Synopsis
Time of Useful Consciousness by Jennifer Ott is a story of love, secrets, and adventure. In this book, we travel back to Post-World War 2 German where it focuses the story of Louisa and her dangerous story. In the beginning, we are brought to the scene of Louisa after she shoots a German man in cold blood. Then later finds herself in an American Military Prison where she is interrogated by Colonel Taylor. Colonel Taylor wants to know what happened to Louisa, her brother Ren, and her lover Kris. Let’s say they might be connected to black market smuggling. Louisa refuses to him what he wants, no names or numbers. Louisa not trying the man dating her mother chooses to stay in prison and chooses her loyalty to her German country.
During the story we are taken back to the past events that lead to the arrest. From Louisa’s experiences as a child and how her father died at war. Her brother disappearing and her very promiscuous overprotective mother. Louisa wishes to venture out into the world to explore. Soon she finds her brother and meets the seductive Kris. She soon finds the secret world of flying and learns the world through the eyes of a pilot. This leads to a dangerous romance with Kris and learns the secret job that Kris and her brother is part of. But the world Louisa isn’t going to turn down the chance of adventure and the journey to go with it.
Review
I picked this book up because I really like historical fiction especially books during this period. I also thought the book should a unique perspective from the point of view of the Germans and how their life was affected by the events of World War 2. It also shows like how it was like after the war and when it was occupied by the allies.I also thought some of the supporting characters like Colonel Taylor was understanding and liked how he tried to be a father figure to Louisa. That said there was a lot of things I didn’t really like about the book. I really thought the main character Louisa started out super naive and didn’t know how the world. I see this a lot in books where the main character will act like an innocent and delicate person that doesn’t know a lot about the world and this girl didn’t know anything. I also like Louisa less naive but more like annoying. I mean throughout the story Louisa plays this innocent girl that didn’t do anything wrong and yet gets tangled up in a mess due to her brother’s mistake. I also think the future part where she was stuck and jail, I think she didn’t seem like she was suffering. Louisa got to do whatever she wanted, eat good food and yet she continues to be difficult. I personally am ok with her being stuck in jail. Lastly, I also felt like there was lack of character growth and the whole plot was rather slow.
Overall I liked the time period and I liked seeing a new glimpse of history. But the character was extremely flawed and had a ton of issues. I also felt like the story was also rather boring and couldn’t connect with the story. That is pretty much the end of my review and until new time keep on reading.
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