All the Little Hopes is a novel I found anti-climatic. Based on the blurb, I anticipated a mystery. I was not given a mystery but a coming-of-age story. If you acknowledge that, then this novel may be worth your time if you enjoy those stories as the novel contains intriguing characters with growth arcs worth reading about. This is a hit if you enjoy slow burns and comforting reads. If you are searching for more intensity and mystery, then this may be a miss.

All the Little Hopes is a more melodiously paced novel and if that is what you are searching for in a WWII coming-of-age story, then this is the read for you. If you want a novel oriented towards more mystery and Nancy Drew-esque discoveries, this is not the novel for you. All the Little Hopes is a hit or miss novel that truly depends on the "if's",  a novel for you to decide if it is worth an hour of your time.

What happens when Allie Bert Tucker, Bert, arrives in town? What happens when a German POW camp is established and local men start to disappear? Well, those are the questions you think the plot would revolve around but it does not. The plot is about two young girls navigating American during WWII; the plot is about growth not mystery. The girls are voracious and provide a great coming-of-age story but not a good mystery.

Lou and Bert are the two protagonist's whose story we follow. Lou is a know-it-all who has grown up surrounded by love and support. Bert has grown up in an illiterate area surrounded by a loving but deeply broken family and who has recently moved to town to spend time with her Aunt. What is great about these two characters are that they are similar but because of their understanding and past, they view life differently.

Bert and Lou are two best friends growing during WWII who are interested in exploring who they are and what life can hold for them. They are written as distinct characters with strong-willed personalities and are good characters to read.

All the Little Hopes by Leah Weiss contains a predictable ending. This is a slow burn coming-of-age novel that is a good choice to read if you want to read that genre with an ending that wraps the story up nicely, a decent read in all if you know what to expect.

When I picked up All the Little Hopes, I expected a historical fiction Nancy Drew novel revolving around two young sleuths solving a mystery. I anticipated deceit and trickery involving the German POW camp and damn, I missed the mark. I must have misconstrued the blurb so badly as this was not a mystery novel set in the 1930s but a coming-of-age story in war-torn America.

The coming aspect is heavily utilised in this novel and I did enjoy seeing how vastly different upbringings and turbulent living can impact two young girls. Sadly, I thought the novel lacked intensity that was not offset by other factors which made the lack of oomph evident. I don't know how else to describe that expect it took me three weeks to finish this novel. I kept putting it down and then forcing myself to pick it up again.

The novel contains prevalent depictions of what war does, there is no shying away from the pain that is war in All the Little Hopes and the novel does a great job presenting that pain through Lou and Bert. Their emotions are more warped and less understanding compared to how an adult would perceive the impact of war. Mary was a solid representation of the impact of war; she had some type of PPD in the 1940s and had recently lost her husband leading to debilitating grief but because those illnesses were not understood, they couldn't be explained to Lou and therefore her perception of Mary was not how she was ill but instead how thin she was becoming. The subtle writing showed, not told us about the pain and I think Mary was an overall great addition to represent pain without the protagonist truly understanding the pain.

All the Little Hopes contains great imagery and I felt encapsulated one American facet of WWII through innocent eyes but is a story I feel I could have skipped. I wanted mystery or at least a touch more intensity which I feel would have elevated this novel and made it more enjoyable.