genre: historical fiction
An apartment building can be like a kingdom unto itself. In the Belgium capital of Brussels, 33 Place Brugmann is filled with people from all stages of life. On the cusp of what will become the second World War, suddenly WHO you are and WHERE you are from and WHAT you think about the Nazis is suddenly going to matter very much. Told from the points of view of many different residents, life in an occupied city is deeply complex and our main characters find themselves making moral decisions with far reaching consequences on an almost daily basis.
I tried this in paper form before quickly deciding a full-cast audio might do better to help me keep all the different narrators straight, and I was definitely right. I have read so many different books about this time period that I appreciated this one's focus both on Belgium and on the intricacies of civilian life among both majority and minority groups. Some narrators made me so uncomfortable, it's so hard to know who to trust sometimes and while you just want everyone to be a kind and aware helper, there are always people who side with the antagonists. That's just the unfortunate world we live in. The writing easily kept my attention and while the ending is a bit abrupt, I found myself always eager to spend time in this building, seeing the world through the eyes of its unique and memorable characters.
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