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Jun 29, 2010

Ellen rated it:

Some of the best scenes in literature:

1. The Idiot - ~~mock~~ execution

2. Macbeth - Act 5; Scene 5 - Macbeth's world is crashing around
him when he hears of his wife's death. He remarks, laconically, "She
should have died hereafter," and then delivers what might be the most perfect lines in literature:

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recor

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28 comments like (20 people liked it)

Oct 11, 2008

Lisa rated it:

What I loved:

For once I was able to thoroughly enjoy a historical fiction book without wondering what was real and what was fiction.

This is a character driven story and everyone in the book seemed genuine. I especially enjoyed the poignant sensibilities of the children and adolescents.

I’m a sucker for maps and this book had a map of real places and one of fictional places that were within the real map’s area. There was also a handy characters list at the fr More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Apr 02, 2011

Ben rated it:

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0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 28, 2008

Holli rated it:

I stayed up until after midnight last night finishing this. I started out listening to it on tape and got half way finished and it was on hold for someone so I had to turn it in and get the book. The narrator did a great job with the French, German, and Italian accents. Russell is so smart. She weaves the fictitious characters and places with historical fact and makes a beautiful and difficult story. This novel is very character-driven. I wondered about the characters when I wasn’t read More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Wealhtheow rated it:

sobbed through her earlier books, and this is no exception. Set during WWII, with many jewish main characters, Russell nevertheless avoids the obvious tragedies (although there are oblique mentions to the events in other countries) in order to concentrate on hearts, minds, and shattering illusions. She has an obvious love and understanding of her characters, and so even the most horrifying come across as realistic, almost sympathetic. Her plot is complex and interweaves many disparate elements w More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 15, 2009

Jen rated it:

I read this book during the holiday season but find myself thinking about various scenes at odd moments. I'll be brushing my teeth, and suddenly, I'll be on the Ligurian coast of Italy while a German deserter confesses to the local priest that he is responsible for over 91,000 deaths. I'll be on the edge of sleep, and as I close my eyes I'll see a toddler learning to walk when suddenly the bombs start to drop. I'll be driving and will be visited by one of the kind visions of an Italian soldier w More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Nov 03, 2008

Bobby rated it:

A 4.5 stars effort. A rich and complex (and at times, not so easy to follow) portrayal of both historical and fictional events that take place in northwest Italy (in real and made-up locations) during WWII and the Nazi era. Though it is a little difficult to get into this book initially, those who are able to do it will enjoy a cast of memorable and well-developed characters and powerful ideas about what it is to be a human, especially in a time of crisis. Though not as nearly funny as Catch-22, More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 14, 2008

whichwaydidshego? rated it:

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2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 16, 2007

Robin rated it:

I will admit that this is a tough read, and thank goodness for the character list in the front to keep everyone straight.
With that said, this book is amazing. Pure and simple. Of the many books I have read about WWII in Europe, Russell’s book is set apart in subject matter and writing style. I found the setting in Northern Italy fascinating, as we seem to hear very little of this area of German Occupation. Also, the role of the Italian resistance, Catholic Church, and peasant farmers, More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

deanne rated it:

SYNOPSIS: Follow the lives of several Jewish refugees, the Italian Catholics who seek to protect them, and an AWOL German doctor as they struggle to survive in the Italian mountains during the later years of World War II.

COMMENTS: I consider Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow one of the best books I have read in a long time. While I can't say the same of her most current novel, I did enjoy the time I spent with it. Russell artfully weaves together several story lines while painting an More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 11, 2008

Danika rated it:

I'll admit this is not an easy read (on several levels). For one, It starts with pages of maps and character descriptions. It's also not the most uplifting topic. It covers roughly the last 18 months of WWII in Northern Italy. Follows the Italians in the region, the Jews many of them were hiding/helping and the German soldiers. Despite the content, I did not find it bleak. It certainly wasn't uplifting, but it was a fascinating look at a specific part of history I didn't know much about. Ch More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 17, 2007

Ellis rated it:

Mary Doria Russell is an absolute favorite of mine. I was enthralled by "The Sparrow" and "Children of God" so you can imagine how thrilled I was to find she had a new book out. I enjoyed it and stuck with it because of her--but it was a dense read that was difficult to follow--a criticism I find ironic b/c it is the complaint many of my friends gave about "The Sparrow" and I "hated" them for it! :)

Most interesting about the book is the gl More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 27, 2008

kate rated it:

I'm really enjoying this book... It's about Jewish refugees escaping to Italy through the northern border (think Alps) and the Italians who help them.

My favorite line, from chapter 1 that talks about the Italian government's indifference to the Nazi command to round up all the Jewish people in Italy:
"Artistically inefficient, they shuffle papers and announce that another permit, or a letter from Rome, or some new stamp is required before they can process such a request, an More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 07, 2009

Jill added it

I can t imagine running for my life. I can t imagine having to hide my religion, to rely on the kindness of strangers for food and shelter, to tell my children to mix their moldy bread in milk to disguise the taste. I can t imagine any of it.[return][return]But, after reading A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell, I can imagine it all and so much more.[return][return]A Thread of Grace is the story of Jewish people living in Italy during the German occupation. Many of them, for years, hav More...

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Jan 30, 2012

Rosemarie rated it:

I fell into this story, with its huge and varied cast of characters, and barely put it down until I finished it--with tears. The time is immediately after Italy's surrender during WWII. The Italian army must withdraw from territory it occupied in France. The Italians resisted German efforts to enforce their policies of terror and extermination on the Jews of the region, but now all are trying to get over the Alps into the relative safety of Italy before the Germans take charge of the territor More...

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Sep 07, 2011

Charlene rated it:

A story that won't be easily forgotten. I was reading this over a long holiday weekend and ended up neglecting everything else to finish it. We have not heard many stories of the fate of the Jews in Italy; or even stories of the war itself. That's especially odd to me, since my father was a veteran of the Sicily and Italy invasions, but I didn't realize that it took the actual surrender of Germany to free the mountain corners of Italy.
Russell's strength as a writer is that you imm More...

0 comments like

Sep 03, 2011

Winnie rated it:

From Amazon:
"Set in Italy during the dramatic finale of World War II. It is September 8, 1943, and fourteen-year-old Claudette Blum is learning Italian with a suitcase in her hand. She and her father are among the thousands of Jewish refugees scrambling over the Alps toward Italy, where they hope to be safe at last, now that the Italians have broken with Germany and made a separate peace with the Allies. The Blums will soon discover that Italy is anything but peaceful, as it becomes ov More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 29, 2011

Amy rated it:

The story of partisans fighting in northern Italy during the last two years of World War II. This really is a beautiful tapestry of a book. Lots of characters—the voice doesn’t change, but they each illustrate different stories in this tiny, mountainous place.

Renzo Leoni is the most compelling, the most cinematic, the most unforgettable. He’s a former pilot, trying to drink away his own feelings of guilt. He’s an intelligent, multi-layered hero, and the banter between him and his More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 23, 2011

Eva rated it:

Set in Northern Italy, in the last two years of World War II, this book was amazing. It features a multitude of characters, ranging from Italian Jews, Italian Catholics, Jewish refugees, and German occupants. Russell weaves their stories together, loosely at first, linking all of them with the resistance movement in Italy. The book portrays a devastating time in Italian history, yet it calls attention to the strength and warmth of its characters.

While the story does have heavy plot m More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 31, 2010

Sarah rated it:

A Thread of Grace. Mary Doria Russell. 2005. Random House. 430 pages. ISBN 0375501843.

A Thread of Grace is Mary Doria Russell's third novel and first historical fiction piece set against the backdrop of 1943 Europe.

Claudette Blum is a young, teenage Jewish girl escaping with her father and other refugees to Italy with no foresight or knowledge that thair lives are about to become much more endangered. Through a handful of diverse characters and personalities, Russell tel More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 28, 2009

Andrea rated it:

WWII, Mussolini had surrendered Italy to Hitler. Disillusioned where this war was going a small group of Italian Soldiers part of the resistance had taken it upon themselves to save the lives of Jewish refugees from the work camps and execution from Nazi soldiers by escorting them on an arduous journey through a mountain pass, selflessly sacrificing there lives to save others. Along the way Italian citizens just ordinary people all learning to survive the horrors of War and its brutality, they e More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 08, 2009

Holyn rated it:

My sister gave this to me to read. Ten pages into it I felt a familiar sensation. Twenty pages into it I thought I was having deja vu and then fifty pages into it I realized I had definitely read this book before. BUT I did not remember how everything ended so I read it again and am glad I took the time to do so.

This novel is set in Northern Italy during the Nazi occupation from 1944-1946 and follows the lives of various people as they attempt to survive during this time - Jewish More...

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Apr 10, 2009

Istop4books rated it:

This was very interesting at times, but most of the time I just read in a state of confusion. Way too many characters and way too many plotlines. This book needed some careful editing, and perhaps it could have been 2 stories or the historical parts written a bit more clearly. I can't quite put my finger on what it was that didn't work, but having read many WWII books, this one just didn't cut it for me.
There is no Status entry for RIP - but that is what this fine book is now doing. It met More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 19, 2008

'stina rated it:

I've been on a somewhat serious reading kick lately, and if you're looking for a really amazingly well written novel, take a gander at Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell. It's a story without a main character, really, though there are a few that stand out. It focuses on a region of northern Italy from September 1943 to about 1947ish. I had no idea about the resistance. For whatever reason, my history teachers always just said Italy, Japan and Germany were the Axis, and left it at tha More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 02, 2011

Angie added it

Everyone I know loved this book, and I think Mary Doria Russel is a superb writer, so I decided to give it a try despite the fact that I am tired of books about the horrible atrocities against theJews in WW II. I've read the books & seen the movies, from Anne Frank to Sophie's Choice, and i donot need another.
That being said, the first part of the book was delightful as only Russell can be. The book opened with a marvelous scence of a drunken Nazi doctor trying to find a priest to make a co More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 18, 2011

thewanderingjew rated it:

Because I read this a very long time ago, I really cannot write a thorough review, other than to say that the author has done an admirable job of drawing the characters who, while living through the time of the Holocaust, in spite of awful conditions of horror and deprivation, often managed to hang on to their humanity. In sharp contrast are the fiends who perpetrated the monstrous deeds demanded of them, by the Nazis and Facists. Also, in sharp contrast, are the two emotions that somehow lived More...

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May 26, 2010

Betsy rated it:

This beautiful, heartbreaking, richly detailed story follows several intertwined groups of people during World War II in Italy, shortly following the country's surrender (but before the end of the war in Europe which would continue for more than a year). Italian resistance fighters, Roman Catholic clergy, refugee Jews, Italian Jews, former and current German military officers and Italian citizens dedicated to hiding Jews all interact together in wonderful, scary, delightful, surprising ways. T More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 10, 2011

Leah rated it:

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0 comments like

Nov 10, 2009

Erika rated it:

A wonderful book. It was so engaging, I often forgot that I was reading a book and felt more like I was in the story. While I have read a lot of WWII fiction, I had not read anything about WWII Italy and the Partisan uprising against the Nazi regime, which invaded Italy after the Italian armistice. The book features a huge cast of characters (Russell was thoughtful enough to include a cast of characters at the beginning of the book so I didn't get too lost) - there are a couple of "main" More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 22, 2007

Katy rated it:

I can't say that I enjoyed this book, but I found it interesting. It certainly didn't have the impact on me that her book "The Sparrow" did, but it was a different kind of book. The details about the Italian resistance to the Nazis and how they helped save some of the Jewish refugees is a story that I had never heard and am very glad to know of now. Overall, though, even though I found the book interesting, it just wasn't as compelling for me.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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