“Each of us, in our own way, had tried to protect our children, as mothers were meant to do. But a mother could not protect her children from all pain. No matter how she might try. It was folly and those follies had led the whole world here, to these plains of suffering.”

So, I put off writing this review for a while because this book has left me with very mixed thoughts. Going into it, I thought I was really going to like it; it’s right up my alley in terms of retellings and and historical fiction type settings. Unfortunately, part one was a very big miss for me, a fact I blame on the book summary being too elaborative. The fact that it took the entirety of the first part to basically catch up with the book summary didn’t work for me. I like to read the journey as much as the next person, but for some reason, I found it deeply frustrating with this book.

I think, in part, that was worsened by the structure of this book. Jumping around the timeline, while interesting, I fear, made it both confusing and less compelling. I found myself getting annoyed with parts 2 and 3 for their lack of continuity and linear structure in a story that I could see lending itself to it.

However, I actually really liked the last part of this book. Yes, there are way too many men. Yes, it’s a slow build to the war and the build is necessary to understand how it came to be, but I think I actually would have found it more interesting if we had lived within the war and after it for longer. The character work was stronger. The connections and intrigue beneath and surrounding the circumstances was more interesting.

I don’t know. I don’t have a concise way to sum up my feelings and no concise way to really write this review. I guess what I’m trying to say is, it’s worse than I hoped it would be, but better than I thought it was going to be when I was at my most annoyed with it, which makes it impossible for me to recommend to anyone else which is a shame. I’m always looking to broaden my reading away from Europe/Euro-centric stories, and this one just didn’t hit the way I’d hoped for me.

So, anyway, I guess what I really learned is: Annie— yes the musical—isn’t a good source of information re: Herbert Hoover.

I am joking, I promise; what I’m really saying is ‘We’d Like to Thank You Herber Hoover’ always starts playing in my head when he comes up but I didn’t actually know that much about him.

What I knew—or rather, had been taught—is that FDR fixed things re: public works projects like the TVA and financial reforms while Herbert Hoover was the guy sitting in the White House who let all this happen.

What I have since learned is that the 1929 crash was a slow build over time with lots of people at fault—and plenty of selfish greed at play—and an equal number of people, including Herbert Hoover (albeit belatedly in his case) who really did try not to allow the stock market to spiral the country into a full scale Economic Depression.

Fascinating learning. I docked half a star because I sometimes got lost in the financial jargon. Maybe thats just a me problem since I just wrote this review referencing ‘Annie’ but… them’s the cards.