This centers around Miriam who is the present day character, more so than focusing on the past and Henryk. Miriam is not only given more chapters than Henryk, but her chapters are also notably longer. The dictation of Miriam’s chapters typically either focus on her repetitive inquiry into the letters she found that are related to her father (Henryk) -or- her personal life and the problems that she has with her abusive husband. Henryk’s chapter’s typically focus on his own marital problems rather than the historical context that he experienced.
This being said, only about 15% of the story was of historical relevance. There was nothing historically integrated that was new information. The “rabbit girls”, or the guinea pigs who were experimented on, have been given voices through other novels. The details about them were not elaborate either.
The beginning was very slow to start. The story only starts to pick up around 40% of the book, but still Miriam’s chapters continued to hold back the story.
The story starts out with Miriam’s father, Henryk, calling out an unknown name “Frieda” on his deathbed. So, Miriam makes it her goal to find this person before her father dies. (An overdone opening scene in my opinion.)
Nevertheless, I only kept reading to see the mystery unfold about Frieda, which is why I gave it 2.5 stars instead of 2 stars. Unfortunately, Frieda’s story was overshadowed by Miriam’s narratives.
I do not recommend this book to young readers since it includes topics such as rape, abuse, and self-harm.