this book was so well written. it was a story . but also felt like it could be a real life diary or conversations with people who knew what happened or where there. even the people that made it all happen didn't seem far away from the writing. it was so detailed and the scene setting really bought you on board. you a in those rich details and feeling so much. was it impending doom as an outsider knowing whats coming? is it being able to take a step back and also seeing what this whole span of time encompassed, the war, and that fear we can all still feel from that time. and then there is like i said just this very well written story. so you get immersed and involved like you do on any other piece of fiction, but with this book, being based on any other real life time there is that next level layer of something very real. and the things that occurred during this time where very real indeed.
i love how you could be suspicious of many people. and also you read into things- was this it? them? but then you are also reminded that on any given day people all around us have 'things' going on. you, me we might all be carrying weights, secrets and dreams. and noone around us might know of these nor what we could be going through. and of course sadly all around us there are dark people, planning dark things. so on this fateful trip, with all these people, is anyone ever not hiding something from those around them? and so with Ariel's writing we get to meet and know a bit more about a handful of people. and we are bought right into the event in a more personal level and therefore you become even more invested in the story and invested into what happens next. and then we are hooked right there until the end waiting to see how this will end.