Reviews

"But Ewen is a slave to the stories he tells himself. I suppose everyone is, really."

Max said, "Huh?"

(...)

"We Brits tell ourselves stories like 'We are bringing Christian brotherhood to the world' while we enslave other human beings. We tell ourselves stories like 'We are bringing the masses freedom!'... while we get an entire continent addicted to opium. ... One of the worst crimes in history, if you ask me..."

Max asked. "Worst in history? Worse than the Nazis?"

"How do you compare crimes like that? I would hazard the Nazis are the worst, if you pressed me. The stories they tell are even more evil than the British ones. Most of the time..."

(...)

Max studied Uncle Ivor. ... A hundred thoughts drifted through Max's mind. About the stories we tell ourselves. And each other.

Another word for stories, Max thought, is lies.

"Do the English use propaganda?" Max wanted to know.
"We do," Ewen admitted. "We use it against the enemy, and we use it to rally our people, I admit. But it's to rally our people so we're not overrun by Nazi bombers and tanks! Not quite the same thing!"
(...)
Max said to Stein and Berg, "Is Ewen lying? About the way the English use propaganda?"
Stein replied, "In my experience, which spans all of human existence, you humans lie to everyone, all the time. Even yourselves."
Ewen continued, "...That's Hitler, mind you, not me. He goes on to say that it's the Jews who tell these big lies, whereas he will always tell the truth." Ewen's voice dripped with sarcasm when he said that. "But one thing to keep in mind, Max, is that a liar will always accuse his enemies of doing exactly what he himself is doing."
And Max thought, You mean like a British officer telling me that only the Nazis tell big lies?

I honestly didn't expect this book to do much for me. WWII is a subject that's been written about to Pluto and back, and while I'm not going to say that's a bad thing, I will say there's a level of numbness that comes from seeing it over and over. So I only picked this up because I have a friend who loves Gidwitz, and I got a copy of the book in a free giveaway at a local bookstore.

But this isn't a WWII book. Or rather, it's not just that. It's a story about the danger of the stories we tell ourselves. The violence, destruction, chaos, and despair that the human condition is willing and able to impose on another person. A whole group of people. The book takes the modern reader gently by the shoulders and goes "you know those stories you believe about yourself, your cause, your country? Are they true? Are they hiding something much darker? Are you comfortable with what lies beneath?" But it does it in such a way that it doesn't feel like historical characters are preaching to a modern audience, or even that historical characters hold modern sentiments. It feels real. It's authentic. It displays in gentle, powerful detail just how important stories are in the world. Both the true ones and the fictions. And especially the fictions.

And it's also a story about a clever refugee boy with two metaphysical beings living on his shoulders because that's just a fun time.

readballoon's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

neffcannon's review

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

library_kb's review against another edition

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adventurous funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

The most disappointing part of this book is when it ended. From the first page, which is an amazing first page to introduce the book, I loved the lighthearted banter between Stein, Berg, and Max, which balanced out some of the more difficult topics present in the book, like anti-Semitism and World War II. I will definitely be reading the next book in this series and recommending it widely!

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