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Rating:  - Okay plot--certainly not well-written
I really had a hard time getting through this book and forced myself to complete it because it was my book club's selection. I could have put it down for good at any point and not have given it a second thought.
For me, the contrived plot, with its inaccurate history, was not enough. I enjoy a well-written book which this was not. It was totally bloated-- almost 800 pages. Although periodically Piercy included a metaphor that would sing, I had to wade through sentences full of unnecessary anecdotal phrases that added nothing to the plot or character development. It could easily have been trimmed to 450-500 pages and still had the same impact.
There is nothing subtle or literary about this book, including the poor grammar. As I read, in my mind I had my editor's pen at the ready deleting superfluous text constantly. Is there some rule that no noun can stand alone? Must they all have at least one adjective?
Rating:  - Great read; unforgettable characters
I've read and reread this book so often, the cover is falling off. Like Piercy's book "Summer People", the chapters are narrated by different characters, and Piercy makes them all come to life, though some are weaker and less interesting than others. As the characters are drawn into the war in various ways, the reader follows them to the mean streets of Detroit, Paris in the early days of the Occupation, camps of the French Resistance, the Pacific theatre, WAC training bases, the offices of Washington cryptanalysts, bombed-out London, Auschwitz, Berlin, and more. If it weren't so well-executed, it would run the risk of being a transAtlantic soap opera; instead, it's an ambitious and gripping saga of lives changed by the vagaries of war, and history changed by the "bit players" who stood up to be counted. This is a great book to read with your best friends -- you'll want to talk about it as you go along!
Rating: - Read it!
I have read every Marge Piercy book and there is something about the way she writes that draws you in like you're there in the story with these people that you know: they are your neighbors, mothers, brothers, sisters and friends. That feeling never fails, no matter what book of hers your reading. The same applies to this book. It is an unusual perspective of WWII that I've never heard before. I understood a World, A war, and a cause (feminism) like I never did before after reading this book. While this review may seem vague to you, the bottom line is just read the book. Whoever you are, you're at least going to enjoy it, if not absolutely love it!
Rating: - Fabulous Reading
This is a truly great book. It is the first Marge Piercy book I've read, and I enjoyed it/learned from it/was sad that it had to end. The kind of book during which you welcome insomnia so that you have an excuse to read it in the middle of the night. I particularly liked the interweaving of the lives of the characters. I'm not a historian, so I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the book (which seemed to frustrate other reviewers), but I did not read the book to learn about WWII history, and I believe I got a pretty good sense of the period of history from the book.
Rating: - A "Desert Island" book
I would want this book with me on a desert island. The characters are so vivid, I was so connected with them, and I learned so much about World War II from such a personal viewpoint. Ms.Piercy's research was very detailed. I could re-read this book over and over & still learn something new. To be cliche - I cried, I laughed, I screamed..... there are few books written in the last 20 years that I would recommend as highly.
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