Narrated by Napoleon Ryan
Finding Rebecca is a book I chose, not because of the author or narrator. It was the synopsis alone that drew me in. World War II has always fascinated me, as has anything that has even the remotest feel of an undercover operation.
Christopher and Rebecca have been best friends since childhood. Both grew up on the island of Jersey. Rebecca is French, and Christopher is German. Rebecca’s abusive, alcoholic father does not approve of her friendship with a German boy, and, as the two grow up, he does everything in his power to separate them, but the ties that bind these two are far stronger than that. It seems like nothing can keep them apart.
The shadow of the second World War finally falls upon Jersey. At first, Christopher and Rebecca remain together, but they are eventually separated. Rebecca, who is Jewish, is sent to a concentration camp, while Christopher, his father and younger sister, are deported back to Germany.
Once there, Christopher vows to do whatever he can to rescue the woman he loves. To this end, he becomes part of the Nazi SS and is eventually sent to work at Auschwitz. There, he is placed in charge of all the money stolen from the camp’s inmates before they are sent to the gas chamber. This position affords Christopher a great deal of power, but will he be able to bring Rebecca out alive?
Finding Rebecca is a deeply moving, thought-provoking novel. It brings to life one of the darkest moments of human history. Mr. Dempsey is a fantastic writer. His words transported me back in time to a place I’d never want to visit in real life. He uses his words to evoke all manner of emotions from his readers. By the end of the book, I was in tears. I wasn’t necessarily crying for the characters, but for all those who lost their lives so many years ago.
Narrator Napoleon Ryan was new to me until I listened to this book. While he has a very pleasant, resonant voice, I wouldn’t say romance is the best genre for him. He cannot believably depict female characters. He slips into a falsetto, and, if the woman happens to be crying, the result is very, very bad indeed.
I think Mr. Ryan would be much better suited to books that contain mostly male characters. He is very skilled at differentiating a variety of men from a number of different countries and walks of life. I never had trouble differentiating one SS soldier from another, even though many were German. I give him a lot of credit for this, since it couldn’t have been an easy thing to pull off.
I was also very pleased that Mr. Ryan did not simply read the words off the page. Instead, he gave them life, imbuing them with just the right amount of emotion necessary for the listener to feel what the author intended. He didn’t exactly act the book out, but neither was it a simple, flat narration. Some might find it a bit understated, but I, personally, don’t have a problem with that style.
This is not a traditional romance. We never see things from Rebecca’s point of view. For this reason, I never felt like I really knew her. I knew Christopher loved her, and that many people admired her strength and kindness, but the author told me, rather than showed me, these things. In some ways, I would have liked to know what things were like for Rebecca, but I suppose that might not have worked well given the way the book is written.
Mr. Dempsey holds nothing back in his descriptions of life behind the gates of Auschwitz. If extreme violence and cruelty bother you, you might want to take a pass. If not, I think you’ll find this book to be an enjoyable, if disturbing, listen.
Shannon
Narration: C+
Book Content: B+
Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in (fairly tame though)
Violence: Some scenes of domestic violence, graphic descriptions of death, and other war crimes
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Finding Rebecca was provided to AudioGals by Brilliance Audio for review.
