Anna-Marie Ullmann

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The worst trolls film we’ve seen. I went with a 7 and 9 year old. Their feedback was ‘there was a lot of kissy kissy in it’ and there was! Very unnecessarily. Plus the plot was weak and the focus on 2 selfish, stupid ‘famous’ siblings (where did that world even come from???) is weak and worth zero airtime even if they are painted in a negative light. PLUS - as if branch and poppy suddenly have long lost siblings, and the focus on needing siblings isn’t very fair on all the ‘only child’ kids out there! Oh, I nearly forgot the hallucinogenic drugs referencing. Poor effort from the Trolls franchise!

What a remarkable and moving book, probably the most heart wrenching I’ve ever read. The book is beautifully written and I found it impossible not to feel attached to both main characters. I agree with 2 of the reviews I’ve read here - one saying how the reader wept not only for both Marie Laurie and Werner but for the multitude of untold stories from the Second World War, another review however commented on how the second half of the book brutally destroyed the characters we had grown so attached to in the first half. I was longing for any respite to the heartache and just a glimmer of a happy ending but it wasn’t forthcoming, and for me, the book felt too brutal in that respect (yes it’s about the war, but the first part of the book sets a very different tone). I too wept at the end of this book. The sadness was overwhelming and I desperately wanted better for Werner, Frederick, Marie’s father, Marie Laure, all of them! I was torn between feeling robbed of a more satisfying ending and on the flip side, grateful for being forced to understand further how devastating the war was. I loved the book, but if I’d known what I was letting myself in for, I possibly wouldn’t have started it.