Eva's Story

I picked up Eva's Story randomly a few days ago. I liked the front cover :)(I love Edvard Munch). I'm also a student of WWII and the holocaust. At first I thought Eva was the most depressing, depressed character I had ever met. The author describes her well as someone who has gone through life unflinching, uncaring, in servitude to her family and her farm. I was irritated with the character for being such a dependent creature, but I had to remind myself that she was living on a farm in Germany in 1936!! The transformation of Eva is rejuvenating and interesting. I would say the middle and the end of the story are its most interesting and compelling parts. I enjoyed seeing Eva using her brain and waking up from the dead stupor she had been living in for so long.

I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Cirino in person at the bookstore where she was signing copies. Because I am a student of German, I was intrigued by the description of the story, and decided to take a chance. It was worth it. Although the book is not perfect, it is ultimately a satisfying read. The major qualm I had was that at times, the dialogue seemed rather unrealistic; all the characters seemed to speak in Eva's voice. Also, there was a lot of weird punctuation: In places where there should be semi-colons, there were a lot of commas. I'm sure I'm probably the only person in America who would notice or care, but anyway that's something I noticed. It had the effect, in places, of lessening the power of the work, which is a shame because it is a powerful, fine book. it is not so much the tale of a "forbidden" romance as it is the story of change in one woman's life: a woman who came from generations of people who experienced little change. Nathanael and "Mary" are really simply catalysts for this woman's self-discovery, and it is a rare find. In conclusion, although this book is not perfect, it works, and is a worthwhile and entertaining and poignant read. I encourage everyone to discover Eva's Story....they might just discover an interesting part of their own.