If I rated books solely on writing style and execution, I would have given this book a higher rating. It did what it wanted to do, and it was nicely phrased. However, something about this book never clicked with me. It felt slow and restrained. Take out the purple prose, and I bet it would be straight-up boring. 

While I'm not itching to read about the brutality of the Second World War, the lack of violence was notable. Yes, some realities of the time are mentioned, but rarely are you put in a position of witness. You are told more often than you are shown. One character is physically blind and the other is metaphorically blind. They either choose not to see or literally can not. While I can appreciate the concept, in practice, it came off bland, bordering on cliche. 

I'm not surprised that this is getting an adaptation because it feels like it was written to be a TV drama. Particularly the way most of the story is a series of flashbacks. The past and present then align right around the climax of the story. It's a classic storytelling device, but here, it felt clunky and unnatural. Forced. 

I think I'm one of the few people who wasn't emotionally moved by this story. It obviously just wasn't for me. I would be open to reading another book by the author because he did have decent proses. I just wasn't as taken with this as the hype had me thinking I would be. 

Why would you try to humanize a nazi and then once he gets a little redemption you make him walk on a land mine?! I guess it was loosely foreshadowed when he walked out on the beach but I felt like that type of death came out of nowhere. My other big miss story wise is the villain, Mr. Ball Cancer. He has sensitive testies and doesn't mind sitting in silence, patiently waiting. Scary!