All About Books discussion

When tragedy strikes, the true test of resilience begins. Hold Strong follows characters facing unimaginable loss and challenges, yet finding courage, connection, and hope in unexpected places. With Dugoni’s signature emotional depth and gripping storytelling, this is a moving, page-turning tale of strength, family, and the power of perseverance.

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For those who have read Hold Strong, I’d love to hear your thoughts on how the novel handled its themes of resilience, survival, and human connection. Did the story change how you think about courage in the face of adversity, or about the way people find strength in unexpected places?

1. How did you respond to the characters’ development throughout the novel — did anyone stand out to you as especially compelling?

2. What did you think of the way Dugoni balanced action and emotional depth?

3. Did the setting and circumstances of the story feel believable and immersive to you?

4. Were there particular moments that made you reflect on your own ideas of perseverance or community?

5. How did the pacing and structure shape your overall reading experience?

6. Did the novel leave you feeling inspired, unsettled, or something else entirely?

Overall, I liked Hold Strong, but especially in the beginning it read like a nonfiction history book. The author did a lot of research and wanted to show it and because he was so present, the book became a very black and white war story written by an American. His countrymen were the good guys / victims, the Japanese the monsters.

I'm German so my WW2 knowledge is mostly on the European part and I don't know that much about the US / Japan war. But I can't believe it's one good / one bad party during times like those. Were the Germans the bad guys? Sure. Did the Allies all behaved like the good guys during and after the war? Certainly not.

Even though I'm a romance reader and didn't like the could-have-turned-into-an-affair situation, I thought it was great (for a non-romance book) that both characters took a moment to decide, if they still wanted to be together. After all that they had been through you can't be the same person you were before.

Kat wrote: "Were the Germans the bad guys? Sure. Did the Allies all behaved like the good guys during and after the war? Certainly not."

I didn't join this read Kat, but for sure this is true. The morality of the atomic bombs themselves is a complex topic, but by definition, they were an act of terrorism as they deliberately targeted and killed a huge number of civilians to scare a government into achieving a political/military goal (stopping the war). That can't be a purely good; it just can't. That's one example of many. The Nazi government was doing horrific things and had to be stopped, no doubt. But the Allies were not perfect white knights.