What I’m Reading: The Dynamite Room

I just finished up listening to The Dynamite Room: A Novel by Jason Hewitt.  I grabbed it up from my online library without even reading the description.  I thought I could tell by the cover that it was likely historical fiction and that was enough for me at the time.  Lately the library doesn’t seem to be adding as many audio books and that’s made me sad so once anything new comes and it looks remotely interesting, I put it on my holds list.

So what did I think about the book…well to start off with the book happens over a short period of time (not including flashbacks).  This is something I prefer.  I’ve found that if a story can take place over a year, I seem to like those books better.  Often authors span a book over years or worse even decades and then I end up feeling disconnected to the characters.  It’s almost like moving away from a friend and feeling like I need to reconnect when books jump ahead 10 years.

Anyway..back to the book.  I almost quit on it.  It seemed a little slow.  I felt like I was waiting and waiting for the punch line….I started to get afraid that well..maybe there wasn’t a punch line…but there had to be.  Somehow the author had to wrap this all together and connect the loose ends….and he did.  I ended up liking the book.  In the book at one point this 11 year old girl goes from holding a teddy bear for comfort to wanting to entice the gentleman in the book.  I don’t see that as being possible but other than that..a good story.

Here’s what Amazon has to say, “In July 1940, eleven-year-old Lydia escapes life as a child evacuee in Wales. She arrives home to her English village, gas mask in tow, only to find it abandoned. Her family’s house is shuttered and empty. Lydia settles in though, determined to wait out the war.

Later that night he arrives: a wounded soldier, gun-wielding, heralding a full-blown German invasion. He says he won’t hurt Lydia, but she cannot leave the house.

The unlikely pair coexists in their claustrophobic confines, becoming dependent on each other for survival. Lydia soon realizes that the soldier knows more than he should about her family–and that he’s plotting something for them both.

Eerie, gripping, and incredibly moving, The Dynamite Room brings an original and contemporary resonance to the great tradition of war classics. ”

Amazon readers say 4.0 stars.  I think I’d give it 4.2.  Admittedly, I was tempted to give up on the book…but the ending turned out to be a real winner!