Amazing book.
If I could, I would give it more than 5 stars. The story was utterly compelling and reminded me of a roller coaster. One moment I was laughing my head off and on the next page the story line broke my heart. I enjoyed the style of the book and Fredrik Backman's similes and metaphors (and all those other things when you compare things) were absolutely superb.
This book was about serious topics but at the same time it was such a positive and joyous read.
It took me less than a day to read this book. It was such a sad and powerful story.
I'm thankful that Ruta Sepetys has written it because I often have a feeling that people from other countries (in America and Western Europe) know quite well what Hitler did during the WW 2, but know a lot less about what Stalin was up to and how Siberia is full of unmarked graves. Thousands and thousands of people (among them babies, toddlers, teens, and senior citizens) were deported from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia but also from Poland and Ukraine because they were marked as criminals and enemies of the Soviet Rule. And so few of them returned ...
It's more like 3.75 stars actually.
The beginning was fantastic and the end even better but in the middle of the story the main character Jacob spent some time
in a time loop
, so the story was dragging quite a bit.
It took me some time but I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Hercule Poirot is my favourite detective of all times. It was fun to compare the stories with the TV show's episodes. I had no idea that they put some stories together for the show. Also, there was one story "The Capture of Cerberus" I couldn't place, I just don't remember a similar plot from the television show.
The story I enjoyed the most was "The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding". It took place at Christmas, had a fantastic old-fashioned feeling, and I actually learned something new from this story. Great collection.
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