The Last Year Of The War by Susan Meissner @BerkleyPub #BookReview #BookBloggers #travelingsisterreads #askthetravelingsistersaboutourreads #askusaboutourbook

One book, two sisters, and different opinions.

The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissneris now available

A German- American girl, a Japanese-American girl, an American internment camp, and an empowering friendship.

The Last Year of the War explores a dark and overlooked part of US history that I didn’t know anything about.  Told through vivid historical details we learn the fear and pain of a family sent to an American internment camp. We are told how they lost their freedom and identity and one girl’s fight to gain it back.

I really appreciated the historical details here however it felt more like we were being told the devastating events and hardship that changed the lives of innocent Americans. I wanted to be shown and be emerged into their hardship instead I struggled with emotionally connecting to the characters and the story.   I felt that this was an important story to be told and I am really glad I read it or I wouldn’t of known about this part of history. I recommend but to keep in mind you might not get that emotional connection you might be looking for.

Compelling, meticulously detailed & affecting!

THE LAST YEAR OF THE WAR by SUSAN MEISSNER is an interesting, thought-provoking and a touching historical fiction novel that explored a topic that I have not previously read before. To be honest I wasn’t even really aware of this heartbreaking part of history where innocent American families were sent to internment camps during World War II. I definitely learned something and for that I was quite intrigued and taken with this book. 

SUSAN MEISSNER delivers an important, beautifully written and slow-moving read here that at times was a little tedious to read but not to the point that I was overly bored though. More that some of the details went right over my head. I wouldn’t necessarily say that I felt a true connection to these characters but I did feel a connection to the storyline in general though which definitely held my interest and attention throughout.

I totally enjoyed how Elise’s unlikely friendship and the bond she shared with Mariko got her through an extremely difficult time and shaped her to be a strong, resilient and brave young girl and woman in the future. We learn at the beginning of the book that Elise suffers from Alzheimer’s and I particularly enjoyed that she gave her disease a name. I thought that was pretty ingenious and would have liked that explored a little more as I found that quite intriguing. 

Norma’s Stats:
Cover: An appealing, emotive and fitting representation to storyline. 
Title: Intriguing, interesting, emotive and an effective representation to storyline. 
Writing/Prose: Beautifully written, meticulous, engaging and thoroughly enjoyed. 
Plot: Detailed, well-researched, interesting, thought-provoking, leisurely-paced, and entertaining.
Ending: A touching ending that I was totally satisfied and happy with. 
Overall: This novel didn’t necessarily give me all the “feels” but it did give me enough to make this was a satisfying and enjoyable read. Would recommend!

Thank you so much to Elisha at Berkley Publishing and Susan Meissner for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.

Have you read this one? Want to read it? Drop us a comment! We would love to hear from you!