Review of Radio Underground by Alison Littman

Review of Radio Underground by Alison Littman

Radio Underground is a historical novel about a revolution in Hungary against a repressive communist regime in the 1950s and the consequences of those actions. The book has three points of view; Eszter, her daughter Dora, and a man going by the pseudonym of “Mike.”

While the pacing was quick, I had two issues with this book. The first is that the blurb gives away too much of the plot. I would advise reading the book but ignoring the description on the back. The second issue I had was the writing. The perspective of “Mike” is a man who writes in broken English to a German rock and roll DJ. I believe the author was choosing words that might imitate broken English but it often felt clunky and hard to read. I’ll give you some examples.

“I will try, so read strong….I reminisced that someone had stepped on my head.”

“It forwarded me to anger since he escaped seeing what I saw.”

“The code will not go forward if the jamming makes continuous.”

Additionally, the word choice of his young sister seems incredibly formal and inauthentic of how a 12 year old would speak.

However, these two issues do not take away from the incredible story of people rebelling against their Communist government. I was on the edge of my seat for much of the story. The characters were well developed and their relationships seemed real. I gave this book 4 stars.

Trigger warnings for rape, torture, and violence.

This book was released on November 28, 2018. Thank you to Netgalley and Last Syllable Books for providing me with a copy.