Peggy & Sandra didn't share a womb but will share this challenge

[Peggy]

82%

(view spoiler)[ Seriously? A little tact and forethought maybe? That's what I was afraid of, William doesn't even know. And now he will end up with that sad knowledge of his mom. I can't believe Julia wasn't more careful, she could have imagined this as a possibility, right? And just when disaster seems averted, the only sensible and mature person (Zoe) acts totally out of character and messes it up.

I'm annoyed with the characters but also the author. I'm not sure if she never really thought of plausible alternatives for events, or deliberately made these choices. (hide spoiler)]

[Peggy]

84%

(view spoiler)[ Why is Julia making this all about herself? It's like she feels worse that she didn't get her imagined happy ending with Sarah's son than she cares about the feelings and wishes of people like Sarah and William. "I know now Sarah didn't want anyone to know and I know William doesn't want to know, but now I, the most important person in the world, do not get what I want."

I'm disliking Julia more and more. (hide spoiler)]

[Peggy]

89%

(view spoiler)[ there's too much happening in this book. Now she almost loses the baby, then they find out Sarah committed suicide. It's like the author started out with lots of things she wanted to write about, but instead of making choices she just crammed it all in. (hide spoiler)]

[Sandra, Moderator]

88%

I didn't read to much yesterday, I was tired and this story it's making hard for me to care, at this point.

(view spoiler)[I agree. This is all about Julia now. It should have been titled "Julia's belly button". She is incredibly disrespectful of other people's feelings. She doesn't really care about the baby she is carrying. After all she had a couple of miscarriages and still is going around the world before the 12 weeks of pregnancy, dismissing the pain she is feeling in her lower belly... I also can't believe how she involved Zoe in all this story. She is only 10!
I just hope now that William entered the picture we will know more about Sarah's last years and then hopefully the book will be over. (hide spoiler)]

This book reminds me of The Orchid House. The topic/theme is completely different, but I felt equally annoyed with the character, the plot and the author.

[Peggy]

I finished, I just wanted to get it over with. I'll write down some more thoughts when I have a computer, although there's not much new to add.

[Sandra, Moderator]

Good. I hope to finish it today. I want to move to something else.

[Beth]

So I am responding to what Peggy posted in the reporting thread, so as not to clutter that thread:

Peggy wrote: "I read Sarah's Key together with my twin Sandra.

How does this book have a 4.14 average?! It slowly went from pretty decent to terribly bad. The war-story was okay, definitely not t..."

Most people I know that read it have a similar rating to yours. They hated it.

[Beth]

Rusalka wrote: "I keep reading this as "Peggy and Sandra didn't share a wombat...""

LOL!

[Peggy]

Interesting Beth. It has such a high average rating and a lot of my GR friends (10-15 or so) have read it and most were 4 stars. Your friends have good taste ;-)

[Cherie]

I only got to the first part of the story, Peggy, so I cannot comment on the rating, except to say that most of this author's stories are pretty good, I guess. I picked it up after I read her book, The House I Loved. I have two of her other books on my TBR list.

You two are making me rethink if I want to pick it up again and finish it or not.

[Peggy]

I would continue Cherie. I think Sandra and I are a minority, and as long as you're enjoying it, why not read on? You can always put it down if you start disliking it.

[Sandra, Moderator]

I finished it yesterday, but since it was a snow day and school was canceled, the kids have my computer kidnapped. :)

Although it felt mostly like a 3 stars, I rated it 2 stars like you, Peggy, because the ending was just too much.

What I liked -> that the author chose to talk about an historical event very important but not very known it seems. I remember knowing about it because some other historical fiction novel (can't remember which one, too many set in WWII), but definitely I wasn't so aware of how France tried to hide it, try to make everybody forget. This was pictured very neat and clear in this novel.
I also think the 1942 premise was very good: Sarah, Michel, the key, the cupboard, the Vel' d'Hiv'. Unfortunately the 2002 time line ruined it.

What I didn't like -> Everything else. I won't repeat all he have been talking about it but (view spoiler)[ all 2002 characters were annoying. All Julia's personal story was unnecessary and stupid. I hated that in the overall her story took more of the book than Sarah's. Why all we know about Sarah after 1955 is only a few passages in a notebook and a couple of pictures, what took 2 pages to say? I wanted to know more, to read more about her feelings, of how she never could move on from her past, even having a beautiful family, and decided killing herself. I think this is an important and strong point. If the author wanted to put drama in the story, this is the drama I would have been interested in reading, no Julia's stupidity about a pregnancy and an a-hole husband. (hide spoiler)]

I think Sarah's story should have been much more important than Julia's. I think the author tried to make them equally important. And I think she failed and ended making Julia's much more relevant.

Also, the writing is poor.

[Sandra, Moderator]

I agree with Peggy, Cherie. A 4.14 rating is very high. A GR friend rated it 5 stars, and in her review she points she loved all the plot point I hated, so I guess it is very subjective.

[Sandra, Moderator]

Beth wrote: "So I am responding to what Peggy posted in the reporting thread, so as not to clutter that"

I was thinking that since the book includes a very sad event, rating it low might feel like saying you don't care about said event. I actually think that event was a great premise and strong point in the story, ruined by everything else. But it's just my opinion. And my twin's it seems. :)

[Sandra, Moderator]

BTW, the edition I read has at the back a list of other books on the Vel' d'Hiv' theme, if you are interested in read more:

Those Who Save Us
Not the Germans Alone: A Son's Search for the Truth of Vichy
Leap into Darkness: Seven Years on the Run in Wartime Europe
Suite Française
French Children of the Holocaust: A Memorial
Betrayal at the Vel D'Hiv
Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order 1940-1944
Bad Faith: A Forgotten History of Family, Fatherland and Vichy France

[Peggy]

Sandra wrote: "Beth wrote: "So I am responding to what Peggy posted in the reporting thread, so as not to clutter that"

I was thinking that since the book includes a very sad event, rating it low might feel like..."

Very good point. I was in doubt between 2 and 3 stars too, because I did enjoy (not enjoy enjoy, but you know what I mean) the war story and I think if all the book was about that, it could have gotten 4 stars. I also thought the premise was very good and it was great to learn more about this part of French history.

The 2002 story just ruined too much. It was tolerable in the beginning but just got so bad in the end. And then so much of the book was set in the present.. It would have indeed been much better if there had been more about 1942 and the following years and Sarah, and a lot less about the present. Like only a chapter now and then, about Julia the journalist and not Julia the whining, selfish, annoying French American. It's a shame really.

[Peggy]

Thanks for the list Sandra. I've read Suite Française so maybe I came across Vel d'Hiv in that one.

I have Those Who Save Us on my tbr. Interesting that it's on the list, as from the blurb it seems to be set in Germany.

[Peggy]

I enjoyed being your twin Sandra :)

[Sandra, Moderator]

Peggy wrote: "Thanks for the list Sandra. I've read Suite Française so maybe I came across Vel d'Hiv in that one.

I have Those Who Save Us on my tbr. Interesting that it's on the list..."

Yes, according to the blurb it is set in Germany. Strange. I checked all the others and all of them are about Vichy France, not only the Vel d'Hiv. All of them look interesting. French Children of the Holocaust is 1900 pages long, so I am not adding it (my library doesn't hold it) but it seems very interesting. It is not only a recount of the events in France, but also a huge recollection of photos, newspapers cuttings, official documents, etc.

[Sandra, Moderator]

Peggy wrote: "I enjoyed being your twin Sandra :)"

I also enjoyed this challenge and being your twin. :)

[Peggy]

I just read this on the news: https://www.theguardian.com/world/201...

A 85-year old holocaust survivor was stabbed to death and burnt in Paris last Friday, and it's thought to be an antisemitic attack. She escaped the Vel d'Hiv round up in 1942.

The news is sad and shocking in any case, but having read so much about Vel d'Hiv in the book only two months ago makes it hit me even harder.

[Sandra, Moderator]

I saw this news yesterday, but I didn't realize she was a survivor of the Vel d'Hiv. That is horrible. It definitely makes you feel worse once you know more about the story.

[Sarah]

I hadn't heard that. It is very sad.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Oh, Peggy, that's heartbreaking. People can be so awful.

I saw that you didn't much care for the book. Was it similar to The Boy in the Striped Pajamas? I remember you questioning that early on. We were both in the minority on that one. I don't understand those high ratings at all. I picked this one up a while back based on all the good reviews, but now I'm not so sure about it.

[Lisa]

How horrible! The world really has gone off the deep end 😞

[Peggy]

@Kristie: the war-part of the story wasn't bad at all. But there's also a present-day story that takes up about 2/3 of the book, and that was one of the worst I ever read. I think Sandra felt the same. Most people are positive though!

[Sandra, Moderator]

Yes, the present day story line is very frustrating and boring. It is a shame because the past line is set in a very interesting event, as it is the Vel d'Hiv. But as Peggy said, we seem to be in the minority on this one.

[Kristie, Moderator]

That’s too bad. You never know how a book will be until you read it.