I write this review under severe duress. 
 Three-star books are always difficult to review, aren't they? They are difficult for me, mostly because I am so dispassionate about them. It's much easier to review something you love, or something you hate, rather than something you've half-forgotten before you even get to your local library's return box. 
 So this book is fine. Fine. It's the story of a young German girl caught in the path of the advancing Nazi regime during World War II. For many German villagers in the late 30s and early 40s, the Third Reich was like a quiet glacier, slowly encroaching on their lives--it moved languidly enough that disaster seemed never truly imminent (there is always plenty of time to get out of the way), yet it had enough momentum to churn to pulp anything that was unfortunate enough to meet its frothing jaws. 
 What annoyed me about this book, however, was its distracting style of storytelling. It is told from the point-of-view of the Grim Reaper, the personification of death. I would have actually been okay with this except Death is a grating little sonofabitch. He pretends to keep a distance from the German girl whose story he's telling, representing himself as a disinterested party whose job is simply to harvest souls from their lifeless hosts, but over time he becomes clearly vested in her story, and for this he is a failure. I mean, if death and taxes are the only two things I can count on, and the IRS is a bullshit government arm that can't find its asshole with a flashlight, then I need to be able to depend on Death not being a loser. 
 Additionally, I specifically detested the 
 * * * Things That Irritate Me * * * 
 1. These interjections. 
 2. Interjections like these. 
 interjections, which occur frequently in this novel. 
 That said, I think this book is important for its one shining success, which is to remind us that civilian populations of even aggressor countries are innocent victims. Try to keep this in mind the next time your idiot friend says something like, "Dude, we should totally just bomb the fuck out of [insert Middle Eastern country here]." 
 My cousin told me I had to review this book or she would sic the Andover Ladies of Literature on me and I do not wish to scuffle with those broads.