I finished reading the Kommandant's Girl by Pam Jenoff a few days ago and just haven't even felt like it was worth blogging about. I did finish the book, but just kept thinking that it would get better, that something would happen, etc. Finally, while I was reading it, it occurred to me that I felt as if I were reading a Young Adult book. It just read quite simply and, for me, quite unrealistically.
Obviously, from the title, you probably have guessed that it was about a young girl during WW II. Emma was a Jewish girl in Poland who was taken from the Polish ghetto early in occupation and moved to her husband's cousin's home. She assumed a new identity as Anna. The cousin was an older lady, who was not Jewish and was willing to care for Emma, along with a small male child who had lost his parents. Emma's husband was off fighting in the Resistance, and her parents had remained in the ghetto. One night at a party she met the Kommandant and he was immediately taken with her and shortly after, asked her to be his assistant. So Emma/Anna began working in Nazi headquarters. Soon she was asked by the Resistance to begin to steal papers, etc for their use, which she agreed to do.
There are several incidents in the book where Emma/Anna either is caught or comes close to being caught. However these incidents are quickly and easily resolved, making the Germans to appear to be not very bright, along with being very forgiving people. Not what you picture a German Nazi Kommandant to be.
Of course, while there is something to be said for the fact that many of the Nazi German army soldiers and officers may have been kind, gentle people, I don't think that their being betrayed was easily looked over or forgiven.
I just found the book to be way too simplistic and unrealistic. I was very glad to be moving onto a new read!
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