124. Walls

Walls. L.M. Elliott. 2021. [July] 352 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Standing in the doorway, Drew hesitated, his freckles burning crimson like a thousand flares of anxiety.

Premise/plot: Drew, our protagonist, is an army brat. His father has been stationed in West Berlin; the year is 1960. Drew and his siblings--Joyce (older sister) and Linda (little sister) have some trouble adjusting to life in Germany. Their mother is German and has family living in East Berlin. She would love nothing more than for her children to become good, good friends with their cousins. Matthias is their closest cousin in age. But the cousins seem to be worlds apart...

Each chapter is preceded by a graphic portion. Black and white photographs with some explanatory captions. Each chapter represents one month. The novel opens in August 1960 and closes in August 1961. What can happen in one year??? A lot!

My thoughts: Each chapter is almost a vignette--a moment in time captured. The chapters rarely cover more than a few hours of time. So readers get a few snippets here and there. We do not get a continual, immersive experience in Drew's life. We get moments. I personally--and again this is all subjective--had a hard time connecting with the story. I felt almost a disconnect from the characters. I was interested in the story, the time period, the setting. But I didn't feel I really truly got to know any of the characters in a deep and meaningful way. This might be a timing issue on my part--perhaps I wasn't in the right mood to experience this one?

This historical fiction novel for middle grade (???) is about the building of the Berlin Wall.

 

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