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Postcards from No Man Land Carnegie Medal Winner Aidan Chambers Books

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Postcards from No Man Land Carnegie Medal Winner Aidan Chambers Books

I chose to read this book for an analysis paper for one of my college classes. Quickly, I found myself reading it for pleasure, forgetting to notate and highlight as I went on.
This is a lovely book that I would recommend for any adolescent. Jacob is a character that is honest and confused and angsty- very relatable. At times, he says and feels things that most are afraid to admit to themselves.
Easy read, relatable characters.
Minus one star because I loathe unsatisfying endings.


Tags : Amazon.com: Postcards from No Man's Land (Carnegie Medal Winner) (9780525468639): Aidan Chambers: Books,Aidan Chambers,Postcards from No Man's Land (Carnegie Medal Winner),Dutton Juvenile,0525468633,Family - Multigenerational,Historical - Europe,Historical - Military & Wars,Netherlands;History;German occupation, 1940-1945;Fiction.,Netherlands;History;German occupation, 1940-1945;Juvenile fiction.,World War, 1939-1945;Juvenile fiction.,Children's 12-Up - Fiction - General,Children: Young Adult (Gr. 10-12),Fiction,Historical Fiction (Young Adult),Juvenile Fiction Historical General,Juvenile fiction,People & Places - Europe,Social Issues - General,Unmarried mothers,World War, 1939-1945,YOUNG ADULT FICTION,Young Adult Fiction Family Multigenerational,Young Adult Fiction Historical Europe,Young Adult Fiction Historical Military & Wars,German occupation, 1940-1945,History,Netherlands,World War,

Postcards from No Man Land Carnegie Medal Winner Aidan Chambers Books Reviews

The book reminds me of when I read Ann Frank's diary in High School. Also, no matter how many times I read about the horrors of wars, I’m amazed at how inhumane humans can be toward one another. In addition, the author used too many cliches; they interrupt the flow or the story. Yet, the books provides a different perspective of war; how do people who live in an area that been occupied by a foreign enemy live during a war. Finally, the two narratives at times makes it hard to follow; I wasn’t sure which time period the author was referring at different points in the text.
Postcards from No Man's Land is a well written novel wrote in the perspective of two characters throughout the story, and how their lives change while living in Amsterdam. The first main character, Jacob Todd, is a seventeen year old American that goes to Amsterdam for a remembrance in honor of his grandfather, and other fallen soldiers of the war fifty-one years earlier. As it turns out, Jacob has a horrible time trying to adapt to the different customs of Amsterdam, and ends up becoming mugged on his first day there. Now he is without his coat, or what they call an anorak, and without any money on a cold rainy day, he has to find a relatives house in the lonely streets of Amsterdam. The second main character, Geertrui, is Jacob Todd's grandmother, and her story is told in her point of view during the war. While the war is ending, things start to happen with her and another Jacob Todd that is kept secret from everyone else. Follow the story as the present Jacob Todd tries to learn about his family's past while in a foreign country that he knows nothing about.

There were many things I liked about this book including the way it was written in the perspective of two characters at two different time periods. I also liked how the book used a variety of vocabulary words, but the only negative about that was that I may have not have known the meaning of the words. The only dislike I had of the book was trying to remember and to follow what was happening to the other characters while reading the chapters because you would be stuck for reading about Geertrui during the war for two chapters, then you would start all over again with two chapters about Jacob Todd in present time.

I can not think of any other books like this one, or any other authors that write like Aidan Chambers does because I think that this book is a one of a kind, kind of book.
There are two parallel stories in this book--one the present day story of Jacob, and one the story of Geertrui, a girl who was living in Holland during World War II. In journal form, Geertrui tells her own story, how she was a teenager living in a region of Holland that was occupied for a time by German soldiers. The people of her town desperately wanted to be liberated and welcomed the British soldiers who came to liberate them. However, after much fighting, they had to fall back for a time. One soldier, Jacob, was badly injured and unable to retreat with the rest of his men, so he stayed behind and Geertrui, wanting to help, nursed his injuries.

Over the course of his stay with her, Geertrui fell in love with Jacob despite the fact that he had a wife and child at home in England. They had a brief but romantic affair, which Geertrui still treasured as her one true love for her whole life.

The present day Jacob is an English teenager who lives with his grandmother, Sarah. She was the real wife of the Jacob soldier Geertrui fell in love with. She also desperately loved her husband and was grateful to the people who took him in when he was injured in the war. Geertrui has invited her to Holland to observe a ceremony at the cemetary where her husband was buried, but after injuring her hip, Sarah can't go. She sends her grandson Jacob to stay with Geertrui's family and to go to the ceremony. While in Amsterdam, though, Jacob not only learns more than he would have liked to have known about his family history, but also begins to question his own identity.

I liked Jacob's struggle with his identity and the way the gay characters in this book are so matter-of-fact about themselves and their lives. I thought Daan was a great character--very complex and interesting. I liked how he interacted with Jacob and brought him out of his shell.

The style of this book was a little confusing at first, with the story flipping back and forth without any real connection. I also didn't like the long quotes from real soldiers' experiences who had nothing to do with the story being told here. And despite his search, I felt like Jacob's identity was still unresolved at the end of the story.
If you're looking for historically based agenda trash, this is for you. If you like historical fiction that sticks to truth rather than focusing on making multiple political points, find something better to read.
I chose to read this book for an analysis paper for one of my college classes. Quickly, I found myself reading it for pleasure, forgetting to notate and highlight as I went on.
This is a lovely book that I would recommend for any adolescent. Jacob is a character that is honest and confused and angsty- very relatable. At times, he says and feels things that most are afraid to admit to themselves.
Easy read, relatable characters.
Minus one star because I loathe unsatisfying endings.