We've got your back. With the Tough-O-Meter, you'll know whether to bring extra layers or Swiss army knives as you summit the literary mountain. (10 = Toughest)
(4) Base Camp
Once you get some historical background under your belt, it's not too hard to figure out this book. What we love about Postcards from No Man's Land is the way in which it uses two characters to tell the same story—both Jacob and Geertrui have a tale to tell, and combined they bring the whole story about love, family, and war into focus.
While jumping back and forth between narrators and timeframes is a little complicated at first, as soon as you get your bearings, hopping in the time machine and shuttling back and forth between 1944 and the 1990s is a cake walk. Plus, as far as plots go, this one is pretty straightforward.