Book Review: The Lullaby of Polish Girls

Our book club at work decided on my most recent read - The Lullaby of Polish Girls.  I was intrigued by the title, but never dreamed I would enjoy it as much as I did.  It was a fantastic book!

 

The book unfolds via a series of flashbacks and current day snippets of life for Anna, Kamila, and Justyna.  The flashbacks take place in Kielce, Poland where the ladies spent summers together in their youth.  Anna was born in Poland, but moved to America very early in her life.  She returns to Poland to visit each summer and built a friendship with Kamila and Justyna during these youthful years.  In current day, each of the ladies is going through a rough patch in their life.  They haven't been in touch for some time, but all find themselves longing for the freedom of those youthful summers together.

I loved this story.  I really enjoyed the writing style.  It was fun to follow three totally different stories that all connecting in various ways.  I also really liked the addition of a note from the author at the beginning of the book explaining a bit about Polish language.  The book was full of Polish phrases and various words here and there.  I really enjoyed that aspect.  I was never at a loss while reading even though I wasn't aware of what any of the terms meant.  I thought it really added to the story in a lot of ways.

Dagmara Dominczyk (center) was a fun guest at our NFL Book Club.

Our book club was fortunate enough to have the author stop by for a discussion a couple weeks ago.  I thoroughly enjoyed her visit with us.  This was her first novel, but she shared ideas with us on a couple others she had in the pipeline.  She explained her writing process which I found to be quite interesting.  Dag was very down to earth and honest.  It was a pleasure to listen to her stories and vision regarding The Lullaby of Polish Girls.  It was clear how passionate she was about writing this story and that most definitely comes through in the finished product!

I would highly recommend reading The Lullaby of Polish Girls.  I'd say it is likely most enjoyable for the female reader, but could hold the interest of anyone.  I was sucked right into it from the beginning.  It does have some strong language and a few graphic scenes, but all necessary to paint the full picture of its characters.  I loved the book, and I know you will, too.

Hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! 

Andrea :)