I recognize the talent in this book, but after having consumed a lot of media (both books and films) about the Holocaust, I didn't find this book particularly noteworthy. I think I might have appreciated this more if it had been my introduction to Holocaust-related stories. Despite a strong beginning and ending, I thought that the middle 50% could have been reduced significantly. Overall, I found this book to be way overrated. It felt like an unnecessarily drawn out and more literary version of Lois Lowry's Number the Stars, which I like significantly more.