Lilac Girls

When I first started this book, I thought it would live up to some of the not so positive reviews. As I got further into the book, it was not so. It is told from the 3 different points of view, 3 very different, 2 of which were real women. I found this to be a good thing as you can see also for 3 different ages of 3 different women. I will admit, when we are first introduced to Caroline, I thought her to be a bit boring and just another socialite. This was not so. She is very much a part of the story and needed to be included.

The war puts is in different places, and I found it heartbreaking what one human can do to another. One of the places we are placed is, Ravensbruck concentration camp exclusively for women. It is here I went thru several emotions. Sad, mad, horror, grief, disbelief and the loss of sympathy. I never heard of the Ravensbruck Rabbits till this book, I did not know if this was true so I looked it up. I learned not only were they true but there were more then first read about. Of course if I had waited I would have known that later on in the book.

Some reviews said there was a lack of growth in the characters nor was Caroline needed in the plot, again not true, I am not gonna say all of them "grew" but if you did not see the growth then you may not have understood the book, I saw the growth, of the characters. War changed people but being in a concentration camp probably changed people in a more altering way and growth came in a way no one could understand. If you think about it, think of being tortured daily for years, starving, praying to wake up the next day or to die. Years of sole crushing torture and loss. It's amazing when these camps were liberated, the people did not have help needed physiologically to help deal with the it. So they had to do the best the could to heal, as the characters in the book.

All that said, I could not put this book down, I had to finish it. I had to know what happened. I thought it to be a really good book. The author's notes say 2 of the 3 people were real and the third is based on another. The author's note did answer a couple of questions that were not in the story. I do recommend this book and the author's notes.

5/5