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A review by roseleaf24
Postcards from No Man's Land by Aidan Chambers
1.0
Medal Winner 2003
Uncertain sexuality, polyamory, adultery, assisted death, AND a World War II story. How could this not win awards? *sigh* This definitely falls into the "not my thing" category, but the "not my thing" was so overwhelming that I find it hard to evaluate it free of that. I appreciate literature that asks me to get out of my comfort zone and stretch my understanding of the world, but this book gave me no comfort zone whatsoever, and no relief from the stretching. The two and a half page sermon about why euthanasia is a good thing, even though people are sad about it, and how teenagers should have written documents about what circumstances they would rather be dead in, took this from two or three stars to the one star.
Marriages can last a lifetime happily, not because people find it easy to stay in love forever but because love and commitments are choices to be made over and over again.
Most people don't have any control over when or how they die. It's not a right.
World War II is an incredibly story-worthy event, however, using it as the counterpoint to every current social issue imaginable feels emotionally manipulative.
I realize I bring a bias to the story, but aside from that bias, the alternating viewpoints had mixed results for me. The World War II chapters carried the momentum of the story, but going from 1st person in the past to 3rd person in the present was repeatedly confusing to me, especially since the present was so introspective, and the main character of that storyline shared a name with the main character of the World War II storyline.
Uncertain sexuality, polyamory, adultery, assisted death, AND a World War II story. How could this not win awards? *sigh* This definitely falls into the "not my thing" category, but the "not my thing" was so overwhelming that I find it hard to evaluate it free of that. I appreciate literature that asks me to get out of my comfort zone and stretch my understanding of the world, but this book gave me no comfort zone whatsoever, and no relief from the stretching. The two and a half page sermon about why euthanasia is a good thing, even though people are sad about it, and how teenagers should have written documents about what circumstances they would rather be dead in, took this from two or three stars to the one star.
Marriages can last a lifetime happily, not because people find it easy to stay in love forever but because love and commitments are choices to be made over and over again.
Most people don't have any control over when or how they die. It's not a right.
World War II is an incredibly story-worthy event, however, using it as the counterpoint to every current social issue imaginable feels emotionally manipulative.
I realize I bring a bias to the story, but aside from that bias, the alternating viewpoints had mixed results for me. The World War II chapters carried the momentum of the story, but going from 1st person in the past to 3rd person in the present was repeatedly confusing to me, especially since the present was so introspective, and the main character of that storyline shared a name with the main character of the World War II storyline.