Not as good as I hoped it would be.
I read this book hoping to get a good historical fiction point of view on the detaining of young women during World War One for having social diseases. I was quite disappointed with what I did get. Mostly, because I'm still not sure what it is I just read.
The book follows a young Jewish girl named Freida, who finds herself in one of these camps after making several foolish decisions in pursuit of a young soldier.
Freida's bad decisions never end. She always makes the wrong move and never is looking out for her best interests.
The real characters are the supporting ones. The ensemble cast is confident of who they are. Freida never knows who she is really or what she is in search of.
And when I say never, I mean never. The book has a very blase ending. Neither happy nor sad nor tragic. It feels more like a deliberate attempt to end the book then a smooth transition to the end of our time with Freida.
This book is of below average quality for historical fiction. The supporting characters and situations are all that saves it from being poor.
