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papercaper's review
4.0
Goddamn I loved this so much! The first meeting between Armin and Mark was almost fun, vastly contrasted by their reuniting at the prison. Very glad Mark hating Armin just for being German didn't last very long. I loved watching them snatch little moments of tenderness and start giving in, starting to scheme how they could get more. Very enjoyable and a satisfying ending.
paracosmere's review
4.0
I'll be honest, I couldn't help but keep comparing this one to Special Forces given they're both about war and enemy soldiers falling on love in the worst places. I'm not so knowledgeable about any historical facts so I couldn't say much about the legitimacy of anything related to that. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the story very much. I'm actually glad it didn't include so much graphic brutality about the war and was surprisingly pretty lighthearted (not really but perhaps so for the lack of better word) compared to SF.
vanou's review
5.0
In a nutshell, I absolutely adored this book. It was perfect. Another novel by Voinov and Witt I could not put down. The characters are nicely fleshed out and you root for them amidst their dangerous circumstances. The writing is elegant and sharp and lets the story flow easily. My only regret, I could have read more, so much more because I loved Armin and John so much.
lydia_hennessy's review
4.0
Just as enjoyable as the first time around. Still only 4/5, but a definite favourite. I love the distinct character voices of each of the men.
rhodered's review
I put off reading this for a few weeks because I'm just not a big war novel fan. And I was rather dreading bleakness, grey walls, tense prisoners, nasty guards, bombs, etc.
But in the end it was all fairly boring. I think a large part of the boredom was due to the fact that both the leads are dull. They are handsome, honorable, tall, intelligent, dutiful men. Decent guys who had a stressful war. But there's not much else to them. You don't get any feeling for what an Iowa background means (how a farmer would wind up on the Olympic fencing team is incomprehensible BTW.) You also don't get much feeling for the German aside from him being a "good German". And, aside from the Hitler thing, there don't seem to be any class or cultural differences exhibited between the two men in a meaningful or detailed way. Which, trust me, you don't need a war for an American farmer and a German aristocrat to have a whole bunch of differences stressing and enlivening their relationship.
The authors are relying heavily on the war and prison situation to lend excitement to the story. As I'm just not that interested in these, it fell flat.
But in the end it was all fairly boring. I think a large part of the boredom was due to the fact that both the leads are dull. They are handsome, honorable, tall, intelligent, dutiful men. Decent guys who had a stressful war. But there's not much else to them. You don't get any feeling for what an Iowa background means (how a farmer would wind up on the Olympic fencing team is incomprehensible BTW.) You also don't get much feeling for the German aside from him being a "good German". And, aside from the Hitler thing, there don't seem to be any class or cultural differences exhibited between the two men in a meaningful or detailed way. Which, trust me, you don't need a war for an American farmer and a German aristocrat to have a whole bunch of differences stressing and enlivening their relationship.
The authors are relying heavily on the war and prison situation to lend excitement to the story. As I'm just not that interested in these, it fell flat.
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