Beryl W. reviewed on 4/18/2010 + 44 more book reviews

I was really looking forward to reading this story and learning more about the Philippines during WWII. I found it difficult to keep all the characters straight, there were so many and except for the main three, Isabelle, Alejandro, Domingo and a few others who told individual stories, the characters were not memorable or very well developed. The war was very brutal, the Japanese without mercy, and the fear was palpable, real to the extreme. I felt the story, and stories within stories were hard to follow and keep in context. I had to "work" hard to read this book and try to keep everything and everyone straight in my mind. It might have helped if there had been a page mapping the characters, names and who was connected to whom. I thought the story too choppy and disconnected, and had to push myself to finish as I really did want to know how everything ended. I really like historical fiction, and though I didn't think this was especially well done, there were many characters you care to care about, and personal stories that were quite moving and this redemmed it for me.

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