Double the Entry Christine and Percy two different worlds

Been a bit slack posting so here is a double entry with two vastly different books.

Christine – Elizabeth Von Armin

A young woman travels to Berlin to improve her ‘fiddling’ skills before the commencement of World War One and through her letters to her mother we witness her hopes, dreams and how they are all shattered as war begins.

This is not a long novel about 140 pages but at times it can drag. Really drag. I found the difficulty in the voice of Christine especially when she goes on and on about her relationship with her mother. I know it is a different time, a different age but her attachment to Mother is like being doused in sugar. It is nauseating as she drones on about how close they are, how she is the only one and a lot of the letters are padded out with this waffle.

Once you get over the saccharin relationship you begin to see the hatred of Germany.  It starts early with little descriptions such as Berlin described as ‘There is no mystery about it, no atmosphere; it just blares at you’ or how German children are so depressed they are self-harming ‘ They commit suicide, schoolchildren and even younger ones, in great numbers every year.’ There is nothing nice about Germany and you feel the book is a form of propaganda.  This element of the book has caused some controversy in that Von Armin eventually wrote the book under a pseudonym and was passed off as an actual eye-witness account to these events. 

The character of Christine is crafted to illicit a sympathy from the reader. She struggles to adapt to her new environment, adapted to the language, the people and the culture. As she does come to terms, her social circle expands and she meets the love of her life a German soldier. As war comes closer, the difficulty to remain in Germany becomes difficult and she flees for safety. If you cannot connect with Christine the novel does become tedious.
What I wanted to know was why did Von Armin decide to write a novel in this style and with such an intense hatred of Germany?
I am claiming Elizabeth as Australian, I mean she did live in the country for all the three years as a baby, so that makes her an Aussie right?

Percy Jackson the Titans Curse - Rick Riordan

This has been the strongest book in the series for me and it went along at a cracking pace.

Riordan begins to unveil in this book a more complex story line and adds a great deal of colour to the characters. Apart from our hero Percy, who is still figuring out his role in the grand scheme of things, some of the minor characters really come off the page. Thalia finally begins a character where she has complexity and you begin to wonder just how she will turn out. The new characters give some much added depth and even Luke has a moment of doubt.
Hopefully this will keep building into some thing stronger.

I have gone about the quality of the audio books previously and I can only again say I am disappointed. I am beginning to wish I had read the books now. I have the fourth one to go and after that I will find the paperback versions. So I can appreciate the story rather than groaning about some appalling voice acting