Customer Reviews

Eva Underground

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Eva's dad forces her to move to poland to help with the underground freedom movement against communism. The government is watching their every move, there is no hot water, there isn't even meat! All she wants is to go home.
She plans the perfect escape. While her father is at a political funeral (great place for speaking against communism in public) she is going to sneak away to an airport. Too bad there isn't one in the city and even the closest ones don't even have flights to America!
Soon Poland grows on her. She's made friends, found a dog and maybe even a new boyfriend. But happiness doesn't last forever. When the freedom movement is broken up she has a choice to make. She can stay in Poland and help put the movement back together, or she can go back home to Chicago.

A surprising and delightful read for readers of all ages. The romance is real and deep, unlike most novels. The setting makes the communist era and "Iron Curtain" dangers come alive and feel relevant to today. And the language of the narrative rings of Chekov. Don't let this book slip between the cracks. Read it and pass the good word.

This is a magnificent example of how a writer can write on a topic seldom covered and bring the reader right to a time and place he or she has never thought about before. Mackall does an awesome job of showing what life was like behind the "Iron Curtain." This book has it all--intrigue, romance, relationships, suspense, and characters that stay with you after you're done reading.

It's 1978 and Eva Lott is just your average American teenager getting ready to start her senior year of high school. That is, until her dad drags her kicking and screaming to Communist Poland. He wants to help the local people with a radical underground literacy movement and Eva soon becomes a part of that world. She learns that the average Pole does not have basic freedoms and that their daily lives are downright dangerous at times. Forget about good old American pepperoni pizza, rock-n-roll and freedom of speech. The government is always watching and listening, ready to suppress and control. Most people are poor, with little coal to heat their homes and even less to eat. (To paint a picture for you, bread with lard is something of a delicacy!)

If you were in Eva's shoes, wouldn't you want to hop on the next flight out of the country and get back to the good old USA? That was Eva's plan. Until she met Tomek. Ah...Tomek! The handsome, moody and so intelligent boy who draws her into his world and captures her heart. Through their unusual friendship, Tomek opens Eva's eyes to the sheer beauty of the Polish country and the brave struggles of those fighting for freedom and independence within.

I absolutely fell in love with this book. I think the romantic cover captured my heart from the start! I really enjoyed Eva's progression from your typical self involved American teen to the soulful, passionate person she became during her time in Poland. My favorite aspect of the novel, however, was the manner in which Eva's and Tomek's relationship unfolded. The believable, interesting situations were all beautifully woven through Dandi Daley Mackall's skillful narrative. Alternating the chapters between Eva and Tomek's point of view was a smart move. I think it allowed for a deeper connection to both characters with the way we were able to get inside their different mindsets. If you do read this novel, just wait until you get to the "plum harvest". Those chapters were my absolute favorite. I can honestly say I still carry them with me in my heart.

In a 2006 interview with Cynthia Leitich Smith, Dandi Daley Mackall described how she based this book on her own experiences in Poland circa 1978. After reading Eva Underground, I could really appreciate the authenticity of the novel. It was evident to me that Mackall had her finger on the pulse of the Polish heart and soul. I also must admit, I knew little about what life was like in that tumultuous time period of history. Eva Underground really opened my eyes. I honestly felt like I was right there with Eva, suitcases in tote, following along in her footsteps. Eva Underground is a novel that should appeal to readers of all ages, with its romance, suspense and universal issues of freedom and hope.

I first read EVA UNDERGROUND back in January of 2007. It had been out about a year at that point and so it's certainly not an older book, but it is very underrepresented in my opinion. I can no longer remember exactly where I heard about it and I'm pretty sure I picked it up based on the strength of the cover alone. Take a look at that baby. Just gorgeous. And an actual scene from the book--one of my very favorite things. The fact that it was YA historical fiction set during the late 1970s in Communist-occupied Poland certainly intrigued me. You don't get many of those, you know? I had never heard of Dandi Daley Mackall before, but my library happily had a copy on the shelves so I went and checked it out immediately. And I'm still surprised at how little I see this book mentioned around the blogosphere because it's really rather lovely and a thoughtful, well-researched coming-of-age tale as opposed to an flimsy excuse to hook the main character up with a Polish hottie and gallivant across the countryside amorously. Not that I wouldn't read that book! Don't get me wrong. But, in the end, I infinitely prefer a realistic and resonant tale such as this one.

The year is 1978. Eva Lott is feeling pretty good about life in general. Her senior year is shaping up to be pretty close to perfect and she's just made the varsity swim team. Then her English professor father has to go and ruin it all by announcing that the two of them are moving. To Poland. Effective immediately. It turns out he's decided to join the underground movement and Eva has no choice but to tag along. She spends the first portion of the story coming up with increasingly far-fetched ways she can sneak back to the States or convince her father she has no business being in Poland at all. Meanwhile, her father settles in to teach his young compatriots about journalism as they work to smuggle an illegal printing press into their home in order to spread their message opposing the rampant oppression of freedom of speech and the Polish people. When Eva finds herself rubbing shoulders with political activists no older than herself, things take on a slightly different slant. And when she gets to know Tomek--one of the rebels living in the crowded house her father takes her to, Eva's perspective begins to change on so many levels it is difficult for her to take it all in and her life in Chicago seems a very far away, very tame place indeed.

Until I read this book, I knew next to nothing about the modern-day Communist occupation of Poland. Following Eva as she leaves her home and friends in Chicago to follow her father to Poland, sharing a tiny room with him in a house full of rebels, I found myself quickly caught up. Though she initially sounds and acts like the stereotypical clueless, privileged spoiled teenager, she becomes curious and sensitive to the culture and history of her new home once the importance of what is going on around her begins to sink in. Everything about this novel unfolds slowly. So slowly that you don't at first realize how involved you've become. But it's certainly a journey worth taking. Their initial border crossing is vividly tense and chilling. You feel, along with the entire group of rebels, the suffocation and knife edge intensity of the occupation. Eva learns that sometimes life takes you by the throat and hurls you bodily into the middle of a war zone. She learns there are things in that war zone worth fighting for, that her life can be bigger than it was, that the seed of a plum can hold the spirit of a nation. And the ending is worth every page that it takes to get there. I finished it both satisfied and moved. EVA UNDERGROUND is a wonderful read about a harrowing and fascinating period in history.

The book takes place in communist Poland, 8 years after the Gdansk riots of 1970 (which you find out was the year that Tomek's older brother was tragically killed). Americans Eva and her father, a college professor, are first introduced at a Czech border crossing. While they sit with tension in the unheated car, waiting for the line to move, we get small glimpses of Eva's life back in Chicago and the events that led to her current life change. Right off the bat we know that being uprooted from everything she knows is not her choice, but her father's. She yearns to be back in Chicago with her best friend and boyfriend and close to where her mother is buried (not a big spoiler since you find that out within the first few pages of the book.) Her father, Professor Lott, has an agenda-- to meet up with Father B. (who is in charge of this underground movement) and teach/train oppressed yet eager Polish students so that one day they can make a stand against a government that wants to keep its people uneducated and ignorant. Once they finally do cross the border (not without difficulty) they meet Tomek, a 19 year old Polish teen who reluctantly takes on the job of escort and translator for the American professor. Just like Eva, he does not really want to get involved with the underground movement but does because of the money he could earn so that he can buy books and go to school. When Tomek and Eva first meet, they obviously don't like each other. Tomek thinks Eva is spoiled and rich since her father is a college professor and Eva resents Tomek because, well, he represents everything that is foreign to her.

The first thing I liked about Eva Underground is the third person narrative that switches perspectives between 17 year old Eva and 19 year old Polish Tomek. Up until the Twilight series, I was never a big fan of first person narration, probably because I had my brain trained to reading romance novels, mythology, historical and fantasy epics,-- all of which are mostly written in third person. Okay, and I will admit that I tend to be nosy-- I like to know what's going on in other character's heads and their views throughout a story. Once I started getting into YA literature, I noticed a trend of first person narration and I learned to actually enjoy it. (I'm always up for a challenge and looking for new ways to expand my mind.)

Anyway, the shift back to third person narrative in Eva Underground was a nice change of pace for me. The author, Mackall, did a great job with changing perspectives between the two lead characters as well as giving us as the reader good introductory descriptions into Eva and Tomek's livestyles and backgrounds. By the third chapter I felt emotionally invested in both of their causes and couldn't wait to see how things progressed.

Like I was saying before, I was exposed early to historical romance and fiction novels but will admit that this is the first story I have read about communist Poland in the 70's. The author does a great job at giving just enough details and situations to express the severe opression that these people were experiencing. You don't have to be an expert on the time period or place to get the general mood of the story.

There is one part in particular that I loved in Eva Underground that reminded me of one of my favorite scenes in the movie A Walk in the Clouds (starring Keanu Reeves). In order to get out of doing dish duty (sounds stupid but there are months in Poland where they can't get soap so they kill germs by washing dishes in boiling hot water) Eva convinces Tomek to take her with him to his family's home to help pick plums for the harvest. When they arrive, everyone seems to accept her but Lukasz, Tomek's cousin. They have all gathered to help pick plums from the family orchard before a terribly ice storm hits. With the help of little Stash (Tomek's other cousin) Eva adapts well. She becomes so fast that a competition arises between Eva and Lukasz to see who can get the most plums picked the quickest. This is almost exactly what happens in A Walk in the Clouds only it is Keanu Reeves' character that is the stranger and he must help pick grapes, not plums. Beings that A Walk in the Clouds was released in 1995, I have to wonder if the similarities are purely coincidental or if the author had a little inspiration? Hmm...


Now to the things that bothered me which ultimately is the reason I give this book a 3 out of 5 star rating. The first thing that nagged at my conscience was Eva's father's decision to force his 17 year old daughter to a communist country that is obviously in turmoil. What in the BLEEP was he thinking??? I get that he is still mourning the loss of his wife and living day in and day out in a house full of memories must be like putting salt to a wound. I get that Eva started acting out after her mother's death and perhaps he thought that a change of scenary would do her some good. But to take your daughter out of her last year of high school and drag her to a place where they not only hate their own people but they hate Americans? Don't get me wrong, I am all for helping others. I know sometimes you have to risk your own life for the greater cause. But I just find it either completely negligent or very naive on Professor Lott's part. What solidifies my point even more is the fact that he doesn't even know Polish! I could see if he was fluent in Polish or a similar language, but he actually had to depend on Eva to translate (she can pick of languages quickly) when Tomek was not around.

Another thing that left me with some questions was this supposed hatred between Tomek's father and Josef Krysa, Captain of the militia. The author states a few times in later chapters that Krysa is the "hated enemy" of Tomek's father. I wanted to know why. I had a feeling it was in regards to the death of Tomek's older brother years prior but nothing is really developed. I know not everything in a story has to be spelled out but Captain Krysa obviously has a vendetta against Tomek's family. And when the author stated more then once that both older men are mortal enemies, I had to wonder why or how it started. Mackall kind of leaves you hanging and I found it a little disappointing.

Lastly, I kind of felt that the love story between Eva and Tomek was...underdeveloped. Throughout most of the book you have Eva thinking of her boyfriend back in Chicago and about halfway through the novel she even tries to make a break for it (You'll see what I mean). Tomek, on the other hand, thinks of Eva as being spoiled and selfish. Since he feels this way through most of the book (he thinks it constantly) I was waiting for some big blow up between the two where Tomek finally tells Eva how he feels, but it never comes. Obviously his opinion of her changes, and vice versa, but I guess the whole sudden love thing between the two felt...unreal. Okay maybe unreal is not the best word to describe it, but I think a couple of more chapters to develop their feelings for each other would have satisfied me more.


Eva Underground is a good book if you are reading it for the purpose of educating yourself on this turbulant part of history, whether you are a teenager or adult. I think the author did a great job from a historical perspective as well as giving the reader sufficient description and character backgrounds to reel us in. While the story starts off strong, I think it loses a little steam in the romance department as well as a few underdeveloped story lines such as the bitter fued between Tomek's father and Captain Krysa. Despite my pickiness, I don't regret reading it and would even go so far as to say that if I was teaching history instead of English, I would probably add the book to a mandatory summer reading list.

Eva Underground by Dandi Daley Mackall takes us back to Communist Poland. Our main character, Eva, and her father travel there from Chicago because Eva's father wants to help the radical underground movement. Eva is angry and afraid - she has no desire to be a part of the group or be anywhere but home with her friends in Chicago. Slowly but surely, she becomes immersed in her surroundings and begins to understand the importance of what her father and his friends are trying to accomplish. She also quickly becomes interested in Tomek, the 19 year old translator.

I really felt like I got an inside view into a piece of history I had little to no prior knowledge of. I was impressed with the way Dandi was able to both keep things basic enough to be easily understood and intense enough to feel harsh and realistic. It doesn't take long for Eva to begin to face the harsh realities of life head on. As she becomes more interested in the people around her, she is introduced to her own shortcomings (namely, being a spoiled American) and ends up trying to grow into a person she can look in the mirror and be proud of.

One of my favorite parts of the book is when she travels with Tomek to his family's plum orchard. She initially goes only to try and get in with Tomek, but once she is there - she falls in love, not only with him, but with his family and community. She discovers the beauty of people - even when under intense pressure from the government and from the simple fact of being poor - she sees people refuse to compromise integrity, honesty and basic human decency.

This is not one of the books that is written in such a way that the reader becomes a part of the story. I always felt very much like an onlooker versus a participant. So, while I don't feel that the writing itself is extraordinary on its own, I do believe that the story it told is. There is a lot of intensity and tension packed into a fairly short book; I definitely recommend taking the time to read it!

It's 1978 and Poland is still under communism's reign. The militia control everything from food to religion. How does this relate to American girl Eva Lott? Well her father has decided to uproot her from her perfect life in Chicago to a small village in Poland in order for him to lead an underground newspaper. Eva is devastated. She doesn't want to leave her amazing best friend and her awesome boyfriend, plus she just earned a spot on the varsity swim team. Eva is furious that her father won't let her stay with her best friend Melanie, but with no other choice she packs two measly suitcases and accompanies him on his journey. After an arduous and frightful trip, Eva and her father finally arrive in Poland and are greeted by Tomek. Tomek doesn't say much, but Eva finds him very handsome, although he seems very standoffish. He leads them to a house in Zakopane, Poland which will be the newspaper's headquarters. Tomek introduces them to all the other people living in the house, but Eva feels unwelcome and immediately starts planning an escape route. When it finally comes time to escape Eva feels that she has become used to Poland and it's strangeness. She also thinks that there may even be something pulling her towards Tomek. Will Eva stay, or will she go? Will her father be successful in creating an underground newspaper?

This book was okay. To me it started out a little slowly. It wasn't until about the half-way point that I really got interested in the story. I had never really read anything about the "Iron Curtain" in Poland and this really opened my eyes to what other people, who were not free, had to endure on a day-to-day basis. The romance that blossomed between Eva and Tomek was cute - it wasn't unexpected, but it was sweet. What can I say, I'm a sucker for love!! I have to say the historical facts were my favorite part of the book. They are the only things I really remember.