Fascinating story about two German draft dodgers hiding out in the Namibian desert. If you don't like the rather brutal side of surviving in a wilderness, give it a miss. Personally, I liked it, but skimmed some of the chapters.
Light read. I finished it, but I found it overly sentimental
A very pleasant light read. It's not overly sentimental, but it does tug the heartstrings.
Suspend belief because the whole darned thing seems unbelievable to me. Not even teenagers are this dumb. At least, I hope not. Unnecessarily dark and covers topics like sexual abuse, rape, and self harm. As youth fiction, or even adult reading goes, this is not a nice book. But it is beautifully presented and perhaps other people will feel differently. As for me, I finished it, but IMO it's train smash and finishing it was about the same as that dreadful fascination we experience after witnessing a bad accident.
This may be one of the most important books of the century. Trace the history of the planet and mankind, and discover just why we and our descendants can expect some pretty rough times. It's not cheerful reading, but it's readable all the same: a brilliant book that every person on the planet ought to read.