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By: NAP 011
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2025-04-25 09:23:52 |
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We thoroughly enjoyed this book and loved the short chapters. The characters came alive and were captivating despite the heartbreaking and haunting context. We learnt so much about the end of WW2 in a region few of us had known much about. We all googled and discovered much more as a result of reading the book, which made our discussion even more interesting. |
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By: MARTIN 003
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2025-03-26 12:54:57 |
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Gripped us all! An exceptional book. Appreciated the character's name at the beginning of each chapter. Made it easy to follow the story. |
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By: AUCK 255
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2024-07-25 22:11:19 |
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Well-written and captivating. Wonderfully drawn characters that will haunt you. Fascinating to learn of this disaster none of us knew about previously. |
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By: TAUR 061
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2024-06-29 17:26:00 |
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A good book is about how it makes us feel. Supetys does just that. We feel the horror and brutality of war through the eyes of generally impressionable young people. All carry their own burdens as the ‘hunted’. There were some stars. Who couldn’t love the Shoemaker poet who in the end made the ultimate sacrifice and in turn, be irritated and in one case, “hate” Alfred? Once again our knowledge was enhanced by a writer who engaged our emotions. |
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By: INVER 002
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2024-05-06 11:02:53 |
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The book was well-written about a period of history that was very sad. The sinking of the ship was not known to us generally. Half our group avoided the most tragic parts and the other half devoured the book. Interesting short chapter writing. |
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By: TWIZ 004
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2024-04-05 12:50:05 |
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Almost everyone loved this book, there were a few tears shed. Two found the switching between characters disorientating whereas others loved it. An easy, engrossing read. |
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By: GISB 005
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2023-11-20 13:17:18 |
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Fascinating story - and most of us knew nothing about this history. Good discussion. I made 'Rose Petal Jam' for our evening! |
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By: PIOPIO 001
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2023-11-16 09:54:59 |
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Most really enjoyed the book after expecting the opposite. A well researched, and crafted account of one of the worst tragedies in WW2. The characters were diverse and believable and several were endearing to the reader. |
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By: NELS 022
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2023-09-20 11:09:36 |
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The story was captivating even though it contained horrifying atrocities. Short chapters based on one character at a time was very effective. Author's notes were very sobering and you can appreciate all the research. Alfred's 'letters' were an effective way of disclosing his back story. Notes were helpful... |
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By: AUCK 107
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2023-06-27 11:11:47 |
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Everyone loved this book, although most found it took a while to establish the characters - initially confused as to who was who. We agreed some images described were hard to forget, and it was great to learn of WWII history we knew nothing about. |
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By: PUKEKO 004
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2023-03-01 13:04:14 |
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A very unusual read. Some liked the style of writing and others found it difficult to read. |
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By: CHCH 171
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2022-11-21 13:13:28 |
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We all enjoyed the book - couldn't put it down towards the end. Clever how the author combined the stories from people of so many countries. |
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By: MOTUE 004
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2022-10-21 09:39:48 |
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Well liked, easy to read. Interesting subject - would appeal to younger readers due to structure. Recommended for other groups. |
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By: CHCH 503
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2022-06-30 11:43:46 |
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An amazing read. The author put in a huge amount of research to make it so realistic. |
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By: TAUR 059
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2022-06-11 17:10:32 |
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Everyone enjoyed book, some found the format of short character chapters a bit off putting at the start. The four main characters drew us in, as did the support cast. Alfred particularly stood out as a character and was the most discussed of all. All felt the story moving and suspenseful but everyone felt they would have liked more character and historical depth. All shocked that we knew so little of this history and nothing of the maritime disaster at the end of the book. |
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By: AUCK 422
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2022-05-16 10:52:47 |
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Despite the horrific circumstances of the story, we found the book readable. It was an easy read - a slice of history that few of us were aware of. Well researched, authentic, and thought-provoking. |
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By: AUCK 122
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2022-05-05 16:50:05 |
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Great discussion as enjoyed by all. Very sad and topical. Well-written. |
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By: LOWER 007
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2022-02-08 10:14:04 |
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Gruelling and challenging, but well worth the perseverance. |
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By: CHCH 376
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2021-11-07 22:49:25 |
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While some of us initially struggled with balancing the various threads (not being sure exactly who "he" or "she" referred to in each main character's story), we all thoroughly loved the book - and were astounded (& maybe a bit ashamed) that we didn't know anything about the facts of this sinking and senseless loss of life before reading the book. |
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By: PAIHIA 003
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2021-11-01 14:38:34 |
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Really enjoyed the writing style, once we'd established who each character was. Fascinating account of little known WWII maritime history. |
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By: CHCH 194
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2021-10-30 20:27:27 |
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This was loved by most - but not all. The hidden personal stories of the characters were so slowly and skilfully revealed to each other and the reader. The plundering of Art treasures was a different focus for a war book. Once again, we all realised that we knew nothing about this particular disaster from the war. |
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By: WHITIAN 002
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2021-10-15 09:57:10 |
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Everyone loved this book, it was beautifully written. A compelling page-turner with well-developed characters. |
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By: CHCH 336
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2021-08-27 14:17:02 |
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Superb book. We didn't think this was young adult fiction. We liked the short paragraphs. Page turner. |
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By: NAP 005
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2021-08-08 17:54:00 |
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Some of our group enjoyed the book and had to keep reading to sort out the characters and see how it would end. Others (our group being mainly around that dreaded 70 years of age) found the book tough going! Very topical while the world is in the grip of Covid-19. Rating reflects the two extremes in views... |
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By: GREYT 001
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2021-08-02 11:57:50 |
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This book provided stimulating discussion about an almost unknown naval tragedy. Extremely easy to read. It is of course 'youth fiction', but well drawn characters gave us an insight to the horrors of war and its effect on civilians. We rated it highly. |
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By: AUCK 224
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2021-04-16 13:21:15 |
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Our group was stunned to learn about the civilian tragedy from the war. Even the one member who does not like war stories, read the whole book and found herself engrossed in the story. |
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By: MTMA 002
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2021-04-16 13:17:03 |
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Interesting, a story unknown by us (historically) and a nice way of writing it. Loved the "shoe poet" character. |
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By: AUCK 265
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2021-04-16 13:07:01 |
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We all loved this book as it brought to life as disaster we knew nothing about. Well-written and an interesting format. Gripping and a page turner. |
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By: AUCK 065
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2021-03-10 12:09:30 |
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We all loved this book. |
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By: TAUP 007
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2020-11-19 12:54:58 |
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The group thought that the content was interesting and an event that we had never heard of before, but the characterisation was poor. |
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By: MAPUA 001
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2020-10-30 13:28:54 |
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We had a great discussion about this book and it led on to issues of climate change and how that will impact on human behaviour. This led on to a discussion about what we can do in our own environment. |
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By: CHCH 125
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2020-10-30 13:25:13 |
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We enjoyed reading this book - although a sad topic, the fast paced short chapters made it an easy read. Very well researched. |
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By: MAST 004
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2020-10-28 12:45:17 |
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A well crafted story of an incident that none of the group had previously heard of. Well worth a read. |
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By: DUNBA 001
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2020-10-20 11:38:20 |
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We all loved this book. Not your usual 'war novel'. We enjoyed the style of writing with the short choppy chapters. It was a fascinating/traumatic period of history none of us knew about. |
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By: MATAM 006
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2020-08-26 13:44:55 |
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Beautifully written and easy to read. Some took a while to get into it but once they did, they couldn't put it down. The author dealt with the harsh reality of children and youth caught up in the tragedy of war really well. |
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By: PARAPA 001
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2020-07-09 14:29:05 |
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We all enjoyed the book. |
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