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Download PDF Beyond the Shadow of Night Audible Audio Edition Ray Kingfisher Jeremy Arthur Brittany Wilkerson Brilliance Audio Books

Product details Audible Audiobook Listening Length 11 hours and 31 minutes Program Type Audiobook Version Unabridged Publisher Brilliance Audio Audible.com Release Date April 1, 2019 Whispersync for Voice Ready Language English, English ASIN B07K6S2XB1

Beyond the Shadow of Night Audible Audio Edition Ray Kingfisher Jeremy Arthur Brittany Wilkerson Brilliance Audio Books Reviews

• the lives of two Ukrainian boys are followed thru the horrors of WW2 to an unusual outcome. One lad is Jewish, the other isn’t and to start with, they don’t understand or care. They hear things their parents say but live their lives on the same farm as “brothers in every way but blood”.
  
  As Hitler advances and the boys mature, the families separate and each young man is forced into situations that will effect his life for its entirety. The writing is gruesome at times just like the events of history. It’s not gratuitous or flagrant but filled with the emotions of the characters. It could have been more expansive considering the great characters in this story. Many of them were left undeveloped and I wanted to hear from them and know more about them.
  
  I felt the same way about Warsaw. The author missed an opportunity to give the reader an immersive experience with regards to the Jewish area as there was very little descriptive prose. This happened with Treblinka as well. Both of these locations are pivotal to the story and deserved more attention from Mr. Kingfisher.
  
  Woven into the historical fiction is a more contemporary mystery that pops up every 2-3 chapters. It has to do with an incident that occurs with one of the young men 60 years ago. The author handles this aspect fairly well and these chapters are delivered without being disruptive. The solving of this “mystery” isn’t really going to be a major surprise but it is an unusual element for an historical fiction novel.
  
  “Beyond the Shadow of Night” is a decent read. The language is clean, there’s no gratuitous violence or sexual content📚
• I had an inner debate with myself about my choice this month for the First read selection. Finally decided on this one and do believe that I made a good choice. Recently have been reading WW II novels so this was in the same time frame.
  
  Two boys, Mykhail and Asher were born in 1923 in the Ukraine. Both lived on a farm and were neighbors. They were inseparable as youngsters until Asher's family moved to Warsaw in 1936. In 1939, the Ukraine made friends with Germany and the 'worm' started to turn.
  
  For me, this novel is as much a study in human nature as it is in the complexity of war. Nothing remains the same and mankind suffers. The underlying theme is that there is always hope...sometimes one has to shut out the absolute horrors of existence in order to survive.
  
  The descriptions of Warsaw and the Jewish district were stark and the inhabitants were nearly without hope. When the Treblinka death camp chapters were read, I had to take numerous breaks. The suffering of humanity was so overpowering to me.
  
  A mystery is also added to this novel that takes place many years later in the US. For me, this also added to the human nature part of this story. I also liked the answer to the question of whether or not one is able to go 'home' again...Perfect...
  
  All in all a gripping and harrowing novel for me. And, I am glad that I selected this one.
  
  Highly recommended.
• The story is about two Ukrainian friends, one of them a Jew. It starts just before WWII when they are just a boys, describes their lives as a young men during the war in Ukraine and Poland and then jumps to the time when they are both old and living in USA. I chose this book as my March free “first read” because I never read a book about WWII written from Ukrainian point of view. At the beginning of the war Ukraine was under Soviet Union occupation and some saw the approaching Hitler army as an opportunity for national freedom and supported the Nazis. Poland that was attacked in 1939 simultaneously by Germany and Soviet Union perceived both powers as deadly enemies.
  
  The story is very dramatic and big part of it is about the impossible choices that had to be made by average people during the war time. The most shocking events are taking place in the Treblinka death camp and these are images that may be difficult for the reader to erase from the mind. The message here is that extremely cruel circumstances may strip almost everybody from humanity and reduce most people to the level of animals driven only by their self-surviving instinct. As I believe this message to be true, I think that books like this one should be written and read by many so the history will not repeat itself. Kudos for the author for undertaking this difficult task. In order not to scare potential readers I have to add that book reads very smoothly, the life stories of both (fictional) main heroes are breath taking and there is even some romance commingled with the plot. This book is definitely worth reading.
  
  However….
  The histories of Ukraine and Poland are extremely complicated and there is no time in the book to fully discuss the geopolitical situations and the events that are not directly connected to the main plot. So there are several understandable simplifications and short cuts. However some of them may result in the misleading picture of the broader historical content. Some clarifying sentences added here and there and mentioning some important key events and/or describing the situation in more detail would be helpful. For example Both main protagonist live on the private and relatively prosperous farm in Ukraine until just before war. But there was a mass collectivization of agricultural land on Ukraine in 1928-1932 and such individual farm was very unlikely to exist. So the picture of Ukraine the author is painting is misleading. If this imaginary farm was supposed to be some kind of exception from the general rule it should be explained how it survived. Similarly, during German bombing of Warsaw in 1939, the city citizens did not have to rely solely on rumors to learn about war progress. All this time there was a Polish radio broadcast that was played in many public places. These and some others “shortcuts” later on made me to lower my rating by one star.
• Be careful about starting this book. You might not be able to set it down until you’ve finished the last chapter.
• I had high hopes for this book as I am beginning to enjoy historical novels. I tried to get through it but gave up at page 70. The writing style is terrible. I felt that I was reading a first time short story by a thirteen year old.
• I couldn't put it down!! I also learned a part of history I did not know about World War 2