Type of read: Commuter Read

What made me pick it up: We're planning a trip to Germany in December and many times I'll try to match some of my reading content to upcoming travels and adventures. Additionally, I was a huge fan of 'The Tattooist of Auschwitz' and when the description for 'The German Wife' mentioned that book, it all clicked.

Overall rating: Oof. 'The German Wife' might be one of my top books for 2024. There is so much weaving through these pages and it's absolutely heartbreakingly, beautiful. The juxtaposition of the two main characters is very well done and you can feel the emotions of each character through their tellings of their experiences. 'The German Wife' is told from dual perspectives (Sofie and Lizzie) and there is quite a bit of time jumping (1930s to 1950s); however, the author does a great job of labeling each chapter/section so you know exactly who is talking and what year it is. Even enjoying it as an audiobook, it was probably one of the easier dual perspective/time jumpers I've read in a while.

As a US citizen, I find some of the situations in the book compared to our current political climate incredibly frustrating and devastating to read. There's a line, fairly early on in the book, where they talk about history and that if we don't learn from it, it's bound to repeat itself and I just feel like it was one of those gut-punch moments in the book where you realize the severity of what's happening - both in the book and daily life in general. That's not to say you haven't realized the severity before...it's just again brought to the forefront and you start wondering how a nation could allow themselves to get to such a point when they've seen or even experienced it happening before.

Overall, I feel like Rimmer did a great job of capturing the tension, questions, and struggles of the characters and their life. I would 100% recommend 'The German Wife.' I also have to say that Nancy Peterson and Ann Marie Gideon did amazing jobs at the narration. Especially when you're listening to a book that has accent work, it's so nice when the character is still clear and easy to understand. Both of these individuals put so much emotion and thought into their narrations and it truly made the book shine.

Reader's Note: 'The German Wife' includes themes of antisemitism, torture, death, suicide, loss of a parent, alcoholism, depression, and PTSD.