The Nightingale
By Kristin Hannah
Just want to start by stating that it took me SO LONG (way longer than normal, might I add) to finish this book.... not because it was boring, but because I have been sooooo terrribly busy these last couple weeks. So once I finally got around to giving it my much-deserved undivided attention, I blew right through it. So, as promised, here is my personal review (SPOILERS AHEAD OBVIOUSLY):
This book is one of those special ones that slowly creeps under your skin and into your soul without you really truly realizing it. When I first started this book, it took me a couple days to really get into it. It wasn't that it was not entertaining to me, it caught my interest right away, but it was that it was from a slightly different genre than I had been addicted to lately, and I really needed to reset my mind to give it the attention it deserved. It is definitely not one of those books that takes your breath away at the end of each chapter, begging you to read just one more page (even though it is 10:45 pm and your alarm goes off at 5:00 am) but instead, is one of those powerfully written novels that finishes each chapter with one or two lines that hit you straight in the heart. On numerous occasions, it created a sense of melancholy in me as I remembered my own grandfather living through and fighting against the horrors of WWII. He very well could have been one of the Allied pilots that Isabelle bravely led to freedom, or perhaps one not so lucky to be led home at all. This type of story is not one to be taken lightly and I do not recommend it if you are looking for a feel-good "beach read". It touches on some of the terrible things that the Nazis forced upon France and much of Europe and has some pretty graphic content. Hannah does an excellent job, though, of bringing beauty into such a sad time, as we rarely get reminded that, though it was wartime and difficult for many during the 1940s, there were still things to smile and rejoice about in the world.
“If I have learned anything in this long life of mine, it is this: In love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are. Today’s young people want to know everything about everyone. They think talking about a problem will solve it. I come from a quieter generation. We understand the value of forgetting, the lure of reinvention.”
-Vianne Mauriac, The Nightingale
The story takes place in two time periods--the present (USA-1995)--and the past (France-WWII 1941-1945). The "present" time period is set in first person POV by an unknown narrator. You get bits and pieces of information throughout the "present" time period as to whom the narrator may be, but you are not told until the last chapter of the book. The "past" time period focuses on the separate stories of two sisters, Vianne (the older, married sister) and Isabelle (described as 19 and extremely impetuous). Vianne's story is one of hardship from the beginning. The story tells of her early pregnancy and marriage to her husband, Antoine, and the eventual birth of their daughter Sophie after many miscarriages. As war comes to France, she says goodbye to her husband as he heads to war and she takes on the duties of the household alone. Eventually German soldiers overrun her town, and a soldier takes her house as his own. As the story unfolds, Vianne changes as a character. Initially, I really struggled with her, as she was very weak and reminded me of a simpering mouse. She had no backbone and continually hid her sheep-like acceptance of her situation behind the idea that she needed to preserve her home and do what was best for her daughter. Thankfully, as the story moves along and her life becomes riddled with more loss and struggling, she slowly becomes a notable heroine and it was so refreshing to see her actually make a difference in the war in the final two years. She eventually risks not only her own, but her daughter Sophie's life as well, to save countless Jewish children from being sent to concentration camps. She gets a happy ending, which you will find well-deserved for her by the time the war is over in 1945.
“I always thought it was what I wanted: to be loved and admired. Now I think perhaps I'd like to be known.”
-Isabelle Rossignol, The Nightingale
Isabelle's story is one of much more excitement and danger. Early on, she is an extremely patriotic French woman who wants nothing more than to fight the Germans singlehandedly. She is feisty and fiery and acts before she thinks (much to the chagrin of her sister and father). Eventually, she becomes part of the Resistance and takes on the alias Juliette Gervaise, and, finally, The Nightingale. She risks her life dozens and dozens and dozens of times over the years to rescue downed RAF and Allied pilots, by smuggling them out of German-occupied France and into Spain---her biggest asset to her success being that she is nothing but a woman, stunningly beautiful, yet overlooked as a threat. Throughout her story, Isabelle's biggest struggle, apart from staying alive, stems from her extreme desire to be loved and accepted. She has been turned away, time and time again by her family and friends, and searches throughout the book for that one person who will love her as she is, impetuous and wild. Towards the final chapters of the book, she does find happiness and solace in a fellow Resistance operative, yet the war is not kind to them and does not discriminate. In the end, she comes to terms with the fact that one doesn't need to be loved to have love for oneself, and that the love you have for yourself is the most important thing of all. Ironically enough though, during her time in the war, she makes a difference in hundreds of soldiers' lives, resulting in her gaining the love and respect from thousands of family members and friends to which the POWs return home.
The final chapter brought tears to my eyes, as you finally realize who the narrator of the present story actually is. She is returning with her son to a 50 year anniversary of the end of the war, as a passeur, and is being recognized and reunited with the same people she fought beside and endured the long years of the war. I will not spoil the ending for you, but I will say that it was one of those that I did not foresee (and I am usually am pretty good at guessing). Hannah does an excellent job of tying loose ends and does not leave the reader wondering (though I did shed some tears here and there during the final few chapters).
I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend this book, especially if you have a love of HISTORICAL FICTION... I, personally, love HF but had never read a book set in Europe during WWII... Being the Yankee that I am, it was nice to read something not set in the United States, as that is what I am most used to when it comes to wartime novels.
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A Bientot,
LadyJane
