Review: The Nine
The Nine: The True Story of a Band of Women Who Survived the Worst of Nazi Germany
Gwen Strauss
Synopsis: The true story of nine women who were imprisoned for working with the Resistance and, together, escaped during a death march near the end of the war.
Rating: R
SENSITIVITY WARNINGS: Sexual violence, physical abuse, child abuse, infant loss, descriptions of war
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know this is NOT my first Holocaust book, fiction or non-fiction. Every time I think I have some kind of handle on just how awful people in concentration camps were treated, I learn something else that just takes my breath away.
The Nine is not for the faint of heart. It is a book that will stay with you even after you’ve finished it. Some of the events described in the book made me sick to my stomach. It never ceases to amaze me how much a person can actually survive. The bulk of the story is about their escape, and how they made their way out of Germany. While the book does describe the hardships the women faced in the camp, I was grateful the author found
ways to balance the darker parts of the story with some positivity.
The only thing I really took issue with was the way the book is formatted. I felt like it jumped around quite a bit between how the women ended up arrested, their time in the camps, the escape, and even to present day where the author discusses her experiences writing the book. I am willing to concede that part of my confusion with this may be because I was listening on audiobook. While I got confused several times about which timeline the story was in, I wonder if in the print book there would have been breaks in print to show the change of timeline. (Side note: I REALLY enjoyed the woman who narrated the audiobook. She did a FANTASTIC job!)
If you are interested in WWII history, I strongly recommend this one! It’s such an interesting story! Definitely be prepared though, because it will absolutely break your heart. But. It will also having you rooting them on, crying for them, and cheering for them. Be sure to check it out!