The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer

 

What is your favorite genre to read?  My favorite genre is historical fiction.  We recently read The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer in my Rogue (FLICKS) Book Club.

The Things We Cannot Say is a dual novel set in WWII era Poland and contemporary Florida. Alina Dziak is engaged to her childhood sweetheart Tomasz.  While he is away at college, the Nazis invade and take overtake their small Polish village.  Will she survive and will she be able to find Tomasz?  Alice is a stay-at-home Mom in modern day Florida, busy taking care of her autistic son and brilliant daughter.  When her dying grandmother asks her to find answers to her questions from the past, Alina travels to Poland.  Will she be able to find the answers her grandmother seeks?

This was an engaging novel.  I especially liked Alina’s story.  I did not know much about how people were treated by the Nazis in a conquered Poland.  I had a harder time with Alice’s story at first as she seemed like she was being a martyr.  Only she could take care of the kids and she was obsessed with how life wasn’t fair that she chose to not have a career to take care of her kids.  I was concerned that her husband didn’t know how to take care of their kids.  Really?  It seemed like a dysfunctional marriage, but luckily, they are able to pull through it and it made me enjoy the novel more.   I liked figuring out the mystery of Alice’s grandma’s past, although some of it didn’t quite make sense to me (really – you would wait until you are in your nineties to find out answers?).  While I enjoy WWII books, I think I’m experiencing a bit of burn out reading them and need to read about some other time periods.  I did really enjoy the author’s note at the end of the novel that included pictures of the author visiting her grandmother’s village in Poland.

Favorite Quotes:

“Hatred spreads—it doesn’t burn out with time. Someone needs to stand up and stop it.”

“To destabilize a group of people is not at all difficult, not if you are willing to be cruel enough.”

“Life has a way of reminding you that you are at the mercy of chance, and that even well-thought-out plans can turn to chaos in an instant.”

“Our family life is never going to be easy, but that can’t stop any one of us from reaching for our dreams.”

Overall, The Things We Cannot Say is an engaging WWII novel set in Poland.

Book Source:  Checked out from the Kewaunee Library.  Thank-you!