail it provided. It really helped me to understand what these women went through.


Posted Mar. 01, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
love2read

Join Date: 02/26/20

Posts: 5

RE: Did the sheer scope and length of the book add to your understanding of how long Jewish people and those in the resistance lived in fear and suffered?

This book was very difficult to read because it describes very clearly how they and their loved ones suffered. I read it on vacation with plenty of time to finish it, which was a good thing because at times I had to stop reading it. Chiaverini clearly did her homework in describing what happened in real, everyday terms. At the same time, there was no sense she was exaggerating for literary effect. This had to be as hard to write as it was to read.


Posted Mar. 01, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
paulagb

Join Date: 08/16/17

Posts: 173

RE: Did the sheer scope and length of the book add to your understanding of how long Jewish people and those in the resistance lived in fear and suffered?

The masterful details describing Germany from 1929 through the rise of Hitler and the Nazis illustrates the slow death of democracy and decency in Germany. The length of time this phase of history lasted is rarely so clearly related in a novel. It impressed the extensive time passage as well as the unbelievable horror that developed to become WWII. Words alone fail to convey the message. The detail and number of pages in the book definitely lend to the readers understanding.


Posted Mar. 02, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Peggy H

Join Date: 06/13/11

Posts: 272

RE: Did the sheer scope and length of the book add to your understanding of how long Jewish people and those in the resistance lived in fear and suffered?

I read Berlin Diary by Shirer years ago and still think of the picture he painted of Hitler and Germany, but this book added to my understanding of the effect on the people from a different point of view. The length of it, as the length of Shirer book made it a hard book to read, but clarified the period and how the people were affected.


Posted Mar. 02, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
melindah

Join Date: 12/25/12

Posts: 52

RE: Did the sheer scope and length of the book add to your understanding of how long Jewish people and those in the resistance lived in fear and suffered?

I loved the length and scope of this book. It enabled me to see a much clearer picture of the perspective of change when presented in such a lengthy timeline. Every time I read about how people either accepted the gradual changes in restrictions, I'm amazed that they view them as gradual. However in this book, it was gradual, and I can understand how a people can not see the writing on the wall until it is so late in the game.


Posted Mar. 08, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
catherynez

Join Date: 01/27/18

Posts: 98

RE: Did the sheer scope and length of the book add to your understanding of how long Jewish people and those in the resistance lived in fear and suffered?

The book was a little slow to start. I agree that the length and scope helped me understand how long the Jewish people and resistance members suffered. I liked that the book gave the history starting about 10 years before World War 2. I didn’t realize how long they were oppressed before the war even started.


Posted Mar. 09, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
swchis39

Join Date: 09/26/12

Posts: 172

RE: Did the sheer scope and length of the book add to your understanding of how long Jewish people and those in the resistance lived in fear and suffered?

While long, the length was necessary to enlighten the reader on all the nuances of the time. Some of what happened in the book made me realize that there is some similarity in the world today.


Posted Mar. 09, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Peggy H

Join Date: 06/13/11

Posts: 272

RE: Did the sheer scope and length of the book add to your understanding of how long Jewish people and those in the resistance lived in fear and suffered?

Yes, it did help make it realistic; in fact I often felt that I was reading non- fiction. I found that I could not keep reading and needed breaks from the reality of it.


Posted Mar. 10, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
laurief

Join Date: 09/08/12

Posts: 75

RE: Did the sheer scope and length of the book add to your understanding of how long Jewish people and those in the resistance lived in fear and suffered?

Yes, the period the book spanned gave me a much better understanding of the roots of Hitler's rise to power during which he massed his forces against the Jews. What kept gnawing at me as I continued to read was are we experience a deja vu in the events that are occurring in this country today.


Posted Mar. 12, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
cathyoc

Join Date: 04/26/17

Posts: 247

RE: Did the sheer scope and length of the book add to your understanding of how long Jewish people and those in the resistance lived in fear and suffered?

The timeline of the book did allow the author to show how gradually and then how quickly the rights, property and then lives of many Jewish citizens were taken away. It was heartbreaking to read how the first wave of concentration camp victims were led away in trains with the suitcases packed thinking they were going to be relocated. It was eye opening to see how quickly the German citizens turned against the Jews.


Posted Mar. 12, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
janeto

Join Date: 06/05/18

Posts: 41

RE: Did the sheer scope and length of the book add to your understanding of how long Jewish people and those in the resistance lived in fear and suffered?

The author faced a formidable challenge in trying to write a book which adhered accurately to historical fact and at the same time tried to develop fictional characters and suspense. At times she was successful and at other times I felt the narrative was contrived in order to include events; e.g. Berlin Olympics, some of the rallies, etc. It also seemed that Martha Dodd played a less significant role than that of the other resistance women and I was sorry to see her given almost equal status. Perhaps the scope and length added historical background but it at times detracted from the flow of the novel's story line.


Posted Mar. 14, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
annar

Join Date: 06/13/11

Posts: 114

RE: Did the sheer scope and length of the book add to your understanding of how long Jewish people and those in the resistance lived in fear and suffered?

I agree with a lot of the comments already posted. I have read many books about WWII. This one told me more about what really went on in Germany more than any other book. Reading about the beauty of the country and the lovely cities and along with that reading about what was happening to the Jewish people was astonishing. Learning about the resistance movement was both fascinating and frightening. Mildred and the others were so very brave.


Posted Mar. 17, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
dianaps

Join Date: 05/29/15

Posts: 460

RE: Did the sheer scope and length of the book add to your understanding of how long Jewish people and those in the resistance lived in fear and suffered?

I liked that the book started in 1929. Most of the WWII stories start ten years later. The ten year gap gave us a lot more information and the opportunity to get to know the main characters better.


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