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Title:
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Wish Child, The |
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Authors:
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Chidgey, Catherine |
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Genre:
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Fiction: New Zealand |
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Pages:
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382 |
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Year:
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2016 |
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Publisher:
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Victoria University Press |
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Language:
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English |
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Description:
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The Heilmanns in Berlin and the Kronings tending their land near Leipzig, two loyal families working hard and accepting the Fuhrer's assurances of eventual victory. It is through their respective children, Sieglinde and Erich that the domestic detail of life under the Third Reich is revealed, innocent eyes capturing the ascent of a dream and the failure of a monstrous regime.
Poignant and insightful, this is a remarkable story, aided by its mysterious narrator, revealing ordinary citizens believing until they could no longer. and asking the question - why did no-one ask questions? [Larger font]
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Categories:
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Fiction NZ, War theme, Award winner, Historical, Morals/Ethics, Political, Relationships, Tragedy/disaster, 2019 Titles, Larger font, Ockham Winner |
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By: HAMIL 066
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2024-10-10 10:20:28 |
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Our group enjoyed 'The Wish Child', finding it a thought provoking and complex story. The storyline was quite unusual in its focus on the impact of the war on the German people. It was difficult to read at times as horrific events occurred. |
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By: AUCK 379
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2024-08-16 14:00:42 |
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Majority of the group thought the book had an interesting storyline with great historic settings and an interesting setting during the wartime, reflecting on children's experiences and how it affected them. How people react in war differs from what most people's perceptions are. No matter who or where people are, they feel the same deep down. War is futile, full stop! Not being able to grieve for the dead would have been extremely saddening. The book club members mostly felt the same towards the book, that it was yet another story of a terrible time in history. |
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By: PUTAR 001
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2024-04-15 10:07:21 |
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Several didn't finish the read and found the book disjointed, but good language and depiction of the period written about. |
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By: AUCK 189
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2023-10-16 09:53:31 |
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Most of us really enjoyed this book. She is a wonderful writer. Despite the mystery of the narrator, her writing makes you read on and on. |
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By: PUKEKO 001
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2023-05-29 17:55:25 |
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Mixed feelings amongst our group. Some found the book difficult to get into. Others loved the atmosphere created by the mix of storytelling, historical details and symbolism,. |
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By: KATIK 003
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2022-08-15 12:17:19 |
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A few said it was one of their all-time top 10 books! |
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By: HURUN 001
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2022-03-02 13:46:42 |
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Most of our group loved this book, particularly the story offering a different perspective on WWII, and also the beautiful prose. A couple of people didn't enjoy it at all! |
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By: KATIK 001
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2021-03-10 12:40:01 |
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An unusual, yet appealing, focus on ordinary German family life during World War 2. Chidgey captures well the innocence of children as they face the growing organisation and tightening restrictions placed on them by the harsh rule of their beloved leader. The Fuhrer can do no wrong, but the reader, with the hindsight of history, fills in the gaps and wonders how even the adults are carried along with propaganda. The two women, Frau Miller and Frau Muller, were a welcome ease of tension and were so believable! Discovering the identity of the narrator came to some of our group earlier than expected, as we wondered at the wistful, fragmented passages of vague longing. An interesting and talented author we would like to meet again. |
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By: WANAK 010
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2020-10-11 20:07:14 |
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Three of our group did not finish the book finding the plot difficult to follow, resulting in a 4 star rating. Those that did read the book felt that it was well researched and very cleverly written. It gave a very different perspective on the war and showed how propaganda was used effectively to manipulate a population's view of the world. Having just watched the Netflix documentary 'The Social Dilemma' many of our group felt that there is a real risk for something like this to happen again with social media being used to manipulate the way groups of society view the world. |
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By: MAST 005
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2020-03-13 12:23:04 |
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Group found this a challenging read, and would not recommend to other groups. We thought it was overly ambitious and overly complicated with too many themes. We liked the author's style of writing. |
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By: HAVE 011
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2020-03-13 12:21:36 |
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Excessive themes and devices made for confusion and lack of cohesiveness. Hard to get into. Generally pleased to have read it but wouldn't readily recommend. |
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By: MAST 004
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2020-03-13 12:19:29 |
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Technically well-written but for most members it lacks real depth, hence the average rating. |
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By: AUCK 143
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2020-03-13 12:18:23 |
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Only 2 people finished the book. Most found it a bit obscure. It did give a very good idea of peoples' adoration of and belief in Hitler. |
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By: AUCK 320
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2020-03-13 12:16:03 |
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Whilst we appreciated the historical research, none of us enjoyed this book. |
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By: NELS 014
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2019-10-09 14:46:37 |
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We loved this book, such beautifully crafted writing. And excellent discussion questions too. |
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By: ASHB 004
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2019-07-17 14:38:46 |
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More than one of our members said that this book is one of the best books that we have read in this programme of 30 years! It took most of us a while to adjust to the metaphors and the many threads of narrative. We improved on this as we progressed with the book. The insight into the lives of ordinary German citizens in the war was alternately fascinating and horrifying... |
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By: LOWER 002
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2019-07-10 13:47:13 |
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All enjoyed the book - one member felt Catherine Chidgey to be a genius, another found the writing fantastic, but the plot a bit overburdened. One member taught in the English Dept of the author's secondary school, and took full credit for it all:-) |
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By: AUCK 027
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2019-07-10 13:43:35 |
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Most of the group read part of the book and found it hard to get into. The 3 who finished it loved it. |
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By: ONAWE 001
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2019-07-10 13:41:31 |
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Very good notes. Very well-written and well-researched. |
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By: FEILD 001
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2019-05-30 13:27:11 |
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This story was brilliant. It was such a clever depiction of the insidious way in which ordinary law abiding people were manipulated into becoming wilfully ignorant citizens... This was a very different story of World War II. Excellent notes! |
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