This really was a book of two halves!

Whilst the first part was absorbing and gave a fascinating insight into the effects of propaganda on young boys in the Hitler Youth, the second half takes a dark sinister turn that makes for uncomfortable and quite frankly disturbing reading.

I’m not sure when I’ll get to see Taika Waititi’s take in the more satirical pleasing JoJo Rabbit, but the trailer seems he’s taken all the best elements of the first part and enhanced it...

Leunens certainly sets the 1930’s mood perfectly as young Johannes is caught up with the excitement of the being part of the Führer future, so is immediately conflicted once discovering a Jewish girl being safely hidden at his home by his parents.

It’s once he starts getting to know Elsa that he starts to question if the methodology he’s been taught was in fact right, soon smitten by her Johannes is prepared to go at great lengths to keep her safe - but to what extent.

I had high hopes for this novel by that point with a strong message of togetherness and kindness on the backdrop of war, I guess the author was trying to highlight the ideology and masculine pride unfortunately was too much for Johannes.

Maybe watch the movie instead... 2.5/5.140 s1 comment Julie2,100 36

I listened to this with my husband. We were inspired to read Caging Skies after enjoying the movie, Jojo Rabbit. Taika Waititi wrote the screenplay, directed and starred in Jojo Rabbit, which was inspired by Caging Skies. The movie was a great satire and Waititi's unique quirky humor added some levity. We assumed that the book would be similar to the movie.

At first, we enjoyed the book, which is well written. Then, gradually, it seemed to part company entirely with the movie storyline and go into darker realms than I felt willing to go. I discovered I was tuning out the narrator in an effort to avoid feeling down and considered quitting. However, we really wanted to finish the book, so, we agreed to limiting our listening to a half hour per day, which turned out to be a good arrangement and we were able to make it to the finish line.

Macabre quote that captured my attention: "Half of it was as it had been, but the scar pulled my lips on the marred side, stretching them out in a slight smile as though death never wanted me to forget it had played a joke on me. Instead of me joining it, it had joined me, and was alive and walking with me, grinning at my every move."

Favorite quote: "Lies are easy friends, there to help you out of troubled waters. Short term. But long term, they're traitors only there to make a wreckage out of your life ...."historical-fiction61 s Maria Espadinha1,050 442

A Dark Fairy Tale


**************Some Spoilers Ahead*************

He was a nice boy so manny others, until Hitler’s Youth caught him. He was sent to fight, got seriously wounded and had to return home. There he met a Jewish girl hidden by his parents who were both active opponents to the third reich.

What to do with that girl?
Telling the authorities seemed the right thing, but... that would be betraying his family principles. Hence, he remained silent

Are you thinking about a fairy tale between the Jewish girl and the Nazi boy?!

Well... imagination has no chains nor boundaries, but... could a member of Hitler’s Youth be capable of love?! Was he still a whole human? Or a lil monster? A twisted being — an aberration created by Nazism?!...

This is one of those stories where reality overlaps imagination. J, the main character of the plot, stands for all those kids who were deprived of a healthy youth, to become war freaks — slaves of a crazy political regime! ??

https://www.facinghistory.org/resourc...56 s Maria Espadinha1,050 442

Hitler's Monsters

Much has been written about the Holocaust, but no book has ever addressed all the manipulation and brainwashing that turned young people into monsters — slaves and servers of the Third Reich madness!

Boys and girls turned into twisted human beings, marked for life! ??

Hitler was the Frankenstein of Hitler’s Youth!

https://www.facinghistory.org/resourc...39 s Nicola26 8

I mean, I haven’t seen Jojo Rabbit yet, but my feeling is that Taika Waititi got stoned, read the dust jacket of this book, forgot most of it, and made a movie. audiobooks owned39 s1 comment Geonn CannonAuthor 105 books185

Maybe I'd this better if I'd read it before seeing Jojo Rabbit (doubtful) but as it is, it finally lays to rest that "the book is always better" line. 38 s Aria485 43

---- Disclosure: I received this book for free from Goodreads. ---- It started off okay, then it got pretty good. At a mid-way point however, after the parents are no longer involved in a larger part of the story, it really started to suck. From there it quickly got worse. The closer it neared the end the more I started doing things skipping paragraphs, or jumping to find the next bit of dialogue & skipping other text. Then I'd skip a page or 2 before starting in again. If I hadn't proceeded in that manner I'd have just tossed it away & discontinued the read, but this way I at least reached the (crappy) end. Oh, the end. The hugely anti-climactic end, from which nothing was gained as a result of having undertaken the reading of this thing. Being that I also seriously hated the MC, I can't recommend this to anyone. The film may ly be entirely different, given the director. I certainly hope so, anyway. 37 s Maria Espadinha1,050 442

Os Monstros de Hitler

Já muito se escreveu sobre o Holocausto mas nunca nenhum livro abordou a manipulação, a lavagem cerebral que transformou jovens em monstros ao serviço da loucura do Terceiro Reich — rapazes e raparigas que foram privados dum desabrochar saudável, permanecendo marcados para a vida! ??

https://www.facinghistory.org/resourc...

Hitler foi o Frankenstein da Juventude Hitleriana!33 s Sheri122 36

There are books that you read and the moment you finish reading it, you know without a doubt that the book is destined to be a classic. This is exactly how I felt after reading "Caging Skies" by Christine Leunens.
The story reads slow and steady but don't get me wrong, it is a very strong and powerful slow burn. You will feel all of it.
The protagonists, Johannes and Elsa, are thrown together unexpectedly into a dependent type relationship. Johannes and Elsa's "relationship" is an enigma to the reader. It is not defined and throughout the story there is an unshakeable feeling of dread and persecution.
Christine Leunens gift is that she took the cruel circumstances of war, thrust two people together and through the lies and deception of war, she causes the reader to shift loyalty from one protagonist to the other, often. It's very clever how the author manipulates the reader and I d it quite a lot.
World War II is happening all around the protagonists however there is a battle waging between them as well. I found myself thinking about the type of person I would be in similar circumstances. Would I be kind and ensure the person in my care felt self-respect and some comfort? I hope that I would but we've all seen the outcomes of studies the Stanford prison experiment.
This story was so haunting it stuck on me and I couldn't shake it off.
This book is so well written that I was often confused Johannes and Elsa and this feeling of insanity that surrounded them.
This book is captivating, unpredictable and haunting. It is a must read!! And I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.
Thank you to Christine Leunens. Thank you to Goodreads Giveaways. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and this is my honest review.
goodreads-giveaway historical-fiction young-adult30 s Patricia524 117

CAGING SKIES is a very thought provoking novel which takes place in Austria during and after World War II. Johannes is a boy who is a Hitler Youth who is entranced by Hitler when he discovers his parents are hiding a Jewish girl named Elsa. Anger at his family turns into interest in Elsa, then an obsession/love for Elsa which is not returned. This book was a page-turner for me, and I highly recommend it to others!advance-reader-s-copy family-dynamics giveaway ...more27 s Laura97 5

I am having a really hard time deciding how I feel about this book. In many ways I hate it. I hate Johannes. I hate how he manipulates the people around him especially Elsa and blames them for his doing so. I hate how Johannes makes everything that another person does into a slight against himself. I hate that Johannes continually forces himself if Elsa for the first chunk of the book, then at some point she is all of a sudden interested in him. I hate that Elsa seems to literally change into a different person overnight with no clear reason as to why. I hate that Johannes is the narrator because I feel as if everything he is saying, particularly about Elsa, is largely exaggerated nonsense. If it was the Author's goal that I despise the main character with every fiber of my being then this book did exactly what it was meant to and well. If she wanted me to feel a push and pull between him and Elsa and consider what it truly means to be caged, then it fell flat for me. I don't see two people vying for control and pushing each other back and forth into unhappiness and joy. I see one guy manipulating and abusing a girl until she gets used to the treatment, then her just trying to cope with that scenario the best she could. I see that guy blaming her for all of his misdeeds and her taking small amounts of revenge but mostly dealing with it until she can break free. I think if there book had been from Elsa's perspective or a neutral one, I may have even enjoyed reading this book. But as it is, I was angry the whole time, and I think I only finished the book because someone excitedly suggested it to me. I would not suggest it to someone else.26 s Lola341 4

What a drag, I can't believe I've managed to read it till the last page25 s Carmen590 21

I adored the movie JoJo Rabbit. It was hilarious, and it was also heart-wrenching. And I deeply cared about JoJo, Elsa, and JoJo's mother in the film. I laughed out loud, I cried real tears.

So, this is the book that JoJo Rabbit is based on, and though the seeds of that script are in here that script and movie are definitely the product of the mind of Taika Watiti and the film is so much better for it.

Johannes in the book is just an awful, awful person. The war ends about halfway through the novel and Johannes continues to hold Elsa captive, is abusive to her, and is terrible to everyone, really. If you loved the film, I think it is highly unly you would enjoy this version of Johannes.23 s Crystal526 164 Shelved as 'did-not-finish'

DNF about 33% in. Hate the main character and can see where this is going. I thought I could do it but after feeling more and more dismal as it goes on I decided I really do not want to read about a male character manipulating a woman into an abusive situation where the imbalance of power is sickening. Judging by the there isn't a payoff for reading more.fiction historical-fiction library-audiobook ...more20 s Lark BenobiAuthor 1 book2,640

I waited impatiently for another dawn, tossing and turning.

Well, no.

This book is not for me.

And maybe it's not for you, either, unless you crave sentences that are about as tasty as burned oatmeal.

That said, if you happen to be one of those pesky readers who is sensitive to misplaced modifiers, then reading this novel will be less eating burned oatmeal, and more eating old eggshells.201918 s Dora Santos Marques741 389

A minha opinião em vídeo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8hB9...14 s JennyAuthor 2 books223

How the absolute fuck did Taika Watiti read Caging Skies and create JoJo Rabbit from it?? How did he transform book Johannes (a terrible person who treats Elsa literal property and lets her believe the war was won by Germany for FOUR YEARS after it ended) into the misled yet good-hearted kid we got in the film?

If I read this book and didn't know who the author was, I really would have assumed that it was written as some weird fantasy by a man. At one point Johannes is about to reveal the truth when Elsa says she 'lies' sometimes by not telling him that his snoring is annoying or not telling him she was thinking about her former fiance who was fucking murdered in the Holocaust. To which he then narrates that his lie (that Germany won the war) pales in comparison to hers. Then they have weird angry sex which includes, I'm not lying, the line: "Then I prodded her eye sockets with my penis." That is a real line in this book.

Book Johannes never learns that his former ways were wrong. He sees Elsa as the outlier, racists who have one black friend. Book Johannes would never kick Hitler in the balls. Even in the last pages, he doesn't think he did anything wrong but kept her locked up out of "genuine love". Johannes doesn't grow at all in Caging Skies, so he becomes unredeemable and it was very difficult to get through the last 1/3 of the book reading from the perspective of, basically, an Incel who had a girl locked up in his house.

I'm not sure what Leunens was trying to do by giving the read such an awful person for a narrator. Some of the things Elsa said rang true about Johannes, such as her line about the bird he brings her, but ultimately Johannes just dismisses all of that or gets mad about it. There is no redemption arc for Johannes and no empathetic or understandable motive that make the reader him in any way despite being a terrible person as with other books Perfume in which the protagonist is a murderer.

To top it off, Leunens' writing was not very good. It felt rushed and uninspired. Johannes just told us his emotions. There were paragraphs that seemed to have disconnected sentences so that I kept having to reread them to figure out what was going on, such as describing the air quality objectively and then the next sentence saying something "The police cruiser stopped in front of my house to let me out" with no mention of how or why he got into the police cruiser.

Kudos to you, Taika. Don't know how you did it.This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.Show full review13 s 5rovsvet298 52

Kada sam prvi put video knjigu na internetu naslov me je asocirao na Dnevnik Ane Frank. Potom mi je sinopsis otkrio da se radi o radnji smeštenoj u istom vremenskom periodu. I imao sam velika o?ekivanja od knjige. Bar je takav sinopsis bio da mi je probudio o?ekivanja i mislio sam da ?e knjiga biti baš bomba.

Teško mi je da opišem celokupne utiske a da ne bude spojlera. Stoga ?u ostati malo štur ovog puta. Knjiga kao knjiga jeste zanimljiva. Radnja po?inje u vreme pre drugog svetskog rata dok se jedan veoma mlad de?a?ki um formira. On u?i o Hitleru i po?inje da ga obožava. Ceo roman je iz njegovog ugla i veoma je zanimljivo videti osobu koja podržava Hitlera u porodici koja je protiv njega.

Ono što ovu knjigu ?ini bogatom (možda je bilo i drugih takvih ali ih nisam pro?itao) jeste što postoji i posleratni period. Tu saznajemo kako je Be? izgledao posle rata, kako su funkcionisale stvari, kako je narod živeo. Meni bar te stvari nisu ranije bile poznate, ni generalno, tako da sam tu nau?io nešto novo. Veoma je lepo opisano sve to.

Od tre?ine knjige po?inje da se radnja komplikuje jednom "sitnicom" i u nastavku sam o?ekivao jednu bombu koja ?e eksplodirati. Sam kraj knjige mi nije bio o?ekivan. Nisam siguran da sam razumeo lepo sve stvari koje se dešavaju pred kraj, ali sam kraj mi jeste bio zanimljiv, zaokružuje celu knjigu.

Iako je ovo knjiga o ratu, pri?a o jevrejki koja se krije kod Nemaca, ovo je knjiga i o ljubavi, osvajanju, ljubomori i posesivnosti. Ceo taj odnos je dobro opisan i ve?i deo knjige ga pratimo. Na momente ?e ?italac da ludi i da poželi da se otarasi knjige, u to sam siguran.

Ne?u o glavnim akterima previše pri?ati da samu radnju ne bih otkrivao, ali verujem da ve?ina ne?e gledati sa razumevanjem Johanesa. Iako on sam opravdava svoje postupke na njegov na?in ja mu sva ta opravdanja nisam prihvatio. Sa druge strane, o baki (Pimihen) ne?emo nikad ?itati previše ali mi je bila veoma gotivan lik kroz knjigu i definitivno najbolji lik u ovoj knjizi.11 s Patricia AyusteAuthor 0 books265

Puntuación: ??? (3/5)

Un joven austríaco de las juventudes hitlerianas, una chica judía escondida en un desván y una mentira que trastocará varias vidas sin remedio.

Austria, 1938. Cuando el Tercer Reich anexiona Austria, Johannes es un niño feliz con una vida tranquila en el seno de una familia acomodada. Johannes empieza a frecuentar a las juventudes hitlerianas y, poco a poco, comienza a interiorizar la doctrina de Hitler, en contra del deseo de sus padres. Durante la guerra es herido de gravedad y retorna al hogar familiar donde, pronto, descubre que sus padres ocultan un importante secreto en el desván. Elsa. Una joven judía de la que Johannes termina enamorándose enfermizamente y, en vista de ser un amor no correspondido y por miedo a perderla, le miente y crea una peligrosa relación de dependencia entre ambos.

Christine Leunens nos atrapa con esta historia intimista en la que la mentira ocupa el lugar principal y desempeña un papel importante no solo en la vida del protagonista, sino de aquellos que le rodean. Una novela que se adentra en temas como la guerra y sus secuelas, el miedo, el amor, la familia, la dependencia emocional, la sumisión y la supervivencia.

?? Puntos fuertes: lectura ágil a través de capítulos breves, lenguaje sencillo, seguir la historia de boca del propio protagonista y conocer sus sentimientos y pensamientos, la intriga alrededor de la trama, el contexto histórico y la cuidada documentación, la envolvente ambientación, la evolución del protagonista y narrador y el sorprendente final.

? Te gustará si: buscas una novela histórica ambientada en la Segunda Guerra Mundial, una historia diferente a las habituales y de toque intimista.novela-historica11 s Rita Tomás401 100

O primeiro pensamento quando nos confrontamos com este livro é o de que é mais um livro sobre a II Guerra Mundial. Mais um "O Não Sei Quantos de Auschwitz". Mas não é bem.
Joannes, um membro da juventude hitleriana, conta-nos a história da sua vida. Conta-nos como descobriu que, para seu choque, tinha uma judia a viver em casa. E vai desvendando o desenvolvimento da sua obsessiva relação com ela.
Trata-se de um romance comovente e ao mesmo tempo pertubador, com alguns apontamentos de humor pelo meio.2020 adapted-to-screen wwii11 s Eduardo Boris Muñiz 430 18

El Cielo Enjaulado - Este es un libro raro, y muy difícil de reseñar sin hacer spoilers.
Quise leer este libro porque en el se basa la película Jojo Rabbit, la cual no vi pero el trailer me encantó, un niño se inventa un amigo imaginario mientras pasa su niñez en la Austria nazi, participa de las juventudes Hitlerianas, y entre medio su familia oculta a una judía en la casa, por cierto su amigo imagimario es Hitler.
Eso es la película, si leemos la parte de atrás del libro lo que nos dice es que se trata de la vida de un niño austriaco durante la guerra, su idealización del régimen nazi y el descubrimiento de que sus padres pertenecen a la resistencia austriaca cuando encuentra a una adolescente judía escondida en un cuarto secreto en la casa. Y muy al final dice historia que INSPIRÓ la película.
Bueno, odie el libro, me pareció una historia enferma, asquerosa y la sufrí.
Lo del amigo imaginario no existe, el protagonista no es un niño sino un joven, la comedia brilla por su ausencia... Y mencione que es una historia enferma?
El joven ama ser Nazi y odia que sus padres no compartan sus ideales. También vive con su abuela, una anciana muy buena que tiene muy mala salud.
Le gusta trabajar en la defensa terrestre de la ciudad y tiene un grupo de amigos nazis que disfrutan persiguiendo a gente de la resistencia.
No suelo hacer esto pero a partir de este punto dejen de leer si no leyeron el libro y les interesa hacerlo.
Durante un ataque aéreo es herido y queda con el rostro desfigurado y pierde un brazo. Por lo que queda enclaustrado en su casa. Al pasar los días nota movimientos raros hasta que descubre una joven judía escondida en una habitación secreta de su casa. Su primer idea es entregarla, pero tiene miedo que lo consideren a él un traidor ya que su familia lo es, así que comienza a relacionarse con ella a pesar de que piensa que es un animal.
Los padres de él mueren tragicamente a la mitad del libro, su abuela discapacitada ya no sabe muy bien que pasa a su alrededor entonces el queda al cuidado de ella.
Ella es la única que no lo discrimina por su rostro, y el se siente querido, obviamente se enamora. La empieza a manipular de todas las formas posibles para que ella sienta que el es su única salvacion hasta que logra su objetivo y ella se transforma en su "pareja".
Vamos por la mitad del libro... Los nazis pierden la guerra, los aliados dividen la ciudad en 4 territorios, la vida en la ciudad cambia, la abuela de JoJo muere... Y el decide esconderle la verdad a la joven judía, le dice que Hitler ganó la guerra y que de acá en más si quiere sobrevivir no le va a quedar otra que quedarse con el y esconderse.
Entienden porque es un libro enfermo? Es desagradable a más no poder, los personajes se degradan mutuamente al punto que al final lo que uno quiere es que todos mueran.
Entiendo lo que quiso hacer la autora, mostrar el horror de la guerra y cómo transforma a las personas, por un poco de cariño se pueden transformar en monstruos. Incluso al final del libro ella ya no es alguien agradable de leer, después de todo lo que pasó no es raro.
El libro está muy bien escrito, es más diría que desde ese punto es excelente, atrapa, engancha y te dan ganas de terminarlo. Pero es muy desagradable de leer.
En todo momento esperaba que el libro terminará de una vez, me quería sacar eso de encima y el libro no se terminaba.
Definitivamente no era la comedia/drama que yo esperaba.11 s Paula Reyes Wagner405 44

Este libro fue demasiado extraño.
Al principio iba bien, aunque el personaje que narra la historia me desagradó desde el principio, sí fue curioso leer el lavado de cerebro que le hicieron cuando entró a las juventudes hitlerianas.
Pero después el libro se fue por un lado como fantasioso muy extraño que hizo que me desagradara mucho la lectura. La historia no es mala, pero el punto de vista del personaje que narra era muy insufrible y ya no quería saber más de él.

Estoy segura que no le puse toda la atención que podría, pero la verdad es que tampoco me interesó tanto llegado a cierto punto.

La película la veré, tengo entendido que es bien diferente al libro.
Edit: ya vi la película y creo que rescató lo justo del libro, haciendo que sea más disfrutable. 2022-challenge adult audiobooks ...more9 s Zitong Ren512 177

this genuinely just bored me to tears. I actually think for the first time I preferred the movie over the book
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