148. Making Bombs for Hitler

Making Bombs for Hitler. Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch. 2012/2017. 191 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: The room smelled of soap and the light was so white that it made my eyes ache. I held Larissa's hand in a tight grip. I was her older sister, after all, and she was my responsibility. It would be easy to lose her in this sea of children, and we had both lost far too much already.

Premise/plot: Lida, our protagonist, is a Ukrainian child sent to a work labor camp [concentration camp]. Having been warned that [younger] children are at greater risk, she ages herself by several years. Hoping that if she is perceived as old enough to work, to be useful, the greater the chance that she'll survive the Nazis. Most of the book describes her experiences with various jobs in that Nazi concentration camp. The book ends with her dealing with the aftermath of the war. It would be a mistake to think that survivors get a "happily ever after" starting the moment the camps are liberated. 

My thoughts: I am not doing justice to this compelling coming of age war novel. It was such an intense read. It was interesting--to me at least--to get an Ukrainian perspective. It is more common to see a Jewish perspective of the concentration camps perhaps. The novel opens in 1943. But don't expect a lot of dates. This one is a little vague on specific details. For example, while we spend almost all of the book with the characters in a work camp [concentration camp], readers never learn which camp. This isn't a deal breaker for me. It isn't. But I was curious. [Probably more curious than the intended original audience]. 

I would recommend this one. It is intense. But sometimes you just a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat, a book a little bit outside your comfort zone.

 

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