Holisssss!

Este libro habla sobre ficción histórica, no tengo nada mas que agregar mas que es un excelente libro que muestra la historia individual de una persona común dentro de conflictos bélicos, lo que nos hace tener una visión mas amplia de como nos impacta como civiles los problemas políticos a los que nos someten las autoridades.

Recomendado, aunque si te aviso, vas a sentir feito con algunos sucesos que se presentan dentro del ejemplar.

This book gripped me from the very first chapter.
This isn't something I would normally read but I ended up really enjoying it.

I so wanted to love this book, I am highly interested in anything written in this piece of history, however I did struggle to complete this novel.

I found the voice too young, to really appreciate the plot, as it oozes an older feeling, reading from a young view point really confuses the feel of the book.

I also feel as though the writing was battling with the characters and that the love we constantly see from Trudy for her grandfather, feels very forced.

I'm currently living in Germany although I'm originally from the United States, but my father was born in Germany. I have always had a strong connection to Germany and my grandparent's histories during the world (they were both in concentration camps.) So when I read the synopsis of this book and saw that it was on an internment camp for Germans in America during the war, I was intrigued. I had never heard of that before and knew I had to pick this book up.

Unfortunately, Who Are You, Trudy Herman? did not live up to expectations. This follows Trudy Herman as she goes from being a normal girl in Virginia to living in an internment camp for German-Americans during the war. Afterwards, her family moves to Mississippi and Trudy starts to see the discrimination prevalent in the world that she has previously been blind to.

The main interest to this book for me was the camp, but we only spend about a fourth of the book there and a lot is glossed over. This is also not a very long book, so I don't see why that couldn't have been the majority of the book. We quickly move on to Mississippi, where Trudy makes some friends, falls in love, and learns about racism for the first time. Really.

I just felt like this book had the potential to be great but fell so flat. Trudy was very bland and there were so many plot points that were just left to dangle at the end of the book. Where did Eddie go? Did he and Trudy ever connect? And what happens after the baby is born? There was so much of this book that felt rushed, or felt too slow, and it never got better. Also, the ending is quite abrupt. Something big happens, and yet we get no closure, the whole book is suddenly over.

This book felt like a bunch of ideas for a novel put together with some vague writing, and then called itself a novel. I was very disappointed, especially since I thought the premise was so interesting. Unless you're really intrigued, I'd give this a pass.

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Who Are You, Trudy Herman? -Book Review
APRIL 11, 2018 / SHEREADSREVIEWS / EDIT
Amazon Affiliate links used.

Who Are You, Trudy Herman?: A Novel by [Beck, B.E.]

As a little girl, Trudy Herman is taught to stand up for truth by her much-loved grandfather. Then in 1943, Trudy’s childhood drastically changes when her family is sent to a German-American Internment Camp in Texas. On the journey to the camp, Trudy meets Ruth, who tells her and her friend Eddie the legend of the Paladins—knights of Emperor Charlemagne who used magic gifted to them by the heavens to stand up for virtue and truth. Ruth insists both Trudy and Eddie will become modern-day Paladins—defenders of truth and justice—but Trudy’s experiences inside the camp soon convince her that she doesn’t have what it takes to be a knight.



After two years, her family is released from the camp and they move to Mississippi. Here, Trudy struggles to deal with injustice when she comes face to face with the ingrained bigotries of the local white residents and the abject poverty of the black citizens of Willow Bay. Then their black housekeeper—a woman Trudy has come to care for—finds herself in crisis, and Trudy faces a choice: look the other way, or become the person her grandfather and Ruth believed she could be?

My Thoughts:

This is a great coming of age story, where Trudy has to find out who she is and what she stands for. I loved the setting of the book. This is a great YA read.

Editorial Reviews
Review
“This novel offers a window into a lesser-known aspect of internment in WWII…When a regular girl confronts extraordinary challenges, this novel forcefully asks what it takes to stand up for what is right.”
―Booklist
“Trudy Herman’s struggle to survive adolescence and deal with the difficulties of injustice, cruelty, and self-doubt is a remarkable record of self-evolution. Her story is both engaging and revealing and the writer’s ability to capture Trudy’s conflicts and growth is remarkable. We all learn from her experiences.”

―Gloria Campbell, author of Just for Thought

“Who Are You, Trudy Herman? is a strong commentary on social injustice viewed through the eyes of a young, innocent girl. Shocked and terrorized by its existence and the shame not to find courage to confront it, Trudy must reach deep within herself to do what is right. B. E. Beck’s writing style and her ability to develop her characters makes this a must read.”

–Bruce Hansen author of ALPHA BLUE

“Confronting questions of inequality, injustice, and poverty, readers will ask themselves, ‘Who would I be?’ B.E. Beck explores America surrounding World War II, illuminating the story of a girl setting her moral compass. Trudy’s struggles leap off the page, relevant now more than ever.”
–Jennifer Rainman, Librarian

“Told with deep empathy, this tale illuminates a little-known but relevant aspect of U.S. history and deftly explores privilege and injustice in their many forms.”
―Kirkus Reviews

“Through Trudy Herman, B.E. Beck illustrates the toils and triumphs of looking absurdity, indifference to suffering, and condescension straight in eye, and in doing such, builds solidarity across racial, national, and cultural differences. It’s an insight into empathy, the relevance of which in many ways continues to define the United States today.”
–Kristin Gissberg, Ph.D German Philosophy, Berlin, Germany

About the Author:
B. E. Beck is an educator and writer. She taught at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, before moving to the Seattle College District. She is a member of Pacific Northwest Writers Association and is active in two writers’ groups. She and her husband live in the Seattle area.
Who Are You, Trudy Herman?: A Novel by [Beck, B.E.]

I was given this book in exchange for my honest review from Netgalley. All opinions stated above are my own.

I cannot get over how absolutely truly amazing this book was!!! It was so real and raw and it really makes you think. It’s showing an inside look at German internment camps that you wouldn’t think. Super heartbreaking, but worth the read.

I liked this book a lot, I had no idea about German internment camps. The first half of the book was fast paced and i was captivated. The camp seemed less violent than I would have presumed, save for one incident.

The second half of the book was also interesting, I liked the bulk of the characters, save for Charlene, Joe, a few others. I did struggle with the fact the overarching message seemed to be that Trudy could relate to the racism that Ellie Mae and the rest of the black Americans faced, because Germans were interned. I wonder if I would have rated this higher if it wasn’t for that sense of discomfort.

I had a hard time getting through this book. It was a little too Forest Gump-ish for my tastes.

DNF at 27%. Cover looks awesome, except...the main character is actually thirteen (that cover model looks at least 16) and the book reads like a newspaper article.

I didn't finish this one. The writing was just so disjointed and stilted, and I couldn't get into it.

Trudy Herman lives a very eventful life. When war breaks out and Trudy's father is harassed for his Germanic origins, her very normality crumbles. Their friends and community abandon the family, and Trudy and her parents are forced from their home. Eventually they're shipped out to a Texas concentration camp. After surviving the camps and the war, Trudy's family strives to blend back in again in a new location: the American South. Here Trudy finds herself witness to slavery-derived racial inequality. It killed me when she studied Japanese-American internment in school and got enraged by the exclusion of her own culture's treatment in the textbook. I really wish Trudy'd been given a chance to discuss that with a teacher or trusted grown-up.

I like the themes this book raises for kids about social justice, moral etiquette, and doing the right thing. But beyond that, what I really appreciate is the high regard with which Trudy approaches elderly characters - rooted in the close, warm relationship she shared with her maternal grandfather, and carried over with German Ruth who she befriended on the train journey to the camps. Trudy's superficiality and love of popularity is a bit of a thing for me, for example I didn't like her admiring somebody's lack of "a single freckle on her pixie face" or her "But they were popular, so I kept silent" as a justification, but for a teenage character I say Trudy sets a mighty fine example.

Who Are You, Trudy Herman?

A Novel

by B.E. Beck

She Writes Press

Historical Fiction , Teens & YA

Pub Date 08 May 2018

I am reviewing a copy of Who Are You Trudy Herman through She Writes Press and Netgalley:

Trudy Herman was taught to stand up for the truth by her Grandfather when she was a little girl. But everything changes in 1943 when her family is sent to a German-American interment camp in Texas. As they travel to the camp Trudy meets Ruth, Ruth tells Trudy and her friend Eddie about the legend of the Paladins , they were knights of emperor Charlemarge who used magic gifted them by the Heavens to stand for virtue and Church. Ruth tells Trudy and Eddie they will become modern day Paladins and defend truth and Justice. Trudy is soon convinced by her negative experiences in the camp that she does not have what it takes to be a knight, a Paladin.

When she witnesses her friend Lise being raped she feels helpless to change anything, but the event changes Lise.

Trudy’s family spends two years in the camp going back home to release they are no longer welcome so her Father gets a job in Minnesota and they move there. When Trudy comes face to face with the ingrained bigotries of the local white community and the extreme poverty of the Black Citizen of Willow Bay. After their black housekeeper Trudy had come to care for finds herself in a crisis, and Trudy faces a choice of either looking the other way or being the person he wants her to be.

I give Who Are You Trudy Herman five out of five stars!

Happy Reading