Book Thoughts: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
““Men tell stories. Women get on with it...We did what we had to during the war, and when it was over, we picked up the pieces and started our lives over.” ”
I read this book in January, and almost immediately, I decided that this was going to be one of my favorite reads of 2019. I simply have not encountered a book like this ever before. I read it over the span of a couple weeks, as opposed to my usual preferred method of reading: in one sitting, or over the span of a couple days.
The Nightingale follows two women during the course of World War II. Vianne Mauriac, one of the protagonists, lives in a small village in France. It soon falls under Nazi control, and she must learn how to navigate life underneath their ever-watchful eyes. Her younger sister, Isabelle, is the complete opposite of Vivanne: passionate where Vivanne is reserved, outspoken when Vivanne holds her tongue. The reader is introduced to Isabelle as she is forced to flee Paris, where she meets an interesting man: Gaetan. They develop a companionship, yet he betrays her after a short while. Instead of becoming a shell of herself, Isabelle’s strength is apparent: soon after, she finds any way she can to fight the Nazi regime.
I don’t want to give away any more of the premise than is on the back of the book, since for me, much of the magic of this story came from how little had been revealed by the synopsis. However, from the start of the story, it’s readily apparent how much the book focuses on women and their relationships. For this reason, the story stood out to me as something different than anything else I’ve read before. It examines the love, strength, and vulnerability that these women possess, which is rare for any book, let alone a book that takes place in wartime. The story shows how much Vivanne sacrifices as a mother, but how she still struggles to connect with her sister. Isabelle shows a different kind of strength, bold and rash, but yet, underneath all her bravado, craves to be loved by the very people that had abandoned her for all her life. These people are given their own fully fledged characters and sense of humanity in such a cruel, rough world, and I really appreciated that.
The novel also introduces levels of nuance in each character. The book explores how someone’s kindness doesn’t negate their evil actions, but yet, basic levels of humanity make it hard to completely put someone in a box of “good” or “evil.” This is an aspect of the book I immensely appreciated: each character was fleshed out, in the sense that it didn’t rely on preconceived notions of what to expect from certain characters.
It also did a terrific job of showcasing women’s strength, which I cannot emphasize enough. On top of all the horrors these two characters face, both individually and together, the writing portrays the societal expectations that are already placed on them because of their gender and their appearances, and how they navigate that. It is so rare to see female heroines able to exist on the full human spectrum, where they are allowed to love and be loved without that defining them, able to be scared but accomplish unimaginable feats, vulnerable and loving, lashing out and retreating into themselves.
It’s hard to talk about this book without giving much away, but I cannot recommend this book enough. It’s definitely a must-read book, and I hope you pick this up and immerse yourself in this wonderful, gut-wrenching story.
Completely unrelated, sorry for the lack of reviews on the blog itself lately. I’ve been writing more mini reviews on my book Instagram (thank you for 1k followers, by the way!), and for most reads, I didn’t have much more to add. I will be better at this though!
Rating: 5/5
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Release Date: February 3, 2015
