Side note: I just updated my lists (fiction and nonfiction) of what I've got waiting for me to read. Faced with the number of books waiting, I've decided to blast through some of the shorter ones to give myself a sense of progress.
Donald was captured in 1943 and spent time in Stalag Luft III. The book has a brief overview in the author's words of his time. After that, his letters home are published with details added by the editor.
There isn't much to say. The book is 98 pages, but I don't feel like I know Donald any better. I definitely don't know much about what he went through while he was a POW. The letters from the camp were understandably vague and didn't add much to my knowledge of his character. The weird unanswered questions added by the editor didn't help, either. "What did he feel at this time?" I don't know and neither did she.
The "great escape" mentioned is a bit deceiving. Donald doesn't try to escape the camp. I'm guessing the title is meant to connect the movie The Great Escape (the prisoners escaped from Stalag Luft III) to Donald making it out of the war alive. Not sure about that, but it's my theory.
I mention both the author and editor in this case because it feels like the author does more writing than Donald. She adds a lot of random thoughts and repeats tidbits from the previous letter/section. She also repeats information from earlier in the book later on. I think the best part was probably the Further Reading section at the end. If you want to learn more about what men went through in that camp, I think one of those books would be your best bet. This seems like one of those books that would be best appreciated by a member of the family.
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