Saturday, August 9, 2014

Book Review from Callum who traveled to Norway


A book review for Shadow on the Mountain

         Shadow on the mountain is a book about Norway’s resistance during the second
world war. It is based around three characters, Espen, the main character, Ingrid, his
sister, and Aksel, a Gestapo officer. It’s told from their points of view but not in first
person. Espen is a boy, who starts off the book at thirteen, and is eighteen the end of the
book. He is a part of Norway’s underground, and is the same age as Aksel. Aksel is a
Gestapo officer who thinks, along with many Norwegian Gestapo,  that Nazi Germany is
the right way for Norway to be run. Ingrid starts the war at ten and is 15 by the end of the
book. She is Espen’s sister, and carries around diaries that are very harmful to her
existence. She learns more and more about Espen’s secret life as the story progresses.
         Espen and his friends, Per, Gus, Leif, and Stein are part of a soccer team. As the
Nazi’s become more and more involved with people’s life, their soccer team gets
controlled by Nazi’s and Aksel. Looking for something else to do, the guys meet up in
the woods. They decide they want to be remembered as heroes in this war and will do
anything to help beat the Germans. They join the resistance along with Espen,
codenamed Odin, and together help and risk their lives. Espen and his friends face
a lot of tasks that will require their lives if failed.        
       The book is based on a real life event. At the end you learn about the real life of
Espen. The book as a whole is very interesting, and I would recommend it to anyone
going to Norway, or looking for a spy and war book to satisfy your reading cravings.                                                                                          
       You can learn more about Norway’s resistance at the Norway Resistance museum in
Oslo. It features exhibits showing stuff about the war. So many people were working
underground it made the Nazi’s look stupid! One guy put his diary on toilet paper. It
shows you how serious the penalties were for owning something such as a radio or a
censored book. The book and the museum made me realize just how bad they suffered.
It made me super happy to be born after the war.

                                                                   - Callum M.

1 comment:

  1. Callum, I'm glad that you visited the Norway Resistance Museum in Oslo on your recent trip to Denmark. I'm sure that reading this book helped you appreciate the museum visit even more since you had some important background knowledge about the Norwegian Resistance movement. Summer is the perfect time to link reading to places that you'll visit. It's always fun to read a book that connects you to the events that occurred in a region or country you're visiting.

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