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ClareR (5879 KP) rated The Beasts of Paris in Books

Oct 1, 2024  
The Beasts of Paris
The Beasts of Paris
Stef Penney | 2023 | Fiction & Poetry
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
What I love most about historical fiction, is that I get to learn something new about the history of a place or a time I didn’t know about. I mean, I’d never heard of the Siege of Paris in 1870, and yet I now know a lot more about it through the characters in The Beasts of Paris.

There’s Victor, the assistant vet at the Menagerie; Anne has been an inmate at the women’s Salpetriere asylum for many years, provided entertainment for paying Parisians thanks to the immoral Dr. Jospin, and now comes to work as the Chief Vet’s maid at the Menagerie; Ellis is hiding his trauma from the American Civil War where he was a doctor, and is attempting to become a poet; and Lawrence is a Canadian Photographer.

We learn of the horrors of the siege and the further horrors of its aftermath. The descriptions of these events and how the Parisians both live through and cope with deprivation and fear, are emotional and engaging.

I was left wondering who exactly the Parisian beasts were; those inside or outside the menagerie?

Just an excellent story.
  
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Christine A. (965 KP) rated The House of One Thousand Eyes in Books

Nov 28, 2018  
The House of One Thousand Eyes
The House of One Thousand Eyes
Michelle Barker | 2018 | Young Adult (YA)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Felt as if it could have been a glimpse into real people living in East Berlin (0 more)
Story wraps up nicely at the end but it ends abruptly. (0 more)
Realistic, historical fiction YA about living in East Berlin in the early 1980s
I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review.

Lena Altmann is a 17 year old girl who lives in East Berlin. After her parents were killed in an explosion, Lena was forced to move in with her aunt. Lena's only respite comes when she spends her Sundays with her uncle, her aunt's brother. One day he is erased. He along with all of his possessions,and his birth records are gone. His published books have disappeared from bookstore shelves. He is just gone, disappearing without a trace.

Lena frantically searches for him but knows government spies are everywhere and she feels alone. Her aunt is a hardcore member of the Communist party. Can she trust her? Can she trust her friends? Can she trust anyone?

Through her story, Michelle Barker shows what it was like to live in the "Better Berlin" in the 1980s. She shows the rigidness, fearfulness, suspicion, and oppression of life in East Berlin.

The House of One Thousand Eyes did not feel like fiction. You could feel and hear Berlin. You could believe Lena, her uncle, and her aunt were real people and this book just captured a portion of their lives.

Although the story wraps up nicely at the end, it ends abruptly.