My Long List of Impossible Things

by Michelle Barker

A brilliant historical YA that asks: how do you choose between survival and doing the right thing?

The arrival of the Soviet army in Germany at the end of World War II sends sixteen-year-old Katja and her family into turmoil. The fighting has stopped, but German society is in collapse, resulting in tremendous hardship. With their father gone and few resources available to them, Katja and her sister are forced to flee their home, reassured by their mother that if they can just reach a distant friend in a town far away, things will get better. But their harrowing journey brings danger and violence, and Katja needs to summon all her strength to build a new life, just as she’s questioning everything she thought she knew about her country.

Katja’s bravery and defiance help her deal with the emotional and societal upheaval. But how can she stay true to herself and protect the people she loves when each decision has such far-reaching consequences?

Acclaimed writer Michelle Barker’s second novel explores the chaos and destruction of the Second World War from a perspective rarely examined in YA fiction—the implications of the Soviet occupation on a German population grappling with the horrors of Nazism and its aftermath.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, World War II, Fiction, Teen, Germany, War

360 pages, Hardcover

First published February 17, 2020

About the author

I was born and raised in Vancouver. I attended Arts One at UBC, studied for a year at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and graduated with a BA from UBC in English literature. After a short foray into comp lit, I left the Master's program and worked as a research/editing assistant to Sherrill MacLaren. Sailed across the Pacific from Vancouver to Hawaii, had four children, lived for a summer in Montreal, a year in France, and then the Eastern Townships of Quebec for 10 years. After spending 7 years in the Okanagan, I've returned to Vancouver. I received my MFA in creative writing at UBC's optional-residency program in 2015 and work as a senior editor with https://darlingaxe.com

Winner of gold National Magazine award in personal journalism (2002). Finalist for TD Canadian Children's Literature Award (2016), OLA Forest of Reading Golden Oak Award (2017), Chocolate Lily Book Award (2016). Winner of 2017 Surrey International Writers' Conference Storyteller Award.

Besides a chapbook of poetry called Old Growth, Clear-Cut: Poems of Haida Gwaii, a YA fantasy novel, The Beggar King (2013), and a picture book called A Year of Borrowed Men (2016), I've also published poetry, short fiction, and a variety of non-fiction. My poetry has appeared in the Best Canadian Poetry anthology (2011).

My novel, The House of One Thousand Eyes, came out in Fall, 2018 with Annick Press and was named a Best Book of 2018 (YA) by Kirkus Reviews. It won the Next Generation Indie Book Awards (YA) and was a finalist for the Arthur Ellis Award in Canadian Crime Writing and the YALSA Best YA Fiction Award.

My newest novel, My Long List of Impossible Things, came out in Spring, 2020, with Annick Press. It was a finalist for the Vine awards and the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Awards, and was a Junior Library Guild gold standard pick.

I have just published Immersion and Emotion: The Two Pillars of Storytelling, a book about writing co-authored with Darling Axe founder, David Griffin Brown.

Reviews

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Annick Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book. Wow, Michelle Barker does it again! I love how she can take a really hard time in history, and explore literally all aspects of it...both sides of the war, many different opinions, etc. There's no doubt in my mind that Michelle Barker is a fantastic writer. I loved the story, the characters, and the setting. Definitely a great book to have in schools.

[Chrysta · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book jumps right into some heavy topics that young German teens faced during the aftermath of WWII. The ‘Ivan’s’ had invaded and came to treat the German people how their country had been treated. Cold blooded murder, rape and stealing the livelihood of innocent people are all issues our young character, Katja must deal with. Her mother and sister had tried to shield her from the reality but soon the reality of their new world was something they couldn’t hide her from. Katja is quite the spitfire and often times her boldness got her into some major trouble. This was a wonderful YA WWII historical fiction and quite the page turner..

[Bethaney Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book kept my attention the whole time. From the perspective of a teen Katja and her sister, this book gives you a reality of what survival looked like during WWII. As these girls have lost everything except each other, traveling to a another town to people they don’t even know, while trying to keep together what they have left behind, allows you just a taste at what it felt like to live during this time. This book is heart wrenching, time and time again, but in the end shows that there is still good in people in difficult times, even when it is a life or death situation.

Thank you Netgalley and Annick for the ARC of this book!

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over the last few years I've been seeing more YA books based around experiences of WWII that are outside of the norm of what we usually read and learn about regarding that period of history, and this book fits in line with that theme. It takes place in Soviet occupied post-WWII Germany and tells the story of 16 year old Katja, a musical talent with dreams of being a concert pianist, and her older sister Hilde, who are displaced from their home and travel with their mother to seek refuge at a friend's home on the other side of the country. When tragedy suddenly befalls their small family unit at the hands of Soviet soldiers, Katja and Hilde are forced to continue on their own, fending for themselves and using their wits to earn their keep at their mother's friend's house and survive.

The story picks up speed when they arrive at their destination and settle in as best they can, getting jobs on a farm to earn their keep and trying to stay out of the crosshairs of the Soviet soldiers who lurk around town, attempting to restore a civic structure and hunting for former Nazis. But Katja, the more impulsive of the two, can't stop herself from acting rashly out of grief and anger, and her actions have terrible consequences and reverberations throughout the story. I found the last half of this story to be especially gripping and sped through it to see how everything would turn out. While I don't think the execution was perfect and was bothered by some of the liberties the author took, which she acknowledges in her author's note, I still found this to be a captivating story with characters whom you root for despite their flaws and foibles.

Especially poignant is Katja's reckoning with her own role in the events of the war throughout the story. She starts off innocent and naive, seemingly unaware of the tragedies that took place, this despite the fact that she took secret piano lessons from a Jewish man in their small town before he and his family disappeared one day. But the more she learns as facts begin to emerge about the death camps in the aftermath of the war, the more she struggles with the implications of her own willful ignorance and denial of what had been happening all along -- though she was young and shielded from much of the truth while the war was happening, she realizes that by doing nothing though she knew something was wrong she was complicit as a bystander, powerless as she was to stop it.

There's a lot of food for thought and discussion here, and though it is not a perfect, there is merit in discussing that too. War is complex, and this is yet another facet to the story that we don't often learn or read about. I'd pair this on my shelf with other rarely told WWII stories, including Rachel DeWoskin's Someday We Will Fly, which tells the story of Jewish refugees in Shanghai during WWII, Vesper Stamper's What the Night Sings, about a Jewish girl's experience in a displaced persons camp following her liberation from Bergen-Belsen, and Max by Sarah Cohen-Scali, an utterly unique take on the Lebensborn program in Germany during the war.

[Geneviève (thefreckledbookworm) · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing style of this book feels like it's more appropriate for a younger than YA public, but not quite middle grade. But also... this book talks about sexual abuse, rape, violence, genocide, etc. SO BEWARE.

I loved that this book was written from a young German girl's POV during WWII, reminiscent of Salt to the Sea. It was interesting to read and reflect about how a lot of people in Germany weren't necessarily siding with Hitler, and if they did, it was often to protect themselves and their families. Many people didn't quite know what was happening to the Jewish people, only that there were rumours about concentration camps, while nothing seemed certain. While others knew what was happening, but decided to turn a blind eye, in order to stay alive. Like the following quote sais, "any German who survived the war will drag it behind them forever", meaning that the German people let Hitler take power and pass his laws, and they did nothing to stop him. And how they will drag this knowledge for the rest of their lives, knowing that they are partly responsible for the death of so many people... the eradication of so many families.

About the writing style : I have issues with the fact that the first chapters are set during the war, then there's a MAJOR plot twist and boom! You skip to months later, in a post-war Germany. No matter how some elements were heartbreaking to read about, the twists and turns still felt predictable, and I couldn't quite connect with the characters. I did appreciate how every single issue was solved towards the end of the book, even those that seemed secondary. The ending was so beautiful and hopeful! 2.5⭐

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is the cost of doing nothing?

World War II stories are some of my favorite historical fiction to read, but I've read very little about the aftermath of the war. This young adult novel focuses on two sisters, Katja and Hilde, who are fleeing their German village after Russia invaded and took control at the end of the war. Katja is a very impulsive and naive girl who makes rash decisions that often end up causing more trouble than she anticipated. This story is about her coming to terms with her impulsiveness, as well as coming to terms with the guilt many Germans experienced as they realized the atrocities that the Nazis had committed.

This story is about survival, guilt, and responsibility. The characters felt very real, and the situations they found themselves in, as well as the ways that they each dealt with them, were very realistic and a great exploration of humanity. Some people will look for scapegoats, some will completely ignore the tragedy around them while focusing on their own survival, and others will do what they can to help. I really appreciate reading from different perspectives, and seeing the way that ordinary Germans viewed what was happening. I also greatly appreciate that the author didn't try to make the Germans out to be sympathetic victims - they may not all have participated in the Nazis crimes, but they all had to learn to live with the knowledge that they looked the other way rather than fight against what they saw happening. The author did a fantastic job of exploring that.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first time reading a book detailing a German's viewpoint after WWII when Russia invades Germany. Katja, her sister Hilde, and their mother are forced out of their house when Soviet troops take over their village. The family begins a long and dangerous journey to another town, hoping that a long distance relative will be there to offer them food and protection. Their luck only grows worse as they travel, and Katja and Hilde learn they have to rely on each other if they want to make it to their relative's house alive.

Katja was written as a sheltered and naive girl with no understanding or idea of what was actually happening around her. Her mother and Hilde made sure she was kept in the dark when the war was going on. When Katja learned about the death camps, she refused to believe they existed, and then the Soviets explained that they were enacting revenge on the Germans for what the Germans did to them. The more Katja learned about what her countrymen did, the more she connected the dots on past memories and realized that the truth had been there from the start.

I loved reading Katja's story, but her flaws of instantly trusting and not thinking before she spoke/acted were frustrating since she made the same mistakes over and over again. I don't believe she actually learned from all her mistakes since she never changed. On the other hand, she was quite brave and that I admired.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

[Mary Bronson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a very powerful book about the end of the war and the aftermath that happened and how it was still hard for people to pick up the pieces and some areas were still under control of Soviet forces. Katja was an interesting character. She is a young girl who is driven out of her home with her mother and sister. Then tragedy happens and Katja and her sister Hilda make it to a small village where relatives live and see if they will take them in. While living there the hardship is real and survival is also real, but at what cost. Katja must choose between right and wrong. The only peace she can get is playing this old piano she finds in the streets. In her mind music always makes things better.

[Gabriele Goldstone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great to read a well researched book about the consequences of war told from the German perspective. The Soviet advance at the end of the Second World War had a huge impact on both my parents.

While Katja's impulsive nature underlines her immaturity and lands her in a lot of trouble, she learns from her mistakes. The tension builds near the end and I found myself anxiously reading on, as Katja makes difficult decisions and grows up in the process.

[Keely Langford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’d say 4.5 really...
Quickly absorbing, with that don’t want to put it down quality (Though it’s also Covid times and the beginning is a bit on the bleaker side...).
What Germany is like on the other side of the war, when you’re young and just starting to understand the deeper implications of, well, being German.
Some excellent moments and things that ground it so you FEEL it, not just a story but something lived in.

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an eARC copy of this book from the publisher. Here is my honest review.

My Long List of Impossible Things offers a unique perspective in the World War II historical fiction genre. Our heroine, Katja, is older, a teenager, rather than an adult or a child/tween. While her family wasn't pro-Nazi, they were complacent in the sense that they did their best to stay out of the fray. The story begins after the Germans have been defeated and the Soviets are sweeping through, pillaging and seeking revenge as they restore order. Even though the war is over, Katja, along with her mother and sister, are forced to flee their home. They set off for a distant "relative"; they encounter hardship on the journey and the girls are forced to continue without their mother. They must rely on subterfuge to reach safety. Once arriving at their destination, they shroud themselves in half-truths in order to gain refuge.

In the vein of The Tatooist of Auschwitz, this book tackles the question: What would you do to survive? Some will view Katja and her sister's actions with distaste while others will see the practicality in using whatever advantage one has. Every character in this book has flaws that shape their actions. Each of them have secrets and seem to approach their relationships with an attitude of what's in it for me? Which is interesting because I tend to think this attitude has only begun to exist since the 1980s.

Katja is a pianist, who had much promise and big dreams. Barker effectively wove music through the story. I found myself pulling up the pieces she mentioned to play in the background. Katja keeps a running mental list of random, significant and insignificant things in her world. This was the other element that I enjoyed most in the book. Barker captures the despair and confusion of this period of time.

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a post WWII German novel memoir trope, showing how much Germans suffered, pleading sympathy for what they didn't know, making themselves out like the ultimate victim..

This novel isn't that..

Barker makes it quite clear that Katja's life during the war is lived within a bubble of prosperity and ignorance. That bubble suddenly bursts as the war ends with the arrival of the Soviets and her family is turfed from their home with minutes' notice and must embark on a horrific trek. Katja experiences the sort of upheaval that millions of Eastern European civilians had experienced during the previous six years of brutal Nazi and Soviet occupation.

Barker's creates fully fleshed characters with all of their flaws and foibles and because there is no sugar-coating, the story resonates as utterly authentic. This is an absorbing story and I found myself weeping more than once. I liked everything about this novel. Highly recommended.

[Kate Waggoner · Rating 4 out of 5]

@Kidlitexchange

Thank you to the publisher, @annick_press, for sharing an advance copy of My Long List of Impossible Things by Michelle Barker with the #Kidlitexchange network. This book will be released March 10, 2020. All opinions are my own.

WWII is over and Katja, her mother, and her sister, Hilde, are living in the aftermath. The Soviets have invaded and German society is in collapse. One day soldiers appear at their door and give them only a few minutes to pack their things and leave. Katja's mom is sure that if they reach a distant friend, Katja's "Auntie" Isle, things will go better for them. They journey is long and devastating and causes Katja to question everything she knows about herself and the country she thought she knew.

My Long List of Impossible Things is a YA historical fiction novel about the aftermath of WWII. I enjoyed that I learned about a point in history that I didn't know about and that not many MG and YA historical fiction books are written about: the period immediately following the war when Soviet soldiers invaded Germany. During this time, they were attempting to establish control and an organizational system, but not all soldiers wanted to be there and many acted on their own seeking revenge for the way the Nazis treated Russians during the war.

"So many words had been turned upside down over the past six years of war. To me it seemed like the bravest act in the world to refuse to do something if it was wrong." -- My Long List of Impossible Things (p. 18), Michelle Barker.

This book is less about a physical journey and more about an emotional/mental journey. It focuses on the following question: how do you choose between survival and doing the right thing? It is this focus that is one of my favorite things about the book. Katja struggles throughout the book with doing the right thing versus the safe and/or expected thing. Katja's story is full of what may be considered mistakes. She looks back on them and questions if she could have done better. Another question raised, is how much responsibility do citizens bear for the actions of their government? It is easy to look back on a historical event and say, "I would have done this." Her journey reminds the reader that we do have a choice, but also that not all choices are easy to make. It also reminds us about our collective responsibility to stand up when we see something isn't right.

I enjoyed My Long List of Impossible Things by Michelle Barker. It is an eye-opening and heartbreaking novel. I liked that the story was told from the POV of a German girl as it's a perspective not often seen. Katja's perspective is what makes the delivery of the theme so powerful. I will admit that this book does move a bit slowly, and it did take a while for me to get into it. It also includes violence, rape, and murder making it less appropriate for younger readers (specifically MG).

[MaryLou Driedger · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Maybe life was an uphill/downhill sort of thing. You spent the first part getting things- a family, an education and friends and then the rest of your life losing them until you were left with nothing."
That is just one of the keen observations I appreciated in the novel My Long List of Impossible Things by Michelle Barker. She tells a World War II story from the point of view of a young  German girl who must flee with her family when the Soviet Army occupies her country at the end of the war.  Katja is a sixteen-year-old with a mind of her own. 
As Katja and her family try to survive the Soviet occupation Katja slowly becomes more aware of what has happened to the Jewish people she knew, including her much-beloved piano teacher. Katja is a musician and Michelle Barker weaves interesting references to music throughout her novel.
The novel gets its name from the fact that Katja is constantly creating lists.  It might be a list of things the war has stolen from her or a list of reasons to keep secrets or a list of things she hates to do.
I joined a book club for children's writers this year.  The members of our group are authors of picture books, middle-grade novels, non-fiction titles, and books aimed at the teen and young adult audience. One of our goals for reading and discussing the books is to see what we can learn from them to help us with our own writing.
The book The Long List of Impossible Things provided a fine lesson about using metaphor in my own writing. Some examples.........

"Hilde trailed a conversation behind her like a scarf."

"So many things were breakable now, countries, music, books, people. "

"If his blue eyes had been stones, I think I would have kept them in my pocket for luck."

[Laura Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started by introducing us to the two main character, Katja and her older sister Hilde. Katja is a piano player who has dreams of playing famously. They are German girls living with their mother alone since their father died in the war. It is now 1945 and the war is coming to an end, that doesn't stop Soviet soldiers from coming to their house, raiding their things and then kicking them out. Their mother has a plan and gets them to pack a bag each and they will travel to a dear friend of hers from childhood. She tells the girls it is their Aunt Ilse and Uncle Otto's place. During their travel tragedy unfolds leaving the girls alone. After weeks of traveling the war is over and they make it to Aunt Ilse's.
Throughout the book the girls are working to make themselves valuable to their Aunt and Uncle, as well as dealing with the Soviet soldiers that remain occupying the town. Katja is a brave girl who does not see herself that way, she tends to act before thinking and gets into trouble that not only risks her life, but the life of her family. The piano playing by Katja throughout this book bring such beauty to a dark time; as if there is still hope and she is not giving up.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, although some of the violent scenes made me wonder about it being targeted as a young adult book.
The story was well told and the characters were interesting and I felt connected to them while reading.
Thank you @netgally and @AnnickPress for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Michelle Kidwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Long List of Impossible Things
by Michelle Barker

Annick Press Ltd.

Annick Press
Historical Fiction , Teens & YA




Pub Date 10 Mar 2020


I am reviewing a copy of My Long List of Impossible Things from Annick Press Ltd and Netgalley:


When the soviet army arrives in Germany at the end of World War 2 Katharine and her families world is turned into turmoil. The fighting has stopped but now Soviet Soldiers are forcing families to live there homes with no way to support themselves. The fighting has stopped but German society is in a state of collapse, leading to unimaginable hardships. They faced hunger with no food anywhere, and millions were forced to wander the countryside with nowhere to go. They must flee there home but Katja and her sister will face danger and violence on this harrowing Journey. Katja will have to find the strength to build a new life, even as she questions everything she thought she knew about her country.



It is Katja’s bravery and defiance that help her deal with both her emotional upheaval and her societal upheaval. But will she be able to stay true to herself and still protect her loved ones at a time when every decision can have far reaching consequences.?




My List of Impossible Things is a powerful story of a young woman’s awakening to what her country, Germany did during The Holocaust. It is a story of great pain, and loss but more importantly it is a story of hope and resilience.



I give My List of Impossible Things five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

[Lindsey (Bring My Books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have really been enjoying this trend in publishing where we are getting more stories of what was happening in Europe immediately following WWII, and for that reason I was very excited when I came across My Long List of Impossible Things, a story about a German teenager that must come to terms with the truths of what her countrymen did during the war, all while trying to survive the Soviets.

I'm a little torn on a lot of aspects of this book - I thought the writing was mostly good, and I mostly enjoyed the plot, and I sometimes liked the characters ... but never enough of any one of these things to turn it from an okay book to a great one (in my eyes). The main character, Katja, seemed to act way younger than her 16 years - and while I know that teenagers have been very similar in lots of ways for hundreds of years, I would have expected a 16yo in post WWII Germany to have a little bit more awareness of herself and those around her. This made the reach for believability somewhat of a strain at times.

The author's note at the end (as well as her research notes) helped me look at the book a bit differently immediately upon finishing, and definitely helped improve my views on the overall story - so I would make sure to check that out if you pick this one up!

Thank you to NetGalley, Annick Press, & Ingram Publisher Services for the opportunity to read and review this book before it's publication date! This in no way affected my review, opinions are my own.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1945, Kaja, her mother and her sister live on a farm in Germany. Her father was a soldier who died in the war. Life is difficult as the Jews are being taken to death camps. Her Jewish piano teacher’s wife goes to visit Katja’s mother for help. She is turned away. It is decided that the three of them will leave and go to live with Aunt Ilse and Uncle Otto. Why? On their walk to them the Russian soldiers shoot the mother dead. Why? Katja and her sister Hilde decide to continue on to Aunt Ilse. After they make it to Aunt Ilse, they must make themselves essential in order to stay there. Katja is constantly reckless in what she does. She does things without thinking what the consequences will be.

This historical novel is about the chaos after World War Two ended. The Russians in this book threw innocent people from their homes. I say innocent as they just wanted to survive not because of what happened in the death camps. There are choices and consequences through the novel which made me aware of what happened after WW2. It is a novel about survival.

Disclaimer: I received an arc of this ebook from the author/publisher from Netgalley. I wasn’t obligated to write a favorable review or any review at all. The opinions expressed are strictly my own.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully written and highly readable story of a 16 year old girl in post war Germany, straddling the space between childhood and adulthood as she and her fellow Germans come to terms with the horrors committed by their government during the war.

Katja is enthusiastic, impulsive, musically gifted, and filled with dreams - like all of us at 16. She feels the longings of a first crush, but on a Soviet soldier - like the soldiers that mercilessly shot her mother. The book is all about impossible dilemmas, hard enough to face for adults. Harder for someone just coming into adult awareness. In the tension of making the right choices, we see Katja grow up into someone both responsive and responsible.

This book feels like essential reading, 80 years after the story takes place. Political division, tribalism, hate speech, and propaganda abound. The fate of the world feels precarious. And we need to make decisions about what we will and will not allow our governments to do and become to avoid the crushing violence and fear that the characters in this book faced.

I highly recommend this book, both for teens and adults. It would be a great classroom assignment for students of both literature and history.

[S. Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this young adult novel of World War II, the author applies her thorough research to create a story that depicts wartime's impacts on civilian populations and raises uncomfortable questions about responsibility, denial, and guilt. Protagonist Katja is a music-loving German teenager who understands little about Nazi policies of evil, having been sheltered from such knowledge by her middle class farming family even as the war went on around them. Then suddenly the conflict is over, Russian victors are in charge of the local area, and Germans are not being treated with kindness. Fleeing their ransacked home and mourning their parents' deaths, Katja and elder sister Hilde manage to find reluctant shelter with a long-ago friend of their mother, but life in the occupied town is uncomfortable at best and often no better than brutal. This harrowing, emotionally charged tale offers numerous details that can spark meaningful classroom and family discussions. Note: The publisher supplied an advance reading copy via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

[Kendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, a young woman and her older sister must each find their own ways of surviving in post-WWII Germany, and must examine and develop their own personal ethics, beliefs, and senses of guilt and responsibility. Initially accompanied by their mother, they leave home when Soviet soldiers arrive, trekking to the home of a friend of their mother's from long ago. Once settled in a small town, they seek work, safety, and daily necessities while trying to negotiate the occupying Soviets, the black market, and other threats. The narrator isn't particularly smart or likable, but she comes across as very real, and that's what makes this book work. I think readers will wince at her immaturity and celebrate her moments of cleverness, and mourn with her and feel her confusion and ultimately have to decide how they feel about her actions and culpabilities and acts of bravery. This would be good for a book group, especially one for younger readers.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This is an amazing YA read about WWII. The theme of the choices we make floats through this book as well as the power of family. I loved this book and have been searching for other YA titles like Salt to the Sea and The WAr I finally won. This book is not graphic in the details of the holocaust and also sheds light on both German and Soviet hardships. Katja is the ma in character, a 16 year girl with her sister Holds who are forced to leave home. At the hand of Russians. A web of falsehoods along the way has Katja making a list of impossible tgings. The novel has many great talking points for discussion such as what makes a hero? I loved the chapter titles and simply everything else about this book. Well researched and written; I can't wait to read more by this author!!!!

[Sherry Chiger · Rating 4 out of 5]

An evocative, fast-paced, and quite moving story of what life was like for Germans in the Soviet sector after World War II, "My Long List of Impossible Things" might be classified as young-adult fiction, but as an old(er) adult I didn't see much difference between this and an "adult" novel. The "moral"—make that "morals"—is not hammered home but instead comes to bloom organically, and the relationship between the two sisters at the heart of the book is beautifully—and because these are teen girls, after all, frustratingly—true to life. My only carps are that the narrator often seems much younger than 16 (was she "aged up" to make the book more commercial?) and the loose ends are tied up a bit too predictably—but I did tear up nonetheless.

Thank you, Annick Press and NetGalley, for giving me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I truly am conflicted. WWII is one of my favorite things to study, so naturally, it is one of my favorite subjects to read about in historical fiction. So, seeing this book was available, I thought it would scratch that itch for WWII fiction that I've had for a while.

That being said, I liked this book, but "like" is as far as I am willing to go with it. It is written for young adults, but something about the writing makes it feel like it is aimed for a younger audience. Some of the content -- what you would expect from post-War Europe -- however, was distinctively adult. I felt that there were moments where Katja was your typical teenager, rash and impulsive, but there were other times she stepped up to the plate and held her own.

[Jane Petermeier · Rating 4 out of 5]

YA. Library loan. World War II. Soviets in Post War Germany
A young girl Katarina her sister Hilde and mother must leave their home.

The remaining story brings us a harsh reality of war and it’s remnants.

What does one do with resentment? Anger? Fear? Guilt?

These characters are all in their own trauma trying to continue to live in a post war world

How can anyone know how they would behave until presented with the situation?

The authors purpose of the story? Perhaps it is to say “one never knows”

A gentle but important reminder that human behavior (even our own behavior) is unpredictable … leaving one feeling misunderstood, confused and altered.
Thankfully as humans we come to understand this is a part of the human condition and there are many who will extend grace and kindness to those who desperately need it.

[Tanya Bellehumeur-Allatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a truly wonderful book. I highly recommend it. You will fall in love with the main character, Katja, as she navigates homelessness, dislocation, the loss of her beloved mother and the disillusionment and brokenness of post-war Germany under Soviet occupation.

From a writing standpoint, there's lots to admire here. The prose is luminous (think All the Light we Cannot See), the storyline zips along and includes a mystery and a love story (think A Northern Light)
the research is impeccable (think Salt to the Sea).

Prepare to have your nose glued to the page right up to the final, satisfying last sentence.

This book is a triumph.

[Alex Nonymous · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Annick Press for providing a digital review copy of My Long List of Impossible Things.

Some books have sad endings. Some books have sad beginnings. Some books have something tragic happen in their center to shift the narrative. My Long List of Impossible Things looked at those books, said bet, and proceeded to stomp on my heart every few pages.

I love that absolutely nobody in this book is a 'good person' because immediately after WWII, there's not much time to be entirely good. A great book with complex characters, a beautifully story about hope and loss and guilt and sacrifice, and a lot of german swears.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting historical fiction read about 2 young sisters living in Germany after the war. It talks about how the Germans felt. Did they know exactly what was going on in the concentration camps? Were they at fault because of what Hitler did? I enjoyed the characters but I thought there was too much information about being a concert pianist in it. The story also dragged out a little too long for me. I also thought the ending was a little unrealistic given the way the aunt was acting in the whole book. But all in all, it was an interesting read. Thanks to NetGalley for giving me a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

[K. Applebee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a difficult time getting lost in this book, but by chapter five, I had to keep reading. Katja's story is one that I have not often encountered in YA lit - Germany immediately after Hitler's death and at the beginning of the Soviet occupation. Although there are big issues that could have been explored in depth, I do like how Katja discovers them for herself and realizes that there was more happening during the war than she was actively aware of.

[Sari Bailey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book a bit scattered. I had to reread multiple chapters just to figure out if I missed something. It wasn't bad but it didn't feel cohesive.

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.