Reviews for Other Way Round

The average rating for Other Way Round based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-07-22 00:00:00 Leslie Ross Reading this as a buddy read with Lisa Vegan and Gundula was hugely enjoyable. This is an ideal book for a buddy read, discussing each day the 4 chapters we had read. This second book in the Out of the Hitler Time trilogy follows Anna, Max and their parents as they begin life in England following their escape from Berlin before the start of WWII. There is a three year gap from the end of When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit and we join Anna and Max as young adults. Sadly this book has no illustrations, probably due to the fact this is a young adult book. I think that illustrations would have been appropriate for this story, particularly as it is following the start Anna's art career. I would really like to have seen some drawings, particularly the ones the story mentions. Max has won a scholarship to Cambridge and Anna has discovered her talent for drawing in an evening class. When the war continues and the blitz begins the situation gets worse for Anna's family. Max faces problems due to having been born in Germany, Mama and Papa struggle to pay the rent and Anna has troubles with an unethical but probably quite typical of the time art tutor. As the title suggests for this family things are now the other way round. In the first book which covers Anna and Max's childhood, they were happy as long as they were with their parents. Now they are happy in England, they are beginning new lives but their parents feel out of place and need Anna and Max to feel content and complete. As the first book, when Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, was a childhood favourite of mine I was worried I would be dissapointed by the sequel but I am pleased to say it is a worthy follow up and a interesting look into life during WWII London and a family's attempts to build a new life it yet another country. Read on openlibrary

Review # 2 was written on 2019-07-22 00:00:00 Heather Wright This is the second book in an autobiographical novels trilogy that started with When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. I was so worried that I would not like this book the way I did the first but I really enjoyed it. I’m still worried about the third book but want to read it. It was lovely getting acquainted again with Anna, her brother Max, her mother and her father, and many new interesting characters. I read this book as a buddy read with Hilary and Gundula. It’s a great buddy read book. Hilary and I particularly enjoyed and benefited reading chapters at close to the same times and discussing things every two chapters. This author writes so well, and is a great storyteller, and skilled at getting into and describing characters, and also places and experiences and situations. I felt as though I was really there as I read. It was so infuriating the way Max and Anna were treated because they were born in Germany and not England, especially given that they were Jewish, left in 1933, and their father being an anti-Nazi writer. They’re both so talented and smart and skilled. I know this prejudice was a common problem though. This book made me want to learn more and many times I looked up the Blitz and streets and landmarks and buildings and sites when they were mentioned. Unlike the first book, a children’s book, this it did veer into young adult territory. I will say there is one character I disliked intensely, even though there ended up being one sort of redeeming thing about them. I loved Anna’s art commission and wish there had been illustrations of her drawings at least. I do think that even though this is ya and the first book was children’s that the charming pen and ink illustrations in the first book would have added something here, especially since Anna is an artists and her drawings are often mentioned. The book was fine sans pictures but I think would have been even better with them included throughout this second book. So much was touching. For some reason the couple times I was near tears at times, its seemed to usually be around scenes with Papa, with Anna and Papa. I feel the reader gets an accurate sense, as in the first book, of what it would feel like to be a refugee, and in now the family is in their fourth country (Germany to Switzerland, to France, and now in England) and also how much easier it is for young vs. older people to learn new languages, adapt to new cultures and circumstances, etc. I also got a good sense of how it would feel to have privations of food and to live in near poverty and have those worries, to fear the bombings, and just to live with the uncertainty that is war. Despite all these characters go through I often thought of those who did not escape Nazi occupied Europe in time, and could sort of understand how these characters seemed to accept their hardships. They too knew the alternative. I loved the story, the characters and found this to be a fine sequel. I hope I’ll feel as positively about book 3. From what little description I’ve seen of it, each book has great differences from the others. This book has two titles. The other is Bombs on Aunt Dainty. It was interesting to get to the part in the book that made clear why the other title exists, but I think The Other Way Round title is most fitting for this second book. I read a 1975 edition from Open Library. Thank goodness for that site. It often has books that seem impossible to get otherwise, at least not for free. four and a half stars