They Went Left vs. When the Ground is Hard

Shelley’s Thoughts:

It is always fun when my expectations are tossed aside. I chose this bracket because I recognized Monica Hesse’s name and I had high hopes for the novel They Went Left. Without giving too much away, the story was a captivating one. The protagonist, Zofia, is a young Jewish girl from Poland who is searching for her younger brother in the months after WW II. She is driven by the promise to her brother that she will find him once the war is over.  An interesting part to this story is that it takes place very close to the end of the war. This is a time period that is full of questions - Where did the refugees go? Who was looking after them in this place that has already been ravaged by war? How did people reconnect with family? Where do they go? Another idea that was developed was the “nothing girls.” These are the young girls who physically survive the concentration camps, but they are broken emotionally. They are hospitalized because they are unable to look after themselves.  While I was impressed with the different focus for the novel, and a few of the surprises, I did find my choice lies with the second novel.

The novel When The Ground is Hard was an emotional read for me. There are moments where I was very uncomfortable, but the moments of courage that these female characters experience were wonderful. It is a story obviously about race and the impact of mixed race during the late 1960s. But I was really intrigued about the narrator’s realizations about being a female during this time. There is danger lurking everywhere because they are female with the additional element of being mixed race living in Swaziland. There are many elements to connect with the high school experience as well: mean girls, cliques, social hierarchy, favoritism etc. But as a woman, the saying “when the ground is hard, the women dance” is as true now as it was 50 or 200 years ago. I guess I am looking at this through the “feminist lens”!!  

So my vote is the latter one.  I hate it when there are two solid contenders. Hopefully, there will be more that are this good.

(The rest of the Eastglen team had some great discussions about both books and also vote for When the Ground is Hard to go forward. Thank you, Shelley, for blogging for us!) 

PS - Check out this young person's very cool art project/review about When the Ground is Hard!