Book Review - "All That I Am"

Well I'm back, 2 days in a row! I have recently finished reading a book called All That I Am by Anna Funder. It won the 2012 Miles Franklin Literary Award amongst other awards. The book is set in modern day Sydney through the eyes of an elderly lady looking back to her life in Germany in the early 1930's when Hitler came to power. It is about the difficulties faced by the Jews and their brave resistance to Nazism causing them to flee the country and live in exile. They tried to continue their resistance movement with great difficulty and trepidation. This is a true story and very thought provoking.
I thought it must be a good book to win all of these awards and to be in the top 5 on the weekly reading lists. Well I must say that it was not an easy read but I am glad that I did persevere. The book swaps alternate chapters between two characters, Ruth and Toller. This makes it difficult for a slow reader like me who may only picks the book up once a week but for the fast reader who reads daily this wouldn't be a problem. I was surprised at the liberation of young women in this era in Europe with talk of speaking out, free sex, abortions and drinking. They were very brave souls who stood up for what they believed even though others were being executed around them. The book gives a good insight into the struggle of the Jews and I feel richer for having read this book.
SCORE: 7/10
Have a beautiful day.
Rach xx