Tom's Two Cents: "The Nightingale" by Kristin Hannah

I'm not entirely sure what to say about "The Nightingale" by Kristin Hannah.  First perhaps just a few indisputable statements of fact.  Except for a few chapters, including the first and last, most of the story takes place in WWII France during the German occupation.  It involves two sisters, their separation early in life, their conflict of personalities, and their ultimate reconciliation after the end of the War.  The elder, Vianne, is conventional and conservative; the younger, Isabelle, is rebellious and radical.  From that, it's easy enough to guess which one joins the French underground resistance and becomes known by the code name "Nightingale."  Ultimately this is a classic survival story, a genre that has worked well for most readers from the beginning of time.

Why this one didn't work well for me is still a bit of a puzzlement, but I'll try to explore some of the reasons.  Despite the dire circumstances both sisters were placed in, I found it difficult to be consistently engaged in their lives.  Sexist as it may sound, I think it was party because they were women.  I don't see this work as a man's book, any more than I can see most spy thrillers as a woman's book.  I think it's written primarily for a female audience by a woman who knows how to engage a female audience.  Women in war dominated by men who both caused it and fought in it, yet women who manage to triumph each in her own way over it, sends a powerful message to women caught up in the meaningless tragedy of war today, especially in the Middle East, where women's rights have yet to evolve.  Historically this story also reminds its readers of the huge part women played behind the scenes in WWII.

That said, I still felt myself staying at a very safe distance, possibly because of the wartime chaos the story is forced to dredge up.  This is in no way a pretty story, it is filled with tragic twists and turns, some that seem reality based and others that seem more manipulative in nature.  Hannah handles nearly all of her material with discretion and hardly a hint of vulgarity--a tribute to her refusal to descend to the lower depths of language, even when she describes and narrates the worst kind of hell.  That being said, there is a kind of predictability to the story that is a bit unsettling, and the male-female relationships, with the possible exception of the Beck-Vianne relationship (the one I found to be the most intriguing in the book), stay strictly within the bounds of the stereotypical.

All in all, I would say that for those who like a descent into modern Hell and a triumphant emergence, "The Nightingale" is probably a good read.  For those like me, who prefer to walk cautiously around the periphery of Hell and simply look down, not so much!