Amazon.com: Customer reviews: The Ragged Edge of Night

Top positive review

Powerful Story, Beautifully Written

Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2018

A quiet, unsung, unlikely hero dedicates his life to others while the world around him is at war. The book will strike you right away with the lovely writing, and you will grab on and hold tight the rest of the read. When a story and its characters stay with you even after you've finished reading, you know you've been moved, and this book delivers.

512 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Afterwords are a disappointment.

Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2018

I did enjoy the book the afterword not so much. I wish the author had not tied her political views in the afterword to this beautiful story. The United States does not parallel Nazi Germany in any way. We do have groups that do believe along those lines but that is because we have freedoms in this country. I personally do not support these groups in any way but these factions do not decide the policies for our nation. It just left a sour note after an enjoyable read with a joyful ending. I wish I had stopped reading at the end of the story.

850 people found this helpful

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From the United States

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Afterwords are a disappointment.

Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2018

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850 people found this helpful

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Wren

Powerful Story, Beautifully Written

Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2018

512 people found this helpful

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Excellent story

Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2018

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wrtitten with heart, history and humor amidst the horrors of the 3rd Reich. Being stripped of his vestments and his students, an almost 40 yr old friar is intent on finding a way to fight the Fuhrer anyway he can. He decides to take on a widow and her 3 children in a tiny German hamlet! The prose that Olivia Hawker writes is rich and enveloping and tells this story without resorting to foul language or overt violence; a breath of literary fresh air! The dialogue is natural altho’ the German was a bit much at times. Rich with fully developed characters and a fine sense of time and place, “The Ragged Edge of Night” is an historical novel that will instruct, enlighten and encourage you long after you’re finished with the final chapter. Heartily reccomended!

245 people found this helpful

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Ronnie R. Robbins

Another Political Left Winged Loone

Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2018

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The Author in her notes at the end of the book inserted her own political views that compared America to the Nazis. President Trump the equivalent of Hitler? Really?

830 people found this helpful

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Bibliophile 76

Charming Story ruined at the end by the authors political view.

Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2018

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The story itself was charming. However, the author had to ruin her own book by spouting off her views on the 2016 election that had nothing at all to do with this story. Glad, the book was free.

818 people found this helpful

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Angela

We are the White Rose. We are Widerstand - Resistance. Censorship is abundant on Amazon they're deleting all the bad reviews

Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2018

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I appreciated the story of this book, even more so because it is based on a true story. The writing did drag on in several areas, leading me to skim through paragraphs at times. I love WW2 stories, so much that it is rare that I find a book that I don't like, regardless of the writing quality. I love the stories of how individuals kept hope I'm even the most dire situations, rising up to fight against an obvious evil.

With that being said, I don't read these to have politics thrown at me out of nowhere. Discuss the white supremacists that have shown up in the news more recently, absolutely because it's relevant to the story. But the references to the 2016 election seemed baseless and lacked credibility and had no reference to the actual story. Nazis took took their guns...They killed off the disabled...all highlighted in this story - but who here in this country has mirrored that same behavior that leads the author to say that the same evil fought during the Holocaust thrives on American soil now? For a book based on a real story, and the author's notes at the end based on reality, it seems out of place to then interject political opinions out of nowhere.

It would be different if I had purposely chosen a political book to read. I doubt I'll read another book by this author. Really disappointing.

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Kindle CustomerTop Contributor: Historical Fiction Books

Eh...metaphorically speaking!

Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2018

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This is a book I could not get into. Try as I might, the overuse of metaphors made the story stagnate. The adjectives are overflowing! Too much ruins a story....and this is a good example of 'too much.'

The plot surrounding an ex-friar who responds to an advertisement in a Catholic newspaper in Germany during WWII is far-fetched and over-religious. I felt I was being sermonized to! That feeling never let up as I read on. I felt like I was forcing myself to understand much of the time as Anton flashes back to his friar days in a boy's school and forced by the SS into the German army.

I admit I am not a Catholic, not a religious person, but this book is definitely not for non-Catholics. Every few pages Anton is thinking in his own mind and his own conscience as he relates everything back to God and his own Catholic perceptions.

I would say this book is a great one for Catholics except for the flooding of metaphors. This truly hampered the book.I

Not one I would personally recommend unfortunately.

232 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

End notes killed it for me.

Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2019

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I grew up with Nazi history. So I read this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. Then I kept reading about the truth of the story. Everything was ok until the why.
I am not in favor of your political beliefs being part of story. Your perspective of current events doesn't match mine. The future of this nation isn't headed towards Nazi Germany because of the 2016 presidential election. I've said more than I care to. Take out your why and the book would be much better.

80 people found this helpful

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Richard and Liz

~~ A fantastic story of a German family's life and resistance during WWII ~~

Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2018

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Wow! This poignant story was not what I expected but rather outdoing itself one hundred percent. Set in the small town of Unterboihingen, Germany during WWII from September 1942 to May 1945, this book is written in five parts. Right from the beginning the reader is drawn in by the descriptive writing. It's not been a year since Anton was forced to put aside his friar's habit. Something compelled him to answer a widow's advertisement so now he is leaving Stuttgart to go meet his new wife-to-be, Elisabeth, along with her three children.

Elisabeth, prim and hard, needs money i.e. a husband. Still in love with her dead husband she is afraid she will be accused of harlotry. Anton, who escaped the Wehrmacht due to a bad back from a fall, allows the lie, without speaking it, to indicate that he is now impotent. After two weeks of prayer and reflection on the part of Elisabeth, she agrees to marry him.

Memories haunt Anton, not only of his time in the Wehrmacht but the atrocities that occurred whilst he was a friar. Could he have done anything to prevent them? The only things he has saved from that time are his instruments. With money tight, Elisabeth wants him to sell them to the SS but he can't part with them. Once winter approaches, food is even more scarce. Father Emil, the local priest, has a job for Anton that will pay well. He needs Anton to carry messages for a certain group. Whilst the money is indeed welcomed, Anton makes it very clear that he is not doing it just for that but for the reason that he feels God's calling. (Some of the main characters in this book are Catholic.)

What happens when the dreaded gauleiter in the village asks Anton to help set up the HItler Youth Program? Is he trapped? What does Elisabeth do when she finds out the truth of what Anton has been involved in?!

Parts are, as stated, harrowing but this book wasn't as gruesome as I was expecting. It is VERY clean with no foul language apart from a couple of 'sh*t's' which are part of speech. It is EXTREMELY well written and a most interesting historical read, one that I didn't want to put down. Although a work of fiction it is based on a REAL person and his actions. You can read all about the real Anton at the end of the book.

I chose this book as my Kindle First read for the month of September. i HIGHLY RECOMMEND it! I was not required to write a review but chose to do so. Thanks, Liz

42 people found this helpful

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Biblios

A thoroughly mediocre book

Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2018

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This is a three star book being promoted by overwrought reviews. Good grief, people, take a breath! It's just not that good. All those passionate reviews, including one that could be a PhD thesis, trying to convince us this is just the best book ever, a life-changing book, one that lingers in your mind yadda yadda. Well it's not.

First, what the heck is "religious romance"? Seems like an oxymoron to me.

And, oh boy, that cover. It sure yelled out All The Light We Cannot See. How unfortunate. I guess imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery.

This is not a bad book--it's just an okay book. It was a good enough story competently (for the most part) told. It was not "beautifully written" so don't look for A writing. At best, it's a C.

Another example of Amazon trying to create Great Literature and failing.

As I said, the book is okay. Just.

309 people found this helpful

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