Il cielo in gabbia

by Christine Leunens, Maurizia Balmelli (translator)

Nel 1938, anno dell’annessione austriaca al Reich, Johannes Betzler è un timido adolescente. Il ragazzo, dopo anni di propaganda a scuola, sedotto dal fascino del Führer, abbraccia l’ideale nazista. Diventa un membro della Gioventù hitleriana, ma a soli diciassette anni, sfigurato da un’esplosione, è costretto a ritirarsi.
Nella sua grande casa a Vienna fa una scoperta devastante. I suoi genitori, fervidi antinazisti, nascondono dietro a un finto muro Elsa, una giovane donna ebrea. Johannes, feroce antisemita, comincia a spiarla, eccitato dall’idea di poter controllare il destino di chi ha imparato a odiare. Elsa, costretta nella soffitta, dipinge e sogna a occhi aperti guardando un angolo di cielo dalla finestra. Ben presto l’astio iniziale di Johannes si trasforma in interesse, poi amore e infine ossessione.
Tra i due si instaura una sorta di “gioco amoroso”, fatto di brevi battute e lunghi silenzi, slanci d’affetto, dispetti e accese discussioni. Elsa è prigioniera del suo nascondiglio e delle attenzioni di lui, ma la sua mente è libera di viaggiare. Johannes, invece, per quanto libero, si scopre sempre più prigioniero dell’ossessione per lei.
Improvvisamente la guerra finisce, Vienna si trasforma, e Johannes si accorge che, caduto il nazismo, Elsa non ha più motivo di rimanere lì. Così, per non perdere quella particolarissima relazione, che spazia tra passione e follia, dipendenza e indifferenza, decide di non farle scoprire la verità, manipolandola a suo favore.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, War, World War II, Historical, Holocaust, Book Club

408 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2004

About the author

Christine Leunens is a New Zealand-Belgian novelist. She is the author of Primordial Soup, Caging Skies and A Can of Sunshine, which have been translated in over fifteen languages. Caging Skies has been adapted for film by director Taika Waititi, under the name Jojo Rabbit.

Reviews

[Ken · Rating 2 out of 5]

This really was a book of two halves!

Whilst the first part was absorbing and gave a fascinating insight into the effects of propaganda on young boys in the Hitler Youth, the second half takes a dark sinister turn that makes for uncomfortable and quite frankly disturbing reading.

I’m not sure when I’ll get to see Taika Waititi’s take in the more satirical pleasing JoJo Rabbit, but the trailer seems like he’s taken all the best elements of the first part and enhanced it...

Leunens certainly sets the 1930’s mood perfectly as young Johannes is caught up with the excitement of the being part of the Führer future, so is immediately conflicted once discovering a Jewish girl being safely hidden at his home by his parents.

It’s once he starts getting to know Elsa that he starts to question if the methodology he’s been taught was in fact right, soon smitten by her Johannes is prepared to go at great lengths to keep her safe - but to what extent.

I had high hopes for this novel by that point with a strong message of togetherness and kindness on the backdrop of war, I guess the author was trying to highlight the ideology and masculine pride unfortunately was too much for Johannes.

Maybe watch the movie instead... 2.5/5.

[Maria Espadinha · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Dark Fairy Tale


**************Some Spoilers Ahead*************

He was a nice boy like so manny others, until Hitler’s Youth caught him. He was sent to fight, got seriously wounded and had to return home. There he met a Jewish girl hidden by his parents who were both active opponents to the third reich.

What to do with that girl?
Telling the authorities seemed the right thing, but... that would be betraying his family principles. Hence, he remained silent

Are you thinking about a fairy tale between the Jewish girl and the Nazi boy?!

Well... imagination has no chains nor boundaries, but... could a member of Hitler’s Youth be capable of love?! Was he still a whole human? Or a lil monster? A twisted being — an aberration created by Nazism?!...

This is one of those stories where reality overlaps imagination. J, the main character of the plot, stands for all those kids who were deprived of a healthy youth, to become war freaks — slaves of a crazy political regime! ☹️

https://www.facinghistory.org/resourc...

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this with my husband. We were inspired to read Caging Skies after enjoying the movie, Jojo Rabbit. Taika Waititi wrote the screenplay, directed and starred in Jojo Rabbit, which was inspired by Caging Skies. The movie was a great satire and Waititi's unique quirky humor added some levity. We assumed that the book would be similar to the movie.

At first, we enjoyed the book, which is well written. Then, gradually, it seemed to part company entirely with the movie storyline and go into darker realms than I felt willing to go. I discovered I was tuning out the narrator in an effort to avoid feeling down and considered quitting. However, we really wanted to finish the book, so, we agreed to limiting our listening to a half hour per day, which turned out to be a good arrangement and we were able to make it to the finish line.

Macabre quote that captured my attention: "Half of it was as it had been, but the scar pulled my lips on the marred side, stretching them out in a slight smile as though death never wanted me to forget it had played a joke on me. Instead of me joining it, it had joined me, and was alive and walking with me, grinning at my every move."

Favorite quote: "Lies are like easy friends, there to help you out of troubled waters. Short term. But long term, they're traitors only there to make a wreckage out of your life ...."

[Nicola · Rating 2 out of 5]

I mean, I haven’t seen Jojo Rabbit yet, but my feeling is that Taika Waititi got stoned, read the dust jacket of this book, forgot most of it, and made a movie.

[Maria Espadinha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hitler's Monsters

Much has been written about the Holocaust, but no book has ever addressed all the manipulation and brainwashing that turned young people into monsters — slaves and servers of the Third Reich madness!

Boys and girls turned into twisted human beings, marked for life! ☹️

Hitler was the Frankenstein of Hitler’s Youth!

https://www.facinghistory.org/resourc...

[Geonn Cannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe I'd like this better if I'd read it before seeing Jojo Rabbit (doubtful) but as it is, it finally lays to rest that "the book is always better" line.

[Aria · Rating 1 out of 5]

---- Disclosure: I received this book for free from Goodreads. ----

It started off okay, then it got pretty good. At a mid-way point however, after the parents are no longer involved in a larger part of the story, it really started to suck. From there it quickly got worse. The closer it neared the end the more I started doing things like skipping paragraphs, or jumping to find the next bit of dialogue & skipping other text. Then I'd skip a page or 2 before starting in again. If I hadn't proceeded in that manner I'd have just tossed it away & discontinued the read, but this way I at least reached the (crappy) end. Oh, the end. The hugely anti-climactic end, from which nothing was gained as a result of having undertaken the reading of this thing. Being that I also seriously hated the MC, I can't recommend this to anyone. The film may likely be entirely different, given the director. I certainly hope so, anyway.

[Maria Espadinha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Os Monstros de Hitler

Já muito se escreveu sobre o Holocausto mas nunca nenhum livro abordou a manipulação, a lavagem cerebral que transformou jovens em monstros ao serviço da loucura do Terceiro Reich — rapazes e raparigas que foram privados dum desabrochar saudável, permanecendo marcados para a vida! ☹️

https://www.facinghistory.org/resourc...

Hitler foi o Frankenstein da Juventude Hitleriana!

[Sheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are books that you read and the moment you finish reading it, you know without a doubt that the book is destined to be a classic. This is exactly how I felt after reading "Caging Skies" by Christine Leunens.
The story reads slow and steady but don't get me wrong, it is a very strong and powerful slow burn. You will feel all of it.
The protagonists, Johannes and Elsa, are thrown together unexpectedly into a dependent type relationship. Johannes and Elsa's "relationship" is an enigma to the reader. It is not defined and throughout the story there is an unshakeable feeling of dread and persecution.
Christine Leunens gift is that she took the cruel circumstances of war, thrust two people together and through the lies and deception of war, she causes the reader to shift loyalty from one protagonist to the other, often. It's very clever how the author manipulates the reader and I liked it quite a lot.
World War II is happening all around the protagonists however there is a battle waging between them as well. I found myself thinking about the type of person I would be in similar circumstances. Would I be kind and ensure the person in my care felt self-respect and some comfort? I hope that I would but we've all seen the outcomes of studies like the Stanford prison experiment.
This story was so haunting it stuck on me and I couldn't shake it off.
This book is so well written that I was often confused Johannes and Elsa and this feeling of insanity that surrounded them.
This book is captivating, unpredictable and haunting. It is a must read!! And I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.
Thank you to Christine Leunens. Thank you to Goodreads Giveaways. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and this is my honest review.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

CAGING SKIES is a very thought provoking novel which takes place in Austria during and after World War II. Johannes is a boy who is a Hitler Youth who is entranced by Hitler when he discovers his parents are hiding a Jewish girl named Elsa. Anger at his family turns into interest in Elsa, then an obsession/love for Elsa which is not returned. This book was a page-turner for me, and I highly recommend it to others!

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am having a really hard time deciding how I feel about this book. In many ways I hate it. I hate Johannes. I hate how he manipulates the people around him especially Elsa and blames them for his doing so. I hate how Johannes makes everything that another person does into a slight against himself. I hate that Johannes continually forces himself if Elsa for the first chunk of the book, then at some point she is all of a sudden interested in him. I hate that Elsa seems to literally change into a different person overnight with no clear reason as to why. I hate that Johannes is the narrator because I feel as if everything he is saying, particularly about Elsa, is largely exaggerated nonsense. If it was the Author's goal that I despise the main character with every fiber of my being then this book did exactly what it was meant to and well. If she wanted me to feel a push and pull between him and Elsa and consider what it truly means to be caged, then it fell flat for me. I don't see two people vying for control and pushing each other back and forth into unhappiness and joy. I see one guy manipulating and abusing a girl until she gets used to the treatment, then her just trying to cope with that scenario the best she could. I see that guy blaming her for all of his misdeeds and her taking small amounts of revenge but mostly dealing with it until she can break free. I think if there book had been from Elsa's perspective or a neutral one, I may have even enjoyed reading this book. But as it is, I was angry the whole time, and I think I only finished the book because someone excitedly suggested it to me. I would not suggest it to someone else.

[Carmen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I adored the movie JoJo Rabbit. It was hilarious, and it was also heart-wrenching. And I deeply cared about JoJo, Elsa, and JoJo's mother in the film. I laughed out loud, I cried real tears.

So, this is the book that JoJo Rabbit is based on, and though the seeds of that script are in here that script and movie are definitely the product of the mind of Taika Watiti and the film is so much better for it.

Johannes in the book is just an awful, awful person. The war ends about halfway through the novel and Johannes continues to hold Elsa captive, is abusive to her, and is terrible to everyone, really. If you loved the film, I think it is highly unlikely you would enjoy this version of Johannes.

[Lola · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a drag, I can't believe I've managed to read it till the last page

[Crystal]

DNF about 33% in. Hate the main character and can see where this is going. I thought I could do it but after feeling more and more dismal as it goes on I decided I really do not want to read about a male character manipulating a woman into an abusive situation where the imbalance of power is sickening. Judging by the reviews there isn't a payoff for reading more.

[Jenny · Rating 1 out of 5]

How the absolute fuck did Taika Watiti read Caging Skies and create JoJo Rabbit from it?? How did he transform book Johannes (a terrible person who treats Elsa like literal property and lets her believe the war was won by Germany for FOUR YEARS after it ended) into the misled yet good-hearted kid we got in the film?

If I read this book and didn't know who the author was, I really would have assumed that it was written as some weird fantasy by a man. At one point Johannes is about to reveal the truth when Elsa says she 'lies' sometimes by not telling him that his snoring is annoying or not telling him she was thinking about her former fiance who was fucking murdered in the Holocaust. To which he then narrates that his lie (that Germany won the war) pales in comparison to hers. Then they have weird angry sex which includes, I'm not lying, the line: "Then I prodded her eye sockets with my penis." That is a real line in this book.

Book Johannes never learns that his former ways were wrong. He sees Elsa as the outlier, like racists who have one black friend. Book Johannes would never kick Hitler in the balls. Even in the last pages, he doesn't think he did anything wrong but kept her locked up out of "genuine love". Johannes doesn't grow at all in Caging Skies, so he becomes unredeemable and it was very difficult to get through the last 1/3 of the book reading from the perspective of, basically, an Incel who had a girl locked up in his house.

I'm not sure what Leunens was trying to do by giving the read such an awful person for a narrator. Some of the things Elsa said rang true about Johannes, such as her line about the bird he brings her, but ultimately Johannes just dismisses all of that or gets mad about it. There is no redemption arc for Johannes and no empathetic or understandable motive that make the reader like him in any way despite being a terrible person as with other books like Perfume in which the protagonist is a murderer.

To top it off, Leunens' writing was not very good. It felt rushed and uninspired. Johannes just told us his emotions. There were paragraphs that seemed to have disconnected sentences so that I kept having to reread them to figure out what was going on, such as describing the air quality objectively and then the next sentence saying something like "The police cruiser stopped in front of my house to let me out" with no mention of how or why he got into the police cruiser.

Kudos to you, Taika. Don't know how you did it.

[♑︎♑︎♑︎ ♑︎♑︎♑︎ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I waited impatiently for another dawn, tossing and turning.

Well, no.

This book is not for me.

And maybe it's not for you, either, unless you crave sentences that are about as tasty as burned oatmeal.

That said, if you happen to be one of those pesky readers who is sensitive to misplaced modifiers, then reading this novel will be less like eating burned oatmeal, and more eating old eggshells.

[Dora Santos Marques · Rating 4 out of 5]

A minha opinião em vídeo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8hB9...

[5rovsvet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kada sam prvi put video knjigu na internetu naslov me je asocirao na Dnevnik Ane Frank. Potom mi je sinopsis otkrio da se radi o radnji smeštenoj u istom vremenskom periodu. I imao sam velika očekivanja od knjige. Bar je takav sinopsis bio da mi je probudio očekivanja i mislio sam da će knjiga biti baš bomba.

Teško mi je da opišem celokupne utiske a da ne bude spojlera. Stoga ću ostati malo štur ovog puta. Knjiga kao knjiga jeste zanimljiva. Radnja počinje u vreme pre drugog svetskog rata dok se jedan veoma mlad dečački um formira. On uči o Hitleru i počinje da ga obožava. Ceo roman je iz njegovog ugla i veoma je zanimljivo videti osobu koja podržava Hitlera u porodici koja je protiv njega.

Ono što ovu knjigu čini bogatom (možda je bilo i drugih takvih ali ih nisam pročitao) jeste što postoji i posleratni period. Tu saznajemo kako je Beč izgledao posle rata, kako su funkcionisale stvari, kako je narod živeo. Meni bar te stvari nisu ranije bile poznate, ni generalno, tako da sam tu naučio nešto novo. Veoma je lepo opisano sve to.

Od trećine knjige počinje da se radnja komplikuje jednom "sitnicom" i u nastavku sam očekivao jednu bombu koja će eksplodirati. Sam kraj knjige mi nije bio očekivan. Nisam siguran da sam razumeo lepo sve stvari koje se dešavaju pred kraj, ali sam kraj mi jeste bio zanimljiv, zaokružuje celu knjigu.

Iako je ovo knjiga o ratu, priča o jevrejki koja se krije kod Nemaca, ovo je knjiga i o ljubavi, osvajanju, ljubomori i posesivnosti. Ceo taj odnos je dobro opisan i veći deo knjige ga pratimo. Na momente će čitalac da ludi i da poželi da se otarasi knjige, u to sam siguran.

Neću o glavnim akterima previše pričati da samu radnju ne bih otkrivao, ali verujem da većina neće gledati sa razumevanjem Johanesa. Iako on sam opravdava svoje postupke na njegov način ja mu sva ta opravdanja nisam prihvatio. Sa druge strane, o baki (Pimihen) nećemo nikad čitati previše ali mi je bila veoma gotivan lik kroz knjigu i definitivno najbolji lik u ovoj knjizi.

[Patricia Ayuste · Rating 3 out of 5]

🔴 Un joven austríaco de las juventudes hitlerianas, una chica judía escondida en un desván y una mentira que trastocará varias vidas sin remedio.

💭 «El gran riesgo de mentir no estriba en que las mentiras sean falsedades, y, por tanto, irreales, sino en que se vuelven reales en la mente de los demás [...] Han pasado muchos años desde que sembré las mentiras y, por consiguiente, de las vidas de las que hablo. Pero tendré que separar las ramificaciones con más cuidado que nunca y determinar cuáles brotaron de la verdad y cuáles de la falsedad».

📚 Austria, 1938. Cuando el Tercer Reich anexiona Austria, Johannes es un niño feliz con una vida tranquila en el seno de una familia acomodada. Johannes empieza a frecuentar a las juventudes hitlerianas y, poco a poco, comienza a interiorizar la doctrina de Hitler, en contra del deseo de sus padres. Durante la guerra es herido de gravedad y retorna al hogar familiar donde, pronto, descubre que sus padres ocultan un importante secreto en el desván. Elsa. Una joven judía de la que Johannes termina enamorándose enfermizamente y, en vista de ser un amor no correspondido y por miedo a perderla, le miente y crea una peligrosa relación de dependencia entre ambos.

✒️ Christine Leunens nos atrapa con esta historia intimista en la que la mentira ocupa el lugar principal y desempeña un papel importante no solo en la vida del protagonista, sino de aquellos que le rodean. Una novela que se adentra en temas como la guerra y sus secuelas, el miedo, el amor, la familia, la dependencia emocional, la sumisión y la supervivencia.

🔝 La recomiendo por:
- Lectura ágil a través de capítulos breves y un lenguaje sencillo.
- Historia narrada por el protagonista, lo que permite adentrarse en sus sentimientos y pensamientos.
- La intriga alrededor de la trama.
- El contexto histórico y la documentación que se adivina tras la obra.
- Una bien construida y envolvente ambientación.
- La evolución del protagonista.
- Un sorprendente final.

[Rita Tomás · Rating 4 out of 5]

O primeiro pensamento quando nos confrontamos com este livro é o de que é mais um livro sobre a II Guerra Mundial. Mais um "O Não Sei Quantos de Auschwitz". Mas não é bem.
Joannes, um membro da juventude hitleriana, conta-nos a história da sua vida. Conta-nos como descobriu que, para seu choque, tinha uma judia a viver em casa. E vai desvendando o desenvolvimento da sua obsessiva relação com ela.
Trata-se de um romance comovente e ao mesmo tempo pertubador, com alguns apontamentos de humor pelo meio.

[Eduardo Boris Muñiz · Rating 2 out of 5]

El Cielo Enjaulado - Este es un libro raro, y muy difícil de reseñar sin hacer spoilers.
Quise leer este libro porque en el se basa la película Jojo Rabbit, la cual no vi pero el trailer me encantó, un niño se inventa un amigo imaginario mientras pasa su niñez en la Austria nazi, participa de las juventudes Hitlerianas, y entre medio su familia oculta a una judía en la casa, por cierto su amigo imagimario es Hitler.
Eso es la película, si leemos la parte de atrás del libro lo que nos dice es que se trata de la vida de un niño austriaco durante la guerra, su idealización del régimen nazi y el descubrimiento de que sus padres pertenecen a la resistencia austriaca cuando encuentra a una adolescente judía escondida en un cuarto secreto en la casa. Y muy al final dice historia que INSPIRÓ la película.
Bueno, odie el libro, me pareció una historia enferma, asquerosa y la sufrí.
Lo del amigo imaginario no existe, el protagonista no es un niño sino un joven, la comedia brilla por su ausencia... Y mencione que es una historia enferma?
El joven ama ser Nazi y odia que sus padres no compartan sus ideales. También vive con su abuela, una anciana muy buena que tiene muy mala salud.
Le gusta trabajar en la defensa terrestre de la ciudad y tiene un grupo de amigos nazis que disfrutan persiguiendo a gente de la resistencia.
No suelo hacer esto pero a partir de este punto dejen de leer si no leyeron el libro y les interesa hacerlo.
Durante un ataque aéreo es herido y queda con el rostro desfigurado y pierde un brazo. Por lo que queda enclaustrado en su casa. Al pasar los días nota movimientos raros hasta que descubre una joven judía escondida en una habitación secreta de su casa. Su primer idea es entregarla, pero tiene miedo que lo consideren a él un traidor ya que su familia lo es, así que comienza a relacionarse con ella a pesar de que piensa que es un animal.
Los padres de él mueren tragicamente a la mitad del libro, su abuela discapacitada ya no sabe muy bien que pasa a su alrededor entonces el queda al cuidado de ella.
Ella es la única que no lo discrimina por su rostro, y el se siente querido, obviamente se enamora. La empieza a manipular de todas las formas posibles para que ella sienta que el es su única salvacion hasta que logra su objetivo y ella se transforma en su "pareja".
Vamos por la mitad del libro... Los nazis pierden la guerra, los aliados dividen la ciudad en 4 territorios, la vida en la ciudad cambia, la abuela de JoJo muere... Y el decide esconderle la verdad a la joven judía, le dice que Hitler ganó la guerra y que de acá en más si quiere sobrevivir no le va a quedar otra que quedarse con el y esconderse.
Entienden porque es un libro enfermo? Es desagradable a más no poder, los personajes se degradan mutuamente al punto que al final lo que uno quiere es que todos mueran.
Entiendo lo que quiso hacer la autora, mostrar el horror de la guerra y cómo transforma a las personas, por un poco de cariño se pueden transformar en monstruos. Incluso al final del libro ella ya no es alguien agradable de leer, después de todo lo que pasó no es raro.
El libro está muy bien escrito, es más diría que desde ese punto es excelente, atrapa, engancha y te dan ganas de terminarlo. Pero es muy desagradable de leer.
En todo momento esperaba que el libro terminará de una vez, me quería sacar eso de encima y el libro no se terminaba.
Definitivamente no era la comedia/drama que yo esperaba.

[Helene · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first couple of sentences of this book is one of the best formulated thoughts I’ve heard in a long time. I wanted to use it as a quote in my own book, but I could not find out how to contact the author to get permission. As for the actual book i agree with Ken’s review who points out that this is really a book in 2/ halves. The first part was used to make the fantastic movie Jojo Rabbit which is one of the saddest and funniest films I saw in a long time. The second part is reminiscent of the story The History of the Curry Sausage, a highly successful German book about a woman who has a passionate romance and hides a man and does not tell him that the war has ended. It also reminds me of the famous Charlotte Rampling movie The Night Porter about an obsessive love affair between a Nazi and a concentration camp inmate. I really enjoyed the first part as I’ve done a fair amount of research on the topic myself. I was not prepared for the second part, because it’s almost a different genre. The first part was historical fiction the second part a more complicated romance.

[Paula Reyes Wagner · Rating 1 out of 5]

Este libro fue demasiado extraño.
Al principio iba bien, aunque el personaje que narra la historia me desagradó desde el principio, sí fue curioso leer el lavado de cerebro que le hicieron cuando entró a las juventudes hitlerianas.
Pero después el libro se fue por un lado como fantasioso muy extraño que hizo que me desagradara mucho la lectura. La historia no es mala, pero el punto de vista del personaje que narra era muy insufrible y ya no quería saber más de él.

Estoy segura que no le puse toda la atención que podría, pero la verdad es que tampoco me interesó tanto llegado a cierto punto.

La película la veré, tengo entendido que es bien diferente al libro.
Edit: ya vi la película y creo que rescató lo justo del libro, haciendo que sea más disfrutable.

[Zitong Ren · Rating 1 out of 5]

this genuinely just bored me to tears. I actually think for the first time I preferred the movie over the book 😭

it was just so baddddd, and I could not tell what this book was trying to do because it failed to do anything. and just urgh.

but hey, i had fun watching the movie I guess?

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Caging Skies is a WWII novel like none I’ve read before. The plot is simple yet complicated. You have the familiar narrative of a family who, in this case, conceal a young Jewish woman (named Elsa) in their home. However, the family isn’t only hiding the girl from the outside world, but from their own son, Johannes, who is a supporter of Hitler and an active member of the Hitler Youth. The majority of the book follows Johannes after he discovers Elsa concealed behind a wall in the family’s guest room. Rather than reporting his parents to the authorities, Johannes keeps his discovery a secret, and soon becomes enamoured with Elsa. Yet, throughout the course of the war, Johannes loses both of his parents, meaning he is Elsa’s sole caregiver. Things take a turn once the war ends. Johannes, whose infatuation with Elsa has grown, decides to tell Elsa that while the war has ended, Hitler has triumphed, and, due to this, it’s still not safe for her to leave the house. Johannes develops a restricted life for himself and Elsa based on this lie. The book explores the motivations and repercussions of Johannes’s actions, and the relationship that develops between him and Elsa.

It’s a dark, bizarre, but also strangely humorous novel. While it’s an easy read, there’s subtle commentary throughout the narrative that forces the reader to pay attention and ask a lot of questions. Seeing as this is a first person narrative where Johannes is looking back on this time of his life, the reader can’t help but to question how reliable of a narrator Johannes is. For instance, there are times when Johannes comments on his naivety, and where he begrudges some of his actions, yet, at the same time, it’s clear that a part of Johannes is still trying to rationalize his obsession with Elsa and his subsequent actions. Not to mention that in the prologue, Johannes admits to the fact that some of his lies are hard to separate from the truth. He’s a character who can be read in many different ways. Is he remembering the story correctly? Since he has a past of lying, is he lying now? Has he manipulated himself into believing his lies as truth? Is he trying to manipulate the reader (much like he did with Elsa) to see his point of view? Johannes often comments on the idea that Elsa knew what he was doing, that she was playing along. And, despite the fact that Johannes was the person who was doing something wrong, he’s quick to point out Elsa’s faults and follies (even though she’s gone through a highly traumatic experience). That it often seemed like she was the one who was manipulating and playing him, rather than the other way around. Much like Johannes, this forces the reader to view Elsa from multiple perspectives, not knowing which one is true. What exactly does Elsa and Johannes’s relationship represent? Who retains the power between them? What about Elsa’s side of the story? It’s a very thought-provoking read, and many questions that the reader may find themselves asking can be answered in multiple ways.

I was a little disappointed in the pacing of the narrative, as it starts off when Johannes is a young boy, and goes up until he’s a young man. The years fly by quickly in this relatively short narrative, and you have to keep reminding yourself how old Johannes is during the different stages of the story. I also found that the deaths of Johannes’s mother and father could have used further detail and explanation. Their deaths, in total, were probably given about three paragraphs. However, one can argue that since it is Johannes telling you this story, he omits particular things in order to create a story that best serves his agenda.

* I received a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway.

[Sandra Deaconu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Au fost unele aspecte care i-au scăzut din veridicitate. De exemplu, de unde avea bani un adolescent de 17 ani, fără o mână și un loc de muncă, în vreme de război, să întrețină trei persoane? Cum de nimeni nu a făcut o razie în casa lui, deși erau multe chestii dubioase? Cum de nimeni nu s-a prins, când toată lumea era bântuită de suspiciuni și vedeau în toți un posibil dușman, ce ascunde el? Lăsând la o parte aceste lipsuri în logică și descrierile deseori repetitive ale întâmplărilor din casă, a fost o lectură bunicică, punctul ei forte fiind psihologia protagonistului, care e un manipulator sadic și cu grave probleme comportamentale. O poveste despre cum o minte bolnavă confundă obsesia și nevoia de control cu iubirea, despre cum lucrurile pe care le învățăm în copilărie pot ajunge să ne devină principii mai târziu și cum oamenii nu se schimbă, de fapt, ci doar învață să se prefacă mai bine. Recenzia aici: https://bit.ly/3tuys80.

,,Cum ar fi, de pildă, dacă noi, oamenii, am avea formă de broaște țestoase? Cum ar fi viețile noastre afectate? Și-a imaginat cum ar fi să mergem cărându-ne casa în spinare: ar fi inconfortabil, dar am avea multe avantaje. Nu am mai avea nevoie să construim case, nu ar mai exista oameni fără casă, ne-am putea schimba priveliștea de la fereastră în fiecare zi și, oriunde ne-am afla pe pământ, am fi acasă, iar asta ar însemna că nu s-ar mai vărsa sânge din pricina hotarelor.''

[Al Ornaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found reading Caging Skies a fantastic literary journey. Interestingly paradoxical in that it is slow paced while a lot is happening, Leunens' style manages to quickly get hold of my attention and drag me chapter after chapter deeper in some sort of insanity, a confusion of roles where the duel between the main protagonists, Johannes and Elsa let me wondering who is playing who.
The WWII backdrop is present enough to provide an environment of angst and oppression yet remains all the same subtle and eerie to let the confrontation between Elsa and Johannes take a hold of the reader's attention. You could possible see two parts in this story and the way it stumbled from the first into the second is incredibly well crafted, making the story taking an even more dramatic and unpredictable turn.
Beautifully written with an excellent characterisation of every protagonist, intricate yet never loosing the stories thread, Caging Skies is one of those books that lingers in my mind like some of the classics I used to love reading when I was a teenager.

[Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this one as I knew it was being adapted into a movie by Taika Waititi and wanted to see how he could handle such serious material. I’ve now seen the trailer and he makes a joke out of it. The story itself is quite interesting to start off with but then becomes a bit boring and I had to use all my resolve to actually finish it. Film looks worse. What a shame. Disappointed I wasted my time.

[Jillyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. I wasn't really quite sure what to expect, having read the synopsis and also having seen the trailer for the film based on it, Jojo Rabbit.

Leunens has a really developed sense of writing. She's good at delivering emotion and tone, even when you don't really want to be feeling the things you're feeling. For example, that you feel bad for a devoted member of the Hitler Youth, and that you continue to feel bad even as he's supporting the Reich and as he's continuing to keep a Jewish girl in his walls for his own personal fulfillment.

Johannes is flawed and in a lot of ways, just not a good person. But in other ways, he seems so aware and so caring. He takes care of his family and his home with one hand, but lies and bullies with the other. I wasn't quite sure what to make of him a lot of the time, but he was never a dull character. The way the author describes his hometown and what is happening after Hitler's regime is over, it felt like I was transported. When his feelings were hurt I felt them, even if I thought he deserved it (and he often did). Elsa too is well written. Leunens does a good job of making her hopeful and sad and appreciative and rebellious, all in one. There's a lot of complexities and sometimes it's happy, sometimes it's sad, and sometimes you find yourself laughing and then feeling like a bad person.

It would have been 5 stars for me until I started to hit the end. Then it seems to have turned into a completely different book. The tone changed, and the pacing wildly changed. It went from well paced (and maybe even a little slow) to zooming by, and then abruptly it was over. I actually reread a bit to see if I had missed something but, no, it wasn't me. It almost felt like when you are writing an essay for an exam and the proctor calls five minutes so you just write like mad. It's a shame that it ended on a rough note for me.

That aside, this book was well written and I am glad I read it. If you're easily offended, this might not be a good fit for you as there's a fair amount of dark comedy. If you're a fan of WWII or Holocaust books, than I think it's worth reading.

I have not seen Jojo Rabbit, so I have absolutely no idea how the two compare but going off of the trailer, I'm going to say that they seem like completely different animals, so, keep that in mind if you liked the film and are considering reading the book.

I received a copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads in exchange for my honest review. Thank you.

[Kim Lockhart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to Abrams books and Overlook Press for an advanced reader's copy, in exchange for an honest review.

My take is that this is almost two books. The first two-thirds of the book are filled with intriguing, page-turning plots and interesting characters. The last third, however, is a bit strange, and that's when the book begins to wander and drag rather heavily.

The themes of truth/lies, imprisonment/freedom, and all the ways in which the human mind adapts to extreme circumstances are explored. The strategies for dealing with war, and reversing dehumanization are profound, right up until it just gets plain weird and hard to understand. The ending is particularly unsatisfying.