Grenade. Alan Gratz. 2018. 270 pages. [Source: Review copy] [3 stars] [historical fiction, world war II, mg historical]
First sentence: An American bomb landed a hundred meters away--Kra-KOOM!--and the school building exploded.
Premise/plot: Grenade is set towards the end of the second world war in Asia; Okinawa to be precise. It has dual narrators--for a bit--an American soldier (Ray) and an incredibly young drafted from [middle] school boy (Hideki). These two will come face to face--each with a grenade--and well, you can guess the rest.
War is front and center in this one, namely how horrible, atrocious, evil, horrifying, terrifying, traumatic, and always, always, always wrong it is. Each chapter features another layer of trauma.
My thoughts: Grenade is super-intense and heavy. I personally did not care for it. The reason why I did not like it probably (may not) bother you. So this one may still be a good fit for you.
One reason why I didn't particularly care for this one is the spiritualism. Maybe that is not the right word. There is a character that speaks with the dead, communes with the dead, gives messages from the dead, etc. There's also a strong belief in generational curses. It's just--for me--an odd read.
© 2024 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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