Attain The Dynamite Room By Jason Hewitt Conveyed As Booklet
is more about how war changes people, relationships, lives, It takes place in the sweltering days of summer, and for me, the story was as slow and sluggish as those summer days.
We find out about Lydia and Heiden and why they are at the house together through flashbacks, I felt that some of the flashbacks were disjointed, I had to double check to see if I missed something,
It did have some good scenes, but overall, I just couldn't connect to the characters, There was a bit more emotion between them at the end of course, but I didn't feel the tension or mystery that perhaps others felt.
I'm not sure if I would read this author again,
Thank you to Goodreads First Reads and Little/Brown for the book in exchange for an honest review, the opening chapter of this book could have come from any postapocalyptic novel as an elevenyearold girl wanders alone with her gas mask through a deserted town with boardedup windows, wondering where everyone has gone.
but this issuffolk, and lydia has just run away from her temporary
shelter in wales, where she had been evacuated with several other children until her family could come for her.
bullied and homesick, she decides to return to greyfriars, her family home, only to find the village empty, the house abandoned, with nowhere else to go, lydia settles into the comfort of familiar surroundings, convinced her mother will return for her, instead, in the middle of the night, a wounded german soldier named heiden arrives, telling her he is part of the first wave of an imminent german occupation.
he promises not to hurt her, but he will not allow her to leave the house, claiming it is for her own safety.
over the course of six claustrophobic days, the two of them will form an uneasy alliance despite lydia's initial fear and the cracks that keep appearing in heiden's story as it becomes clear he knows more about her family than he should.
it's a quietlytold and subtle story that moves slowly but is nonetheless engrossing, as we are taken from the present to the past and given backstory both for heiden and for lydia's family, and the pivotal place where those stories overlap, in the dynamite room.
the shelves are full of war stories that recount the effects of war on civilians, on children, on soldiers books about how innocence is tarnished and idealism crushed, about the things people do in war that they could never see themselves doing in ordinary times, how turning away is as big a sin as participation, etc all the usual themes of wartime novels, particularly WWII novels.
but it's the writing in this book that sets it apart it's deliberate and lyrical and the unusual situation gives the story a fairytale cast as these two characters come to know each other in an everchanging dynamic/struggle/power play.
it's one of those haunting novels that makes for a beautiful reading experience, even though the themes may be familiar,
and it's another exceptional debut for,
sitelinkcome to my blog! The Dynamite Room by Jason Hewitt is an historical fiction set during World War II.
War fiction is plentiful, but this one comes at the reader from a totally different angle, Lydia is anyear old evacuee who runs away from her caretaker and returns to her abandoned home, Not long after she arrives her house is taken over by a German soldier, The plot is a slow burn that is kindled with great insight into the human psyche and heart, Although primarily character driven, there are still mysteries to be solved, Why did Lydia run away and how does she come to treat the soldier with kindness What atrocities has this soldier faced and how has this shaped him as a man A delicate examination of who we become during war, The Dynamite Room is a thought provoking debut.
Special thanks to Lance from The Life of a Book Addict book club for picking this book for me,
Note for those of you debating between the audio or print version of the book: Consider that the book is formatted intolengthy chapters each covering one day.
The narration between Lydia and Heiden are divided only by paragraphs, At times I had to back up a sentence or two to see if it were Lydia talking or Heiden recalling times with Eva.
Personally, I found these switches between characters to be further muddled with the audio, I am not sure if this was due simply to the formatting of the book, the narrator's British accent or the tone of his voice.
I just found it easier to read the print version, Original review can be found at sitelink blogspot. ca/
I received a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review,
This book held a lot of potential, The synopsis was intriguing and the genre is one of my favourites, I couldn't wait to get lost in it,
But
Although there wasn't anything horribly wrong with it, the story fell a little flat, It was really slow to get going and I found my mind wandering often, I wanted to know how everything would tie together but not in an anticipation type of way, It was more like an "I'm bored" kind of way,
However, I do see quite a bit of potential with this author, The Dynamite Room was his debut novel and as debuts go it was a solid effort, I didn't love it but I didn't hate it, Lydia, twelve years old runs away from the home in Wales where she was evacuated and expected to stay until the War is over.
Hating her treatment there she decides to walk home to Greyfriars which is located in a village in the remote English countryside, Arriving home she is surprised to see her town boarded up, no people at all on the streets and when she reaches her home she finds her mother gone.
During the night a German soldier arrives, he is wounded and shows his gun to Lydian threatening to kill her if she leaves the house.
This is a very different type of WWII story, a quiet one but one with a great deal of feeling, An intricate balance act was required of the author as there are very few characters active in this novel, We learn in flashbacks about the life of the German soldier, what brought him here and what he hopes to accomplish, Especially chilling were the times he and a few fellow soldiers spent in Denmark and is one of the reasons he arrived in this English village.
Lydia is a very imaginative child, she does not understand the war nor does she know what happened to her mother, Her brother and father are also fighting in the war, Slowly, the answers to all these questions are revealed and both Lydia and the soldier begin to change,
I love the way the tension in this novel slowly began to rise, we could understand what each character was feeling at each moment.
The writing was wonderful and the plot tightly woven, For those looking for a different take on this War they will not be disappointed in this one, Makes very clear that war changes everything and everyone, People do things they would not normally do and sometimes they just get stuck, I actually finished reading this bookdays ago, but I felt like I needed to sit with it for a little while before writing about it.
It's that kind of book, I could feel my heart break just a little with every page I read, Yes, it's set in World War II, . . eleven year old English girl, . . wounded German soldier abandoned village. I knew no good would come of this, But, I had hope.
This is a prime example of, "it's not the destination, it's the journey, " The reader may think they know where Hewitt is going with his story, and to some extent they may be right, But, I admit, I never saw THAT coming, Between the beginning and the end, Hewitt doles out tiny bits of insight told in flashback that build the tension, And I do mean tension, The kind of tension you feel when watching a movie and you actually say out loud, "No, no! Don't split up to explore the woods alone.
. . at night!" The structure of the story, while initially confusing sets just the right tone of confusion, regret and "what ifs" that usually accompany the exploration of our own pasts.
The writing is beautiful, and the characters Lydia and Heiden are sympathetic and likeable,
If you want a book that will push you, pick this one, If you want to read about growing up and lost love, complicated by war and all the horror that entails, pick this book.
I suspect your book group will love this book as I did for all the ideas to ponder and viewpoints to discuss, This stunning debut novel is set during WWII and takes place during a few days during a sweltering July summer in, Schoolgirl Lydia has run away from Wales, where she has been evacuated, and is heading back to her home in Suffolk, However, when she arrives, it is to find that her village seems to have been abandoned, the houses deserted, Making it to her home, Lydia finds her mother gone and an injured German soldier in her place, . .
Over the next few days, we gradually learn about Lydias family her brother Alfie, parents and the traumatised refugee boy, Button, who Lydia was entrusted to care for.
We also have the unfolding memories of the soldier, Heider, his time spent fighting in Poland and Norway , why he has ended up in Lydias home and how he knows her name.
You sense, from the first, that unseen forces have driven these two characters together, although you never feel that the situation is anything other than believable.
Much of this what is wonderful about this novel is the fact that things are often inferred, rather than spelt out.
The author sets the scene wonderfully, giving his readers the benefit of assuming they are with him in the story and perfectly capturing that time when the threat of invasion was very real.
I found the characters of both Heider and Lydia extremely sympathetic and found the novel compelling, tense and extremely well written, This is an engaging read, from an author who has shown from his first novel, that he has much to offer, I look forward to reading his future work with great interest,
I received a copy of this book, from the publisher, for review,
I really liked this, Surely then I should give it four But I have to admit to giving it lots of allowances because it is a debut.
It is a very good debut, and I certainly want to read whatever Hewitt writes next, but it's debutness was obvious something about it not quite rich enough something about it that wouldn't make me want to read it again and I think all four I might want to read again five I will, or already have read again.
The structure was good double point of view and many flashbacks that fell easily into place, The revelation as to how Heiden was in the house could have been handled better it didn't come as enough of a revelation for me.
But the tension between Heiden and Lydia was really well written, and the slow pace, which perfectly matched the temperature of the days they spend together, was terrific.
Lydia is walking down the street, alone in a gas mask, The year is, and she is trying to get home to her mother, There is someone in her house, but it's not her mother, And this is the beginning of a stressful week for Lydia and her unexpected house guest,
At times, I really liked this book, At other times, I was very confused, She seemed quite helpless, and in need of the strangers attention maybe he was going for this I also felt like the breaks between points of view were very disjointed.
Sometimes, I would have to re read entire sections, before I could figure out which point of view it was, I was so hoping for a climactic ending, but it kind of fell flat for me, It was ok, the setting was an interesting twist, but something was lacking in the execution, On to the next one! The Dynamite Room is Jason Hewitts first published novel, and a very good one at that, The whole novel takes place over the course five days, during which Lydia and the soldier are forced together in this house, stuck in the strangest of intimacies.
Hewitt effectively reduces the Second World War to a battle on the very smallest scale, The setup of the novel is brilliant, and the idea well executed, for the use of flashback and memory allows us to travel far beyond the confines of the house, to Germany in thes and the Norwegian campaigns during the war.
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Read full review: sitelink blogspot. co .