Tensely emotional ... With a perceptive lens on the challenges of whittling away grievances that have built up over years, The Wartime Sisters is a powerful pressure cooker of a family drama.
Though 'melodramatic' is often used in a pejorative sense, it’s a term that works well to characterize The Wartime Sisters. The novel has a theatrical feel, often choosing dialogue as its primary storytelling tool. The narrative certainly will stir readers’ imaginations and emotions. Moreover, Lynda Cohen Loigman’s portrait of the Springfield Armory complex as a physical and sociological environment is superb.
A fast-paced and beautifully written tale, Lynda Cohen Loigman’s latest brilliantly portrays tragedy, triumph and the complicated nature of family. The Wartime Sisters shows that the personal wars in life can sometimes mirror the larger ones playing out all around us—and that the bond of sisters, no matter how fraught with turmoil, can never truly be broken.
With tension that is palpable on every page, The Wartime Sisters is a compelling and heartfelt look at sisterhood and the pains of comparisons between two wildly different women ... The Wartime Sisters is not your typical World War II novel. The war is felt on every page, but this is not a book full of battles and collateral damage ... Loigman brilliantly captures the dynamics that take hold of sisters, especially when they are very different. Her portrayals of resentment and jealousy are poignant and captivating, and I love that she shows readers how every small hurt and indiscretion can add up in a complex but believable way.
The stark, painful depiction of 'looks-ism,' 1930s style, undercuts the anodyne message of the novel’s resolution ... Though it highlights historic advances for women, this book is really about gender discrimination in the home.
With measured, lucid prose, Loigman tells a moving story of women coming together in the face of difficulties, both personal and global, and doing anything to succeed.
