Traitor: A Novel of World War II

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In that, it's a satisfying resolution, but one that grapples with the complexities of our identities -- for example, Tolya is half-Polish and half-Ukrainian and fought for the Russians. She was sitting very still now, her hands at her sides, her shoulders braced on the wall, one skinny leg splayed out and the other curled up awkwardly under her body.

Traitor: A Novel of World War II eBook : McCrina, Amanda

What he did know was that Comrade Lieutenant Rudenko could pick him up, twirl him around, and break him over a knee like a twig. She was small and sunburned and bareheaded, with a scattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks, and a short, stiff chestnut braid sticking out behind each ear. There are also a lot of characters, which with the afore-mentioned ethnicities and political parties, made it hard to remember whose side people were on, and the betrayals didn’t help matters. Even before the war, there had been fighting between the Ukrainian and Polish people living in that part of Eastern Europe. All that to say, Tolya is stuck in this world, between all these worlds and all the hate and all the machinations.It reminds us that during wartime our heroes can become villains; that our villains can become heroes. Amanda McCrina's war-torn, historical thriller PUSHES YOU OFF THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT as alliances twist and surprises loom. They must have seen Zampolit Petrov’s body because there was a split second’s silence—weapons being unslung and aimed—then a spray of submachine-gun fire.

Traitor - Macmillan Traitor - Macmillan

The two timelines and perspectives mean some important milestones and events happen off the page and that a few heartbreaking moments in 1941 are more fully explained in the 1944 timeline. McCrina ( Blood Oath) illuminates the recent history of Galicia, a much-fought-over region claimed by both Poles and Ukrainians and occupied alternately by Germans and Russians in the mid-20th century.

Bestselling author Elizabeth Wein describes Traitor as a piercing and bittersweet story of unflinching loyalty, and that is precisely what it is. I definitely think Traitor will resonate in this current climate we’re in, not just on the surface political level, but [because] there’s always a need for stories about people trying to do the right thing, even when their circumstances are horrendous. 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. Tolya Korolenko is half Ukrainian, half Polish, and he joined the Soviet Red Army to keep himself alive and fed.

Traitor: A Novel of World War II by Amanda McCrina | Goodreads Traitor: A Novel of World War II by Amanda McCrina | Goodreads

Readers will learn a great deal about World War II, particularly about conditions in Eastern Europe as both the German and then the Russian Army invade and occupy. Personally, my biggest issue was keeping track of all the characters and their different sides (German? An intricate depiction of a region whose complex history is likely to be unfamiliar to many in the United States. The writing is lovely - clean and simple, but with spot on descriptions that involve all the senses. There were old, yellowed timetables on the walls, and a dusty clock, with tall black Roman numerals and thin, scrolled black metal hands, that had run out one morning at 8:17.The split timeline was effective at enhancing the impact of several of the dramatic turning points as the reader has been given some of the backstory for the different characters that wouldn't have otherwise been known. From a writing perspective, I appreciate being able to witness the ways these actions changed the main character, while also witnessing the actions first hand. My biggest takeaway from Traitor: A Novel of World War II was that it felt more like narrative non-fiction than fiction.