Traitor: A Novel of World War II

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I’m going to try to keep this spoiler free. The title is perfect for this book, in my opinion. It fits so many aspects of the novel, not just the betrayal mentioned in the book summary. And there was Comrade Lieutenant Maksym Rudenko, disgruntled battalion commander, the newest addition. Poland, 1944. After the Soviet liberation of Lwów from Germany, the city remains a battleground between resistance fighters and insurgent armies, its loyalties torn between Poland and Ukraine. Seventeen-year-old Tolya Korolenko is half Ukrainian, half Polish, and he joined the Soviet Red Army to keep himself alive and fed. When he not-quite-accidentally shoots his unit’s political officer in the street, he’s rescued by a squad of Ukrainian freedom fighters. They might have saved him, but Tolya doesn’t trust them. He especially doesn’t trust Solovey, the squad’s war-scarred young leader, who has plenty of secrets of his own. One of the main characters, and the first that we follow, is 17-year-old Tolya who has been conscripted into the Soviet Red Army, hiding the fact that he is half-Polish, half-Ukrainian. The exploration of this complicated ethnic identity becomes one of the threads woven through the book in a world where Poles and Ukrainians are engaging in ethnic warfare and Tolya is caught between two worlds. Not to mention an array of splintered factions and resistance groups, double-agents, differing priorities, and outside influences. It's messy, not the neat and clean narrative of the Western heroes versus the evil Nazi's. But I think it's a story worth telling and one we can learn from. During World War II, two young men find themselves caught in the crosshairs of various factions in the occupied Galician city known to Poles as Lwów and to Ukrainians as L’viv.

Traitor by Amanda McCrina book reviews | Goodreads Traitor by Amanda McCrina book reviews | Goodreads

Another example: I recently moved across the country and went from having about 800 books with me to a couple dozen, and I haven’t even cried about it. Yet. Fans of Wein’s Code Name Verity won’t want to miss this powerful story about the desperate actions we take in the name of loyalty and survival.”— The Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books Book Genre: Fiction, Historical, Historical Fiction, War, World War II, Young Adult, Young Adult Historical Fiction It is hard to write anything at all about the plot without giving major points away, so I will just say that it is quite twisty, and fascinating. The title, "Traitor," describes more than one person, for sure, but isn't a perfect characterization of anyone. Note: The author is my crit partner, and I had read an earlier version of this book. The finished version is a marvel, though often very hard to take. It details the experiences of two young men toward the beginning and toward the end of World War Two, in the disputed territory of Galicia, in and around the city of Lviv/Lwow. And--Bestselling author Elizabeth Wein describes Traitor as a piercing and bittersweet story of unflinching loyalty, and that is precisely what it is. During World War II, the territory in Eastern Europe known as Galicia was the scene of fierce, bloody fighting. Even before the war, there had been fighting between the Ukrainian and Polish people living in that part of Eastern Europe. These conflicts were ignited again in addition to the battles being fought against the German army and the Russian army as both forces fought for control of the area as well.

Traitor | Amanda McCrina | FSG Books for Young Readers

Traitor is a novel that takes place in WWII, following half Ukrainian and half Polish seventeen-year-old Tolya Korolenko. After shooting his unit’s political officer, he’s saved by Ukrainian freedom fighters, including squad leader Solovey. However, a betrayal sends them both running, and a traitor can be an enemy or savior, or both. Adolescent criminals seek the haul of a lifetime in a fantasyland at the beginning of its industrial age. I’m gonna chalk this up as a “it’s not you, it’s me” scenario. Because by all rights this should’ve been a great book—it starts off fast and doesn’t let up. It’s a compelling historical fiction about a time period/battle I don’t know much about. What remained, besides the rifle, was that Zampolit Petrov was dead, bleeding into two red puddles on the sidewalk. There are also a lot of twists in the novel, however, each twist is important, and I think it helps develop the story as a whole, rather than detracting from it. I was invested in the characters, and the twists that occurred made me even more curious about what would happen next. I think the dual POV really worked well too, which kept up the tension and my developing interest in the story.The setting is one I knew pretty much nothing about - the action takes place in the city of Lviv, which was then in Poland, and is now in Ukraine. And a great deal of the fighting is between Poles and Ukrainians - the addition of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia only make the long running conflict between these two groups more bitter. For me, the most grasping stories start with an interesting character and then injection of history, once you’re attached to the character. Stories that start with an action scene, like in this story, and bombardment of names that most of the English speaking people won’t be able to pronounce is not something I connect with. I need character development first. Fans of Wein’s Code Name Verity won’t want to miss this powerful story about the desperate actions we take in the name of loyalty and survival.” — The Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books As a writer, I tend to be attracted to characters who have both internal and external conflict going on. And for me, the easiest way to do that is to write a character who represents two different sides or two conflicting identities. So Tolya, my main character, is representative of the whole conflict in the novel [because he is] both Polish and Ukrainian. He’s a microcosm of this conflict that runs throughout the novel. So his identity crisis is the same identity crisis [that runs] through the book. If you miss curfew again, I’ll shoot you myself, and to hell with the zampolit. I’ll tell Comrade Colonel Sokolov it was an accidental discharge.”

Review: Traitor: A Novel of World War II by Amanda McCrina Review: Traitor: A Novel of World War II by Amanda McCrina

For example, even though I subsist off of candy and pizza, like a child with credit card access, I really am a big fan of brussels sprouts. The storyline moves along briskly and the reader must keep tabs on the various factions fighting for control of this country. I'd recommend reading the indexes and author's note at the end to give a better understanding of the characters' motivations and desires.Wow. Just wow. I will need days, weeks, maybe months for my heart to stop aching after Amanda McCrina’s Traitor. It’s that breathtaking and heartbreaking and brilliant.