I was looking for this thread, so thanks for the re-hash.
I finished this book (finally!!!!!), on the weekend.
I was absolutely determined to read it, and I have to say I am glad I did.
It took me three wks, which is eternity for me book wise. To give some idea, I have read a whole book and am now half way tho another, since friday when I finished. I am a QUICK reader!.
I won;t deny it is an exhaustingly hard book to read, and in parts also quite painful. It is very hard to also garner sympathy for the german people after all the history lessons of childhood making us feel that they were so bad during the war.
and then, you remember that this book is fiction!!
What makes me recommend it tho.......it reduced me to a sobbing heap at the end, which is my way of realising that it is a book that holds me and makes me fall in love with the characters.
BUT
it is a book with 460 pages, and it was only during the last 100 that I fell in love with it.