The War I Finally Won by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The War I Finally Won is a continuation of the story set forth in The War that Saved My Life. Ada, Susan, and Jamie have moved into a cottage. The story picks up in the middle of WWII and they end up having a girl, who is Jewish and from Germany, to live with them. It adds to topics that were established with the first book and touches on a few more such as religion and bigotry. This is a story of loss, connection, love, and reconnection. Ada had to deal with her emotions and she gets help from those that surround her, including from unexpected places. I knew what I was getting into this one, so I was a little more prepared to deal with Ada and her issues bothering me. I forced myself to understand where she was coming from and I tried not to let her irritate me too much. It was tough because she was frustrating and exhausting. I don’t have kids and I am not sure if I ever will and so her inability to understand and her attitude was foreign to me. In theory and logically I get it but, in the moment, I didn’t like her. I loved how on the second page it mentions the two different wars that were being fought in the novel. I liked the play on words. There were also plenty of good lessons and messages throughout that Kimberly Brubaker Bradley did a great job integrating. Some of them involve when you are going through a tough time, the only way to approach it is to keep going, straight through as well as to not judge someone based solely on where they came from. There were also plenty of funny moments including a German invasion reference and sad, teary moments talking about coming undone. I say overall I liked this one better than the first one because I was able to prepare myself for Ada, Jamie wasn’t as grating, and I felt there were more emotional situations. It also felt heartwarming and like a big hug at moments. It is a good duology and I can totally understand the appeal. It talks about adult things and blends it well from a kid’s perspective. I don’t think I am a huge fan of books geared towards a younger audience in general, so I take that into consideration as well.
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