You Are My Sunshine (All My Love Detrick Book 2)

I love good historical novels, especially those about WWII. As a historian of this era, I am always intrigued about how the material is handled. You Are My Sunshine has a different twist on the traditional holocaust narrative. The three main stories revolve around issues often not covered. The three main female characters are a little different from your traditional young women in the 1930s Two are teens who have children out of wedlock and bear all the shame and humiliation of their behavior. The third character, a young woman of privilege and beauty is barren. The intertwining of their stories and the children offer a different point of view. Traditional ideals of motherhood are challenged and stretched to reveal what makes a family. The settings add a new dimension. The inclusion of the Lebensborn program, the Warsaw ghetto, and Treblinka concentration camp give a glimpse into a world not normally seen in books of this genre. You can't help but like Zofia, Christa, and Fruma. Kagan developed these characters so richly, you can visually see them. The men in the story don't receive such kind treatment. Manfred, the American teacher, the doctor, and even Issac are almost archetypes of male role models and lack real development in character.I enjoyed the story very much and flew through this novel of hardship,, love, terror, and hope. I give Kagan credit because some of the scenes are very graphic especially those dealing with the atrocities committed by Manfred and the Kapo. Having heaped all this wonderful praise, two main things bothered me through the book. First of all, where was the proof reader? If there is more than one German, Nazi, or American, they are Germans, Nazis, Americans. Instead, time and again, Kagan writes German's, Nazi's, American's. Please learn the difference between plurals and possessives. The other glaring problem in the book is when Zofia "notices" the Germans in Warsaw. Where the hell was she during the initial invasion? The Germans bombed Warsaw for days. The city was in chaos. So to have her realize something was wrong when she sees them marching in three weeks after the invasion is a bit unbelievable. The other factor that irritated me was the quarters in the ghetto. Who had a room all to themselves? People were packed in like rats and Kagan has the musician in an apartment alone. A little more research on life inside the ghetto might have helped.And never, never, never end the book the way this one ended. Don't leave your reader guessing like that all to sell the next book. That insulted my intelligence. Having said all this, I still enjoyed the book. It shows the importance of the spirit of hope and sacrifice in the face of horrible obstacles.

This book is one that will stick with me for weeks to come. The story was so moving and mesmerizing. I was drawn in from the first page.The story follows Zofia, a young Jewish girl. It also follows Manfred, a Nazi solider, and his wife, Christa. The two stories weave in and out of each others paths. It brilliantly shows the trauma and the victimization of the Jews and, even, the unsuspecting Nazi families.I loved the characterization. We were given vivid details of what each character looked liked and how they acted. The development of the characters was beautiful. Zofia had to learn to leave her childish ideals behind. Manfred went from a tender boy to a demon of a man. The book truly showed the way this horrible incident manipulated the most tender souls.With my minimal knowledge of the Holocaust, I feel that Kagan did a great job of bringing into the text knowledge of the history of the events. She brought in great details. She also managed to use her creative liberties in a way that didn't tarnish the pain that the people went through but made it relatable for those of us who didn't experience the events first hand.My only qualm with this book was the ending. (Warning: the rest of this paragraph has spoilers).We read through this entire text as Zofia had one thing after the next destroy her life and her future. She finally meets a man who loves and respects her and he is taken by the Nazis. Well, any reader would have expected that. Then, the last few pages a man starts to speak with her. Every reader hopes it is Isaac. But, the story just ends. We don't know who the man is. I was livid. I wanted to see one moment of happiness for Zofia and the rest of her hardships, but, no!Final Thoughts-I give this book a 4.5 out of 5. I loved the way that the author built a beautifully tragic world. This world was filled with traumas that the real world saw but many of us will never experience. I loved the way that the author was able to put these events into perspective.

I am having a really hard time getting through this book. The writing is very elementary, I wonder if it was written by a child? The conversations don't flow easily, they are too wordy, the characters are 1 dimensional, how can you get into the novel? I think this could be a very good book, I often wondered if it was written in another language and then crudely translated to English. I would not recommend it. I hate to not finish a book, but this one is just awful.

Wow what a great story this and we'll written, keeps you interested from start to finish. It's a sad story but with love and hope making it a fantastic story. I know it is fiction but it gives a possible insight in to those dark days of humanity that many wished never happened!Having worked in Israel myself I know how friendly and loving the people are and it's a shame not all people are the same!

I am not a regular reader,in fact I have only read a few books, once I started this one i could not put it down i read it over four days in the evening, sometimes till 1 o'clock in the morning now I've finished I will have a goodnights sleep, but no doubt the contents will be in my dreams it has tought me a lot about how these people suffered. Thank you for taking the time to write this fantastic book.

I think this is a really badly written book .....full of mundane ,stilted and unnecessary conversation ...unbelievable that anyone could think it was good . Characters have no depth so I find it hard to feel empathy with any of them . Have only read about half so far and will try to struggle on with it so that I can find the point of the novel . The plot seems to be ok it's just the prose I 'm finding hard to deal with.

A good read and whereas it flows beautifully most of the time it occasionally jarrs, not to mention an occasional chronological mishap. It does in the end leave you asking more questions than answers. Overall I liked this book and would recommend it especially to the far right groups everywhere but most especially in Europe and the USA.