Not compelling to me. Why was a fragrance described at the beginning of scenes? ( )

Hannah y Leo Martín, su mejor amigo, sellan un pacto: pase lo que pase, ambos compartirán un mismo futuro. La próxima partida del transatlántico St. Louis con rumbo a Cuba les proporcionará una chispa de esperanza. Tras una ardua gestión para obtener visados, los Rosenthal y los Martin se embarcan en la lujosa nave con destino a La Habana. La vida a bordo del St. Louis se asemeja a unas vacaciones surrealistas para esos refugiados, pero los rumores inquietantes desde Cuba no tardan en ensombrecer el ambiente festivo, y la nave que prometía ser su salvación parece a punto de convertirse en su sentencia de muerte.
Hannah y Leo se ven enfrentados a una decisión desgarradora... Siete décadas después, en la ciudad de Nueva York, el día que cumple doce años, Anna Rosen recibe un paquete de Hannah, una tía abuela a la que nunca conoció pero que crió a su difunto padre. En un intento de reconstruir el misterioso pasado de su padre, Anna y su madre viajan a La Habana para reunirse con la anciana.

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I'll give this 3.5 stars, and round up for educational value.

As you might expect, this was a pretty sad book in many ways, because it is the story of a Jewish family in Germany in the late 30s on. But it's not your usual story of Nazis and the Holocaust, but it's mainly a story about the effect on people in the early days before the war as this family goes from being a well-off, well-respected family to personae non gratae, referred to as "worms", etc. They see what's happening and decide to get out while they still can, although it becomes very hard to do.

But, after giving up most of their possessions, they get visas for the US via Cuba, book passage on a large ocean liner, and even help another family escape. They barely make it out, but finally they, along with about 900 other people, are on the way to Cuba, thinking they are safe. But when they get there, the rules change, and neither Cuba nor the US are willing to take them. These countries are afraid to antagonize Germany. A few people are allowed to leave, but most are forced to go back to Europe. This is based on a true story, something I didn't know anything about. The ship really was turned back. Perhaps because it was so shameful is the reason I never heard about it.

The story tells about the life in Cuba from the perspective of a young 11 year old girl, Hanna. There is a parallel story in modern times from the perspective of another young girl about the same age, named Anna, named after Hanna.

I thought the story got pretty boring, and was too long for my tastes, but I plodded on through out of curiosity more than anything else. It was an interesting story, and educational, so I thought it would be worth it. I probably should learn to skim over books like this when they get boring.
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The German Girl feels like one of the most important books I have read this year. First, you get a history lesson. Saint Louis voyage from Berlin to Cuba was not something I knew anything about and if I have read about the voyage when I was younger and studied, is that nothing I remember today. But it's so more than just a history lesson. I got a terrible feeling that what happened to St. Louis in 1939 could just as well happen today. That today's refugees would be treated in the same way by nations.

The German Girl is a gripping and deeply tragic book. Hannah and Anna's different life stories fascinated me. Both have gone through tragedies. Anna never got to know her father and I remember how I slowly began to realize what had happened to him, what became his destiny, why he never came home. For Hannah, her entire life has been a tragedy since she was little and had to escape from Berlin to the years in Cuba. Cuba, a haven that ultimately took away people in Hannah's life that meant a lot to her.

I will round up this review by saying that the German Girl is a beautifully written book about violations but also about family, friendship and love. And even about hope...

Thanks to Louise Bäckelin Förlag for the review copy! ( )