Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Gretel and the Dark - Eliza Granville

Date Started: 12/1/2014
Date Finished: 12/8/2014

Here's the book jacket non-spoiler info on this one:

Vienna, 1899. Josef Breuer - celebrated psychoanalyst - is about to encounter his strangest case yet. Found by the lunatic asylum, thin, head shaved, she claims to have no name, no feelings - to be, in fact, not even human. Intrigued, Breuer determines to fathom the roots of her disturbance.
Years later, in Germany, we meet Krysta. Krysta's Papa is busy working in the infirmary with the 'animal people', so little Krysta plays alone, lost in the stories of Hansel and Gretel, the Pied Piper, and more. And when everything changes and the real world around her becomes as frightening as any fairy tale, Krysta finds that her imagination holds powers beyond what she could have ever guessed . . .

Now here's what I thought...



This was NOT what I expected at all. Let's just start there. It was an intriguing premise - and you very quickly understand that Krysta's story is taking place under the Nazi regime (and then within it as a prisoner in a camp). The chapters alternate between her story and that taking place years earlier, in 1899. But it's all a lie! The whole "alternate" story in 1899 is a figment of Krysta's imagination - told to her friend in the camp, Daniel, to keep them alive. I have to say, that realization was tough. I wanted there to be some kind of cool supernatural element but...nope.

I did like how the story concluded, with Daniel and Krysta surviving and continuing to tell their stories. That's about all I can say on this one. Meh.

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