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The Ventriloquists

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Member Reviews

I wanted so badly to like this one, but unfortunately it wasn’t for me. I found the beginning to be confusing. I had to reread the first 15% of the book several times to figure out what was going on. Ultimately, the writing style just didn’t work for me. The writing didn’t flow well in my opinion. I also wasn’t as invested in the characters as I wanted to be. Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this one. I’m sure others will like it more than I did.

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A young woman named Eliza, knocks on the door of an old woman living in Engheim in Brussels. At first, the old lady won’t let her in, and then Eliza mentions a name. A name the old woman had only ever heard in another life.

Through Eliza and her notebook, Gamin is transported back to wartime Brussels, where he is an orphan at eight and a successful criminal, pickpocket and soldier for the Resistance at age twelve.

Gamin tells Eliza, bit by bit, of the most splendid farce ever committed against the Germans. The greatest joke ever played. Gamin and his sidekicks – The Lost Boys and Peter Pan, never grew up. If they had, Le Faux Soir probably would never have happened. I’m glad they didn’t because Belgium laughed. Sixty thousand people laughed then, a lot more are laughing now.

It was dazzling. A ventriloquist sat with a puppet on her knee, her face told one story, while the puppet told another. It was a simple story. Ordinary people living in horrendous, times that made them become magnificent or appalling.

And, she has skills, there are many parts of RAMZIPOOR’s book that I’m going to quote, they are timeless and exquisite, expressing slices of life, love and everything else in easy to grasp, yet poetic perfection. (And poetic punctuation perfection.)

I was captivated from the first page, and not freed from my captivity until I had read the author’s note. To conceive a story so singular is in itself a mark of a talented author. To read a story so singular from all the others about WWII, and then breathe life back in to it, that is the mark of a gastromancer. Thank you MS RAMZIPOOR for not letting Le Faux Soir be a footnote in history. Now it has a paragraph (at least), on a page.

I loved every character; I forgave Professor Victor, heck I came close to granting Wolff another chance to prove his humanity. I laughed. I laughed at the humor, I laughed at the satire, and I laughed and cried at the many ironies.

There is a war going on, but this is not about war, this is about people. RAMZIPOOR has a tremendous story telling gift, she draws the reader into a picture colored with her words, a picture that looks like an old photo, except you can still smell the people in the photo, you can still hear them, and if you reach out, you can touch them. There is enough vagueness about the realities of war, that one is not blunted by that fact, so much so - that nothing else matters.

In the years following the war, the Resistance has for the most part been romanticized, thank you MS RAMZIPOOR for reminding me that there is nothing romantic about burning yellow cloth stars at the bottom of your garden. Thank you for reminding me what a real hero is: Not a general, just you being a bigger hero than your neighbor is. (Perhaps that gratitude should be directed at Marc Aubrion)

I like the idea that one can find a flower even on a garbage heap, but then I look at YouTube videos of POW’s being released from the Hanoi Hilton and I know for certain, that flower is only an illusion.

As a literary piece, this book deserves 5 stars. It was written with Peter Citizen in mind, but hidden under layers of entertaining story is a novel full of metaphor and contrast, with excellent sequencing and superb dialogue, with more than enough on each page to entertain an academic (and they say kids are getting dumber!) Plot progression at the end was the only thing that upset me.

I must end this with a quote from the book. “It is not enough to say that Aubrion merely smiled at me, for while that is accurate, it is not true. Aubrion smiled at me, yes, but like he knew me, all of me – the parts that hurt, the bits that faltered, the things that were laughable or strange, the patches that tried valiantly to cover the scars. If that is what it means to smile, so be it, but I will never see another smile as long as I am alive.”

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The year was 1943. Gruppenfuhrer August Wolff headed the Ministry of Perception Management administered by the Gestapo. Wolff, Germany's book burning crusader, was primarily involved in Black Propaganda. "Propaganda is 'black' if it is supposedly from one side, but is actually from the other." The citizenry of the city of Brussels was dispirited. "When the Nazis invaded Belgium taking our printing presses, our radios, our books...they took our words and thoughts, too..." Le Soir, arguably Belgium's most important newspaper, was turned into "a cheap propaganda machine".

The Front de l'Independance (FI) was a resistance organization that published the infamous La Libre Belgique. The Belgians and the Germans ultimately wanted the same thing, "to sway the public". Before the war, Marc Aubrion was a theater critic and playwright who also wrote newspaper articles. Aubrion, a gifted linguist, used puns and jokes in his writing to entertain and create hope for the downtrodden Belgians.

La Libre Belgique newspaper, published by the FI, was on Gruppenfurer Wolff's radar. Targeting and arresting Aubrion and several of his cohorts, he gave them the choice of death or the impossible task of creating and distributing Le Soir. He demanded that they make it a large propaganda bomb. "...turn all of Europe against the Allies". The Front de l'Independance, with director Rene Noel at the helm and principal writer Marc Aubrion had a plan of their own. Aided by smugglers, saboteurs, counterfeiters, printers, judges and a pyromaniac street urchin, they were determined to produce Le Faux Soir, a four page satire to be distributed at newsstands in lieu of Le Soir. They must raise funds to supplement Wolff's piddly budget offering and comply with his firm publishing deadline of 18 days.

"The Ventriloquists" by E.R. Ramzipoor is an amazing work of historical fiction with a cast of well defined characters. Author notes reveal that Marc Aubrion was indeed the writer of much of the Faux Soir's satire. The "false" newspaper was published by the Independence Front in Brussels on November 9, 1943. One article was titled "Effective Strategy". "...thanks to the autumn campaign, the winter campaign followed the summer campaign...So the course of these three campaigns in order show that the German general staff have not lost at any time control over the sequence of the seasons, an element whose importance should not be underestimated." Author Ramzipoor's tome shined a spotlight on a group of journalists and resistance fighters with the courage of their convictions and the willingness "to die for a joke". An excellent read I highly recommend.

Thank you HARLEQUIN-Trade Publishing, Park Row and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "The Ventriloquists".

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I received an advanced digital copy of this book from the author, publisher and Netgalley.com. Thanks to all for the opportunity to read and review.

Based on a true story, The Ventriloquists takes the daunting task of telling a story from multiple voices and almost pulls it off. The story is still engaging while clunky.

3 out of 5 stars.

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This novel, based on a true situation, chronicles the publication of a fake newspaper in Belgium during WW
II. The premise was interesting, and the novel got off to a good start. However, the large number of main characters made the book a bit hard to follow as the story progressed.

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I wanted to like this book but it was very hard to read. I enjoyed that it is based on true events. I think the overall story is interesting, this doesn't necessarily read like a novel and I was bored throughout. I was hoping for more suspense but at times I felt like I was reading from a textbook. I never got “hooked” enough to want to not put it down. I struggled to finish.

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Book was written from a survivor's viewpoint. Seemed well written but a little choppy when the author switched to another character (had subtitles).

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Did Not Finish
Abandoned at 33%
I couldn’t force myself to finish the book. It drags on and the writing is confusing. Is it third person? Is it first person? No one knows.
I wanted to like this book, but I had to work to keep reading and a book like that just isn’t worth suffering through.

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I enjoyed this book but it left me wanting. The premise of this book is fantastic (and true!) so I was excited for a story full of drama and suspense, something that would hook me from the start and wouldn’t let go. I was definitely intrigued from the start but the story wasn’t as gripping as I would’ve liked. I wanted to know what would happen and there certainly was enough drama, but for the majority of the novel I didn’t feel that it was impactful enough. There were extremely dramatic circumstances and outcomes that seemed a little too quick and convenient despite the fact that things kept getting in the characters’ way on their path to their goal. They had tons of obstacles to overcome, so I can’t say that it came across as too easy…but it almost felt too easy. It seemed that whatever got in their way, someone had just the right connection and was able to pull together a large scale scheme quickly. It wasn’t altogether unbelievable, but sometimes it was a bit of a stretch. The story of Faux Soir is true and it really came together in just over two weeks so perhaps none of the story was that much of a stretch in terms of believability. There was one particular idea the group thought up that I found completely ridiculous, reckless in a massive, important way and just unbelievable. It (or part of it—I’m not sure how it actually unfolded) turned out to be true! There was a countdown to the day they needed to publish Faux Soir but it didn’t add a sense of urgency or suspense in the way I wanted. In fact, suspense and urgency were lacking throughout the novel overall. None of the story hit me the way I wanted it to. The writing style was something I both enjoyed and struggled with. There was a sense of humor to the writing that I really enjoyed. I appreciated the slight humorous approach to such a heavy, devastating time when the characters were trying to make one last stand against the Nazis. There were plenty examples of thoughtful, emotional moments that I liked too. However, there was some disconnect between the events of the novel and their impact on me. None of it felt dire or as gripping as I would’ve liked. I wanted to be wrapped up in this story, to care so much about the characters that I was devastated when something went wrong but my interest didn’t go that deep and the writing didn’t inspire that feeling. Also, this story was told from a first person POV but it read as third person for most of the novel, jumping between characters' storylines. How could one character know the private thoughts and experiences of everyone in their group? The mix of what was basically third person narration with sudden first person didn’t always work.The characters were well written and fleshed out. They weren’t unrealistic but at times they felt like characters—so wrapped up in one aspect of themselves in a way normal people aren’t. Aubrion’s commitment to humor and plays and acting, for example. In a way, I liked it. In a way, I didn’t. I did really like some of the characters, though, and I thought the dialogue was great. Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was an interesting and entertaining novel but I would’ve liked it more if it had been a bit darker with more of a serious, emotional tone that made me more invested. The writing was good, not great, and I enjoyed the characters. Some of the plot seemed farfetched but it was based on real events so my shock really lies with what the real people were able to accomplish.

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I liked this story. It's a great story of Belgian resistance during WWII based on a true events. I wanted it to be an exciting, suspenseful WWII story with lots of intrigue and deception. The intrigue and deception were there but there was no excitement or suspense. All of the characters were interesting individuals but I didn't feel like I got to know any of them that well and it was unclear what their motivations were. The story is told by jumping around from different characters POV's. That didn't bother me much but I did think it hurt the flow of the action and made the story really slow. I really wanted to like it more but it took me so long to get interested in it. I started, then stopped, then restarted it and kind of rushed through it because I had downloaded it more than 3 months ago and felt like I needed to finish it. I wanted more of an emotional connection with this story and I just didn't get it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

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An interesting book based on true events. While the overall story is interesting, this doesn't necessarily read like a novel and I was bored throughout. I was hoping for more suspense but at times I felt like I was reading from a textbook.

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The Ventriloquists is a fascinating, fictional re-telling of true events that occurred during World War II. The, very long, novel follows a number of characters that are a part of this resistance project and switches back and forth between each character's point-of-view to tell the story. And while the characters themselves are great and the story is interesting, I realized after the fact that my main motivation for finishing the work was that the text was expiring off my Kobo in a couple of days. Indeed, the fact that this story is taking place in German-occupied territory should automatically result in a high-stakes, suspenseful narrative. And yet, there wasn't one in The Ventriloquists. It was just page after page of the characters "going through the motions" to the finish the project with little to no sense of any kind of real danger. The reader will see a snippet here and there but nothing to really evoke an emotional response. At least it didn't for me. Even at the end of the book, I was expecting to cry or to feel a great sense of loss but it just wasn't there. Nonetheless, the story is an important one to tell and not very well known. I just feel it would have been better if it was MUCH shorter and if there was more emotion progressing the plot.

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It took a while for me to get into this book. There was a lot of flipping back and forth to different people and in the beginning it was hard to get a handle on which character I was reading. Halfway through the characters and story really clicked for me and things became much easier. I was invested and couldn't put it down until it was finished.
An interesting read based on true events that took place in Belgium during WWII. A group of journalists producing an underground newspaper are caught and given an ultimatum, write an edition that paints the Allies as the antagonist or die. The group has no choice but to agree.... they in turn decide to deliver a fake edition of “Le Soir” loaded with satire and they only have 18 days to pull it off.

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This one was just ok for me. It didn’t keep me interested and I felt the plot jumped around a lot and it just didn’t hold my interest
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book

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This World War II story was a disappointment. I hoped for a book with the magic of Hugo or at least a book with a uniform literary tone. This book felt erratic, with a few great moments, particularly in the dialogue between characters. The book was very challenging to finish, as the writing felt leaden. I wouldn't have finished it if I wasn't committed to writing this review.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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The Ventriloquists is the type of historical fiction that I usually like. Anything WWII always catches my attention. That being said, I didn't care for this story all that much. It's mostly because of the disjointed narrative and character confusion. I didn't know which character I was reading, and I just got lost. I think the premise is unique and intriguing but poorly executed. This story has a lot of potential but missed the mark unfortunately. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

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Sorry. I just couldn’t get into the book
It was clunky and just had no flow to go with it
Fiction is fiction but it just seemed to jump between fact and fiction

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“The Ventriloquist” Is an interesting book based on true events that took place during WWII. It is about a young orphan and a group of journalists who attempt to ridicule Hitler and the Nazis and lift the spirits of the Belgians by risking their lives to publish fake editions of a widely published newspaper. There are lots of characters and the story line was confusing at times, but an interesting read. My thanks to Netgalley and the Publishers for my copy. This is my honest review.

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This was a fascinating book. I am a huge fan of historical fiction--but even more so when it turns out that it is based on a true story. First, let me give a short summary.

The Ventriloquists has been described as "Ocean's 11 meets the Book Thief." The entire novel is framed by the story of a young girl named Eliza who is attempting to record the story of Helene, now an old woman, who lived in the streets disguised as a boy in Belgium during World War II. Helene tells much of the story from her own point of view but also relates the experiences of her friends from the third person point of view.

The novel centers on a group of journalists and resistance fighters who risk their lives to create a fake edition of Le Soir, a widely published newspaper, in an attempt to ridicule Hitler and the Nazis and lift the spirits of their fellow Belgians. They are led by Marc Aubrion, a journalist revered by little Helene. Their group also includes the owner of a brothel, a queer Jew, a professor, a judge, and various businessmen. This group of "ventriloquists" must create this fake newspaper all while under the watchful eye of the S.S. who have enlisted them to create a fake version of a resistance newspaper. What better cover for a fake newspaper than a fake newspaper! Unfortunately, they only have 18 days to accomplish this enormous task.

The "ventriloquism" does not refer to talking puppets in the book but comes into play thanks to the Jew, Spegielman, who is employed by the S.S. who has the uncanny ability to imitate not only any handwriting that he sees, but also their linguistic style and writing personality. In the novel, he writes letters from President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill that are passed off as the real thing! This also led me to learn about "gastromancy" or "a method of divination by use of stomach sounds to represent the voice of the dead." Who doesn't love a book that helps you learn new words?

I have to say that this book did take me longer to read than most. Part of the issue was that it was a pretty slow start. It took me a while to understand how the frame was working, who was narrating, etc. Also, each of the characters has a code name which is placed at the top of each chapter that is about them and since each one is known by their real name and their code name AND there are so many characters, I was about halfway through the book before I could remember who was who.

I enjoyed the book even more when I reached the Author's Note at the end that explains the origin of the novel and the amazing true story that led to it. When Ramzipoor was doing research for her thesis at UC Berkeley, she came across a document that detailed the publishing of 60,000 copies of this fake newspaper right under the noses of the Germans under the talented direction of Marc Aubrion. Many of the other characters are real or based on real people as well which makes this such a fun story! Copies of this newspaper have even survived into the present day.

Once I made it through the beginning of the book and got my reading legs underneath me, I really enjoyed the book. I found there was a lot of humor and irony throughout and it made for an interesting read. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is a fan of historical fiction, "based on true stories," or World War II literature.

I do want to point out that although this book is mostly presented from the point of view of a 12-year-old orphan, it is not a YA book. Thanks to the brothel, there are some scenes that might be inappropriate for younger readers (though not distasteful). There is also some language so you may want to steer clear if that is something that bothers you.

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An odd group of people gather to find ways to sabotage the Germans in France. They are joined by a waif disguised as a boy. They have success and failures. Like most war stories the ending is usually tragic, A new slant on the ways of the Resistance.

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