'this is home now.'

I generally stay away from historical fiction. I used to do it because I thought it was boring. Now I just can't take the sadness. I'm not sure that Angel Girl by Laurie Friedman can actually be considered historical fiction because it's based on a true story...so they said. I just went to look for an image for Angel Girl and read an article that says shortly after the book's publication last September, a newspaper discovered that much of the love story had been fabricated by Herman Rosenblat, the boy who meets Roma, his angel girl. What's really weird to me is that I actually read about this when the story broke in December and totally forgot about it until now. It's really unfortunate because Herman's story has been in print for almost 20 years now. He's told it to numerous magazines, newspapers, news shows, and other media and everyone has embraced it as being a true triumph of human spirit in times when human spirit was absent in many parts of the world. the publishing company is actually issuing full refunds to anyone who bought the book directly from them. At any rate, Angel Girl told the story of Herman Rosenblat who was separated from his mother and sent to a work camp with his brothers. Herman was close to death from starvation and cold when a girl appeared at the fence of the camp and gave him an apple. She returned every day with an apple and because of her, Herman surivived long enough to be liberated along with his brothers. He spent the next years of his life trying to forget his childhood in the camp until one day his friend sets him up on a blind date and who should the girl be but his beloved Angel Girl! Herman and Roma have been married for 50 years now.
Friedman's writing style of short sentence fragments that convey a single thought or feeling is effective I guess but I was a little distracted. I found myself wishing she had included more details. Apparently, she spent months interviewing the couple and milking every last moment from them but I was left wondering where all of that was in the book. For example, Friedman correctly shows that Herman's mother told him to go with his older brothers instead of the car for women and children with her even though he was only 11. I think it might have been useful to also include that she told him to tell the soldiers he was 16 because while I was reading, I kept wondering how he got away with it. The use of color in Ofra Omit's illustrations is interesting as well. She uses a lot of orange in outlines of people and frames and for Roma herself. I wonder if the color means something or if she just used it for effect?