5 fudgin' stars. How could you give this book anything less than this? I can't dream of it. This is book is amazing. It's mind-blowing. It's awe-inspiring. I don't even care that it was published in 2011. It is going onto my 2012 favorites list. I love it. I love this book.
Review to come. Soon, because I'm actually pretty hyped up about this book!
(If you haven't read this yet, get your arses up and BUY IT. IT IS WORTH EVERY PENNY.)
But, man. Do you how many emotions I felt during this novel? Coupled up with the slight romance we had during here — romance during Hitler! Whoa! — I was practically a roller coaster of emotions. This book was literally the book that gripped me from the beginning and didn't let me go until I finished it.
And I have to admit, I did shed a few lot of womanly tears.
So here it is: The books starts out by Russian soldiers pounding on their door telling the family that you have 20 minutes to get your stuff packed to leave — for life. Meaning, you'll never be coming back and get all your possessions that you wanted packed within those 20 minutes.
Just from that, you know how the story starts out: rushed, frantic, scared. These are the emotions Lina is going through.
When they get aboard on those cattle cars, Lina, her brother, and her mother's last location is up at the North Pole, where we are met with tragedies on the way. For a day, I fell in love with characters like never before. I fell in love with Lina, with the strong desire within her to live. And needless to say, I never knew about Josef Stalin taking away the three countries that bordered the Baltic Sea, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. So this book has opened up my eyes where there was a blind spot.
But I can't even say anything. This book is just ... undescribable. You just have to read it to find out.