5 comments about Because of Romek: A Holocaust Survivor's Memoir.

1. This has been one of the few excellent books i have ever read. It is actually real, it really happened, so it makes you feel as if this was happining before your eyes. It was sad, and well written. i actually heard David Faber, the author of this book, speak. He was an incredibly powerful speaker, and his book places you in his position, just as his speech does.



2. David faber visited our high school last week, and had told us about his horrific ordeal during the holocaust. And I was utmost touched and embraced him. I could see those fear he told us in his eyes. And some of us left the auditorium in tears. I recommend this to anyone, because there is a dark side of humanity we taken for granted, and people had suffered more than anyone who had to go through.



3. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Faber as he spoke at the middle school I attended when I was in 7th grade. He spoke to us about his experiences and encounters during the Holocaust that took part in Europe during WWII. Our history teacher read us "Because of Romek" as it was part of our curriculm. I have not been the same since. This is an incredible account of what he went through in keeping of his promise to his mother to stay alive. I would recommend this to a more mature audience being that it does have some parts that are somewhat rough to handle...or so were for myself but overall is an incredible read...as he takes you through his experiences.



4. This book explains how David's encounter with the Holocaust and yet his story is sad but a good book to read. This is one of the best holocaust memoir I've read! I highly recommended. When I was starting to read the book, I couldnt but the book down...( I ended up finishing the book in 2 days!). I loved it and highly respect the holocaust survivors and of course, David Faber.



5. Had I thought it was fiction, I would have thought the author went over the top with this farfetched tale. To know that it is authentic is horrifying and at the same time captivating. If you are into the holocaust, then you will find this book absolutely fascinating; and if you aren't a history buff I recommend this book as enlightenment. My utmost respect to anyone that has been through this nightmare. And David Faber my deepest gratitude for having written this book.

1 comments about Narrow Escapes: A Boy's Holocaust Memories and Their Legacy.

1. if I was to describe "Narrow Escapes". In fact, I believe that the pain and sorrow that Holocaust survivor Dr. Samuel P. Oliner faced as he tried to escape from the horrible claws of Adolph Hitler during the Second World War, could never be described. The horrors that he faced are too great for words. The most piercing fact in this book is that the war stories in it are not the stories of a man but the ones of a SMALL CHILD who was forced to become a man much faster than lighting and in the most afflictive situations.

   This book is a must read because we all must know the truth about the history of the human race. I strongly believe that every one of us is responsible for what happens today and must keep in mind the future of next generations. Dr. Oliner says, "knowledge of the past may somehow avert similar future...those who remember the past will do all they can to prevent its recurrence."

   This book broke my heart way before the Germans came to Zyndranova, the little village near Czecholovakia, when Little Oliner's mother got sick and he was only six-years old. It was at this time that he began to make sense of his world. After his mother's death he exclaims, "My mother is dead. But that is only for a short time, isn't it?" And like if his mother's death was nothing, his father takes him away from his love ones, into another village, in the house of male strangers. It was there, all alone, that he held a job at the age of seven while he went to school. Could you imagine your own child in this situation? Although Oliner doesn't mention in his book, I believe that these agonizing situations were only preparing him for what was to come when the Nazis arrived. These situations were his training ground to face the monster that would take over the land and his people. But the hardships of times and the warmth of his family brought the best out of him. And his fight has not ended yet.

   The rest of the story is for you to read in suspense but mostly in deep grief. As I read the book, I often felt glad that the child who was facing all the hardships of the Holocaust was not my sixteen year old son. In fact, I thought about my son the entire book. But the sad part is that although he was not my son, he was the son of another woman. In a war, my child or the child of another woman or man is the same. It brings pain. Being forty years old I have learn that it is a thousand times better to die in the face of injustice that to live in silence before it.

3 comments about A Daughter's Gift of Love: A Holocaust Memoir.

1. A Daughter's Gift of Love is the amazing survival story of a young girl, her mother, and her expierence in the holocaust. The author portrays this story by the eyes of Trudi Birger, a Holocaust survivor. This is a can't put down book. Where every page there is something new, something dangerous, somthing scary going to happen; it's the truth of the Holocaust.



2. As a daughter of Holocaust survivors, i was touched so deeply by Ms. Birger's account of her years of chaos and persecution during those treacherous years. As a young girl in WWII, Trudi Birger could be compared to Anne Frank, in terms of her resourcefulness and wit in the face of danger and death. She and her mother protected each other in the truest sense, each one kept the other alive time and time again. Would they have been so emotionally connected in times of peace, or did this unfathemed circumstance create a unique bond between a mother and daughter that very few of us can ever understand? No matter what, the reader is deeply affected hearing story after story of how close the author and her mother comes to dying,and how they manage to defy death. Since my mom has been pretty silent about her experiences in concentration camp, I am grateful to Ms. Birger for the details. I now know why "potatoes" stir up deep feelings for my mother, that to find a potato peel in the midst of that bland soup provided by the Nazi's, was like finding a piece of gold. The examples go on and on, some too painful to discuss. Yet, this is an uplifting book because once again it shows that you can keep a person in bondage, but it is very difficult to kill the human spirit and one's basic desire to survive! This should be Oprah's next read.



3. As a daughter of Holocaust survivors, i was touched so deeply by Ms. Birger's account of her years of chaos and persecution during those treacherous years. As a young girl in WWII, Trudi Birger could be compared to Anne Frank, in terms of her resourcefulness and wit in the face of danger and death. She and her mother protected each other in the truest sense, each one kept the other alive time and time again. Would they have been so emotionally connected in times of peace, or did this unfathemed circumstance create a unique bond between a mother and daughter that very few of us can ever understand? No matter what, the reader is deeply affected hearing story after story of how close the author and her mother comes to dying,and how they manage to defy death. Since my mom has been pretty silent about her experiences in concentration camp, I am grateful to Ms. Birger for the details. I now know why "potatoes" stir up deep feelings for my mother, that to find a potato peel in the midst of that bland soup provided by the Nazi's, was like finding a piece of gold. The examples go on and on, some too painful to discuss. Yet, this is an uplifting book because once again it shows that you can keep a person in bondage, but it is very difficult to kill the human spirit and one's basic desire to survive! This should be Oprah's next read.

No comments about Do Not Go Gentle: A Memoir of Jewish Resistance in Poland, 1941-1945.

3 comments about Boston Boy: Growing up with Jazz and Other Rebellious Passions.

1. Once, jazz was a real and pervasive presence in Boston and in the dim and scruffy clubs of the South End, this American Music-par-excellence thrilled thousands of afficionados, while yet rarely affording its dedicated and colorful creators a living.
   It was the Twenties and the Jazz Age; it was the Thirties and the age of the Big Bands; it was the wartime Forties, the age of The Savoy on Mass Ave and of Sidney Bechet; it was the baby-boom Fifties and the age of Storeyville in Kenmore Square...
   There were Big Bands and great ballrooms but there were, as well, many talented smaller bands, playing inspired improvised jazz and struggling to survive as they enthralled more limited audiences in more limited venues.
   Nat Hentoff eloquently reminisces about a time when the soulful sound of trumpet and clarinet, piano and bass - pained, glorious, yearning, introspective, challenging, alien even - could inadvertently reach out of the smoky, dark, cave-like clubs of Washington and Columbus Avenues, and so mesmerize a young boy that it could change his life.
   Nat Henhoff blends this tale of a city, its cultural glories and its social sins, with the story of the music, light and dark, somber and witty, pure and besmirched - the faithful mirror of the human soul.
   He leaves one desolate that - much too soon! - things changed, and he leaves one wondering why Boston let it happen; why the city - host to The Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory, the Symphony as well as The Boston Pops - couldn't swiftly rally to support and, in time, to save a once-thriving Jazz community...
   Oh, economics and changing taste are the answer, of course, but one is left wishing that Boston had been able to sustain its local jazz scene and, failing that, wishing that it should presently choose, at the least and at last, to honor it with a South End Jazz Museum.
   Many of the greatest Jazz Musicians played there once and their presence or passage should not be forgotten.



2. It's great to see a book like this. As another Boston boy, I had many similar experiences that have been hard and perhaps confusing to explain to someone who grew up in another time and place.
   My wife feels that she understands me better now after reading Boston Boy. We are giving copies to our sons.
   The book for me is nostalgic, poignant, and somewhat reassuring. Helps to understand that generation, that time, and that place. We made it in spite of the bastards.



3. Nat Hentoff, who later became famous as a writer about jazz and civil liberties, describes his "coming of age" and discovery of jazz in the Boston of the 1940s. A very enjoyable read.

2 comments about The Letters of Martin Buber: A Life of Dialogue (Martin Buber Library).

1. In a comprehensive review of this collection of Buber's Letters, Werner Dannehauser points out one great paradox of the philosopher of Dialogue and 'I- Thou'. He apparently was not the greatest listener in the world. Nonetheless this collection contains not only Buber's letters, but a sample of the letters written to him. Perhaps for Buber himself the most important were those written by his great collaborator in Biblical Translation, Franz Rosenzweig. Buber courageously calls for the most candid and serious criticism of himself, and thanks Rosenzweig for giving it. Rosenzweig and Buber were divided on the question of the vital significance of Halachah for Jewish life and continuity.
   Buber's world is a vast one intellectually, encompassing the greatest minds of his time. He is masterly and confident in tone , and words of sudden depth and profundity emanate from these pages.
   This is an invaluable collection for all those who take interest in both Jewish and general intellectual history.



2. This gem is worthy of 100 stars. Bubar's early writings, the work with Gustav Landaur and Franz Rosenweig in synthesizing "Ich und Du", as well as his editorial comments to writers of Der Jude. A true Passover Feast of wisdom and compassion, even including his letter to Gandhi. The forward by Paul Mendes-Flohr serves as an excellant background.As vital today as he was at the birth of the State of Israel.

No comments about Representing the Immigrant Experience: Morris Rosenfeld and the Emmergence of Yiddish Literature in America (Judaic Traditions in Literature, Music, and Art).

3 comments about Striking Back: A Jewish Commando's War Against the Nazis.

1. Wonderful, real-life story of war and all its vagaries. This fellow wanted to strike back at the Nazis, and he certainly did by volunteering for the British army and becoming a parachute commando.



2. I have read this book about seven or eight times. When I finally met the author, Peter Masters, he asked in his usual humble style, "Why?" Here are my answers. It tells a largely ignored story in a literate, humane, and humble way. It tells how people who were victimized in outrageous ways were able to strike back and help defeat their oppressors. It also tells a story of which I (and all of the other World War II history buffs of my acquaintance)was totally igonorant. Finally, it is a story of courage in the face of outrageous horror that stands as a model of how we should react to terror today. In a nutshell: 87 young Jewish refugees were formed into an elite, secret Commando unit of the British Army; all spoke fluent, idiomatic German; all were required to hide their real identities and take on native British personas and names;they were trained in intelligence, reconnaissance, prisoner interrogation, and German tactics; they landed at D-Day, performed courageously thorughout the European war; 19 of the 87 died; the survivors lived to see the defeat of their tormentors. This is a fascinating story of human courage in the face of outrage. And the good guys win! Now my question: why hasn't this book become the subject of a movie or mini-series? In any event, order it now and read it, perhaps seven or eight times -- and tell all your friends to do the same.



3. One of the best written books about the invasion and the training leading up to it, from the aspect of Jewish teen refugees who were formed into a commando unit of the British army. No histrionics,just good writing.

1 comments about News from the New American Diaspora and Other Tales of Exile (Literary Modernism Series).

1. In the interest of full disclosure, let me say up front -- I am a Philistine. I struggle with poetry (or mostly avoid it); tend to fall asleep mid-sentence when reading overly-literary books; and often, when I finish a short story, I scratch my head and say "huh?"
   
   But, I have read a couple of Jay Neugeboren's novels and so I thought I'd give this collection a scan one evening while propped up on pillows waiting for Jon Stewart to come on. I missed Jon Stewart that night, so rivited was I to these stories.
   
   I'm not going to go into each tale or even say which were my favoirtes. Some are touching, some are humorous, and some are depressing, but all are arresting, surprising and thought provoking. Even the dedication is a story -- one that brought me to tears.
   
   Knowing that it might threaten my status as a Philistine, I nonetheless would like to mention that it is a joy to read Neugeboren's writing -- to study his sentence structure, word choices, and timing. He is a literary writer who is at once complex and accessible.
   
   Rita Bleiman
   Author "Dirty Tricks"

1 comments about Finding Falafel: A Student's Journey through Israel, Egypt and France.

1. This book is amazing. The author's honesty, humor, and sense of adventure really shine through! The ONLY negative comment about the book is that it is simply too short!