by Julie Orringer, 2010, Kindle Edition, Random House LLC

I read this book while on vacation overseas when I had some long airplane flights to read it.  It is a long, long book (786 pages).  I think it would have taken me many more weeks if I hadn’t had the time to kill on the flights (the movie selections weren’t that great).

The book proceeds at a somewhat slow, but reasonable pace.  The author does a great job with the characters, particularly the main character, Andras, who, at the beginning of the book, is young and somewhat foolish.  Events transpire so that, by the end of the book, he has developed into an entirely different person.  The book starts out in Hungary prior to WWII and proceeds until the end of the war with devastating accuracy in accord with the actual history of the times.  The author did a great job in researching the events and places that surround the story and that is perhaps the most outstanding aspect of her writing.

The book does require some patience on the part of the reader, particularly in the first half of the book as the author sets the tone for the book.  I am glad that I read it and even somewhat happier that I finished it.