Customer Reviews

The Blue Suitcase

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Blue SuitcaseRead the first 100 pages straight off and couldn't put this book down. A sometimes harrowing but always engaging account of a young girl' growing into an adult in Germany during the 2nd world war - not just based on a true story, this really IS a true story, honestly told.

The Blue Suitcase is shocking, fascinating and attention-grabbing. As soon as I picked up I could not put it down. It was interesting to read a war story from an alternative perspective to the usual and I will be recommending it to all my friends.

Gripping account of the life of an ordinary German family through the eyes of teenager Antonia, growing up during the reign of Hitler. Harrowing at times, but a must-read to understand how badly the Germans themselves suffered under the Nazis, and how families were torn apart both during and in the aftermath of World War Two. I could hardly put it down.

This is a book that will stay with me for a long time. Based on the true events of a family caught up in the politics before and during World War II, it's story that's both moving and, at times, harrowing. Seen through the eyes of the young Antonia through her diary extracts and letters, the pace never drags. I found it a compelling and satisying read and I think this book should be compulsory on every school curriculun

A story that works well as a work of fiction but also acts to educate in some of the lesser known aspects of the National Socialist regime and the effects it had on real people in eastern areas of Europe at the time.

The Blue Suitcase totally pulled me in & kept me to the end, an often uncomfortable read, sometimes disturbing in nature but totally compelling.

A story that deserved to be told and read

I've just finished reading The Blue Suitcase which I can highly recommend to anyone interested in the history of Germany during the rise of the nazis and world war 2. Although this is termed a novel, it is based on the life story of the author's mother. I hadn't realised before how terrible life was for the ordinary german during that time. We all know how dreadfully the Jews were treated as well as other groups - but I hadn't before realised how difficult things were for people in general, how badly so many fared under Hitler. The events that they suffered under the russians and some of the poles were truly awful. This book is not written in a mawkish or sentimental manner but is written in the form of a diary - starting when the central character is a young girl of 12. It's interesting to watch her personality change from selfishness to selflessness as the years progress. I found the book so gripping that I read it in 24 hours.

We're all familiar with World War II from the Allied perspective. The Blue Suitcase presents an unfamiliar view of the pre-war and war years in Germany.

Antonia is a German girl of 12 when the book begins in 1932 - an unremarkable young girl living in a remarkable time - and her diary allows us to see the rise of Hitler and the Nazis in quite a different way. In fact, the members of her family are radically split in their views, and the effect Nazi Germany and the war it engendered have on them is dramatic and gripping. Toni herself is a survivor, meeting adversity with stamina and even heroism.

It is unusual to be presented with the suffering of the German people during this time period, and gives us a unique opportunity to examine our reactions to that picture.

Well-researched and compelling, this is a book you won't be able to put down.

The consummate quality inherent in the prose of this work is enviable. The novel excels on so many levels; style, storyline, characterisation, development, pace etc. are flawless throughout. The depth of the research and the utilisation of its results are impressive. The plot, powerful yet expertly underplayed, is revealed with masterful control as the reader grows with Antonia, at first youthfully naive and flushed with her own importance, then bewildered and bruised by the hard lessons of the realities of life in Nazi Germany. At times, The Blue Suitcase is not a comfortable read, and does take the reader into a frightening and intimidating period of recent history, but the realism and the apparent veracity make it hard to put aside. This is a highly commendable novel and well deserving of the glowing reviews it has accumulated. Robert Davidson. The Tuzla Run

If you haven't read the Book Thief, or The Reader, you should. But you should also read The Blue Suitcase. It stands along with the first two, and gives a fascinating insite into the history of Germany from 1932 to 1947, and the life that ordinary people lived what ever their beliefs, How families split and what human beings suffer, survive and don't talk about. How people (and nations?) grow up and change. It is a book that makes you think, draws you in and holds you to the end.
Definately, definately, definately worth reading.

I found the book interesting from the first page and could not put it down. Whilst some of the images that you are reading about are unimaginable to me I had to keep going. I felt relieved that Toni eventually had a settled life and a family of her own and I hope she managed to lock away the horrors she witnessed as a child and teenager. We do not know how lucky we are these days and sometimes we need reminding of that.