Nice

5+ stars & 9/10 hearts. Oh, how good this book was. I’m having difficulty writing this review. It was just so beautiful and quaint and old-fashioned and happy and sunshiny... I think “beautiful” just sums it up. It was very funny at times, but mostly it tugged at my heart so much. I loved seeing how the war affected them... You don’t often see books from the German POV instead of the Allied one. It was just an amazing, amazing book. I loved everyone... all the character were so real and strong and noble. The stress it lays upon how horrible war is and how the enemy is really people just like us… The big Russians and the tiny German children… my heart. <33 It is brilliantly well-written, and is just so full of truth and beauty and wisdom. I could ramble on but I’ll just say, it is amazing and beautiful and I ended up teary-eyed at the end. <33 Hands-down one of my top 10 favourite books.

A Favourite Quote: “‘Cannon,’ said  Father[.] ‘They could throw a shell from here to the farm and shatter the house.’
“‘Not our house. They wouldn’t!’ exclaimed Jancsi, casting a threatening glance at the cannon. 
“‘No, not our house, thank the Lord,’ sighed Father. ‘But they will shatter houses like ours somewhere, wherever they are going. Little peaceful white houses in Serbia or Russia, homes of little peaceful people such as we are.’” 
A Favourite Beautiful Quote: “‘I want to walk slowly behind the plow; I want to have time to feel the soft crumbling soil under my feet, to smell its rich, moist smell. I want to have time to look at the flowers by the fence, the blue sky above, to listen to the birds and the song of the wind. I don’t want a machine puffing black smoke into God’s clean air, crushing birds’ nests under its cold steel claws, roaring “Hurry-hurry-hurry” into my ears. When day is done, I want to be able to say: “Well done, old friend,” to my horse, rub him clean, feed him sweet-smelling hay, golden oats, and fresh water. At night I want to breathe the clean air of the plains and hear the small noises contented animals make, instead of smelling stale oil and listening to the dead silence of stilled machinery.’”
A Favourite Humorous Quote: “‘You can ride out in the morning, After milking!’ [Father] shouted before his laughing was choked off by the small whirlwind that was Jancsi. He hugged his father with all his might, thumped Uncle Sandor on the back, … and landed a resounding kiss on Mother’s cheek. She held him tight to her, so that the ear-splitting whoop of joy Jancsi managed was partly muffled against her shoulder. Father had turned to Uncle Sandor, who was still coughing from the unexpected attack. ‘I am not experienced in business ways, Sandor,’ Father laughed. ‘Is it customary for a man who has been promoted to choke everybody in sight?’
“‘Well,’ said Uncle Sandor, pretending to be serious, ‘the more accepted procedure is to shake hands and make a speech.’”