1 comments about Immigrant Women in the Land of Dollars: Life and Culture on the Lower East Side 1890-1925 (New Feminist Library).

1. I read this book while I was doing a research paper on immigrant women and their experiences in America and I was quite impressed by the amount of information it has. Unlike some books on this subject I've read, it has a nice flow to it and it reads well. I really liked the way the author organized it because it follows the immigrant women from the old country to America and very nicely describes their transition into Americans and the struggles they faced while doing this. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in this subject.

3 comments about Great Jewish Women.

1. This book has a great amount of commendable material in it. It writes of Jewish women of great distinction in short yet clear autobiographical sketches. It however diminishes its own value but including a too large number of present- day celebrities and lightweight figures. It too displays a certain political bias and there are a number of very left- wing politicians here whose contribution to Jewish life is extremely questionable. I also would have like to have seen many more of the great Jewish women intellectual figures, and heroines like Avital Sharansky , Ida Nudel and others who risked their lives for the Jewish people. A very large share of the entries are of people who have no real positive connection with Jewish communal life, and who just happen to be born Jewish something a few of them are not so happy about.
   There is much good stuff here.But a work of this kind could have been done with far greater emphasis on real Jewish values.



2. While there are some genuinely great Jewish women in this book, there are too many whose claim to greatness rests solely on fame and left-leaning politics. How is Barbara Streisand a "Great Jewish Woman"? Is it because she is a great Democtratic fundraiser? And How does Shulamit Aloni get to be great? By being an anti-Israeli Israeli? Diane Arbus (eeww) hated being Jewish and would be uncomfortable to see her name in this book if she hadn't killed herself, and Estee Lauder became a Roman Catholic........not exactly a "Great Jewish Woman".

   If your idea of greatness is actresses and singers or anybody Jewish who managed to get her name in the paper than this is your book. Rosalind Franklyn and Judy Resnick constitute real greatness, while Goldie Hawn is merely famous. I would never put them in the same category.




3. This book makes a great graduation gift or other gift for any jewish woman, young or old. It illustrates the accomplishments of women and shows the adversity that they overcame to achieve greatness. Enjoyable for woman of any age.

1 comments about The Story of a Life.

1. Story of a Life is the memoir of acclaimed Israeli novelist, Aharon Appelfeld. Appelfeld, a Holocaust survivor, escaped a Nazi concentration camp when he was eight years old and wandered alone in the forests and fields of rural Ukraine until he was found by Russian troops at age eleven. Appelfeld is known for his use of vague, dreamlike images and sparse, gentle language in writing about one of the most horrific events in human consciousness. He describes just enough and lets the reader's imagination fill in the rest, turning the story into an inner experience for the reader. Appelfeld employs this same technique to great effect in his memoir, drawing the reader into his loneliness and isolation. .
   
   Appelfeld tells his life story in vignettes. He begins by recounting his earliest memories - of foods consumed in the company of loving relatives; of the different languages spoken by his parents, grandparents and neighbors. He then tells vaguely of his father sending telegrams to South America, trying to find a way out of Europe. He tells of formerly well-to-do relatives, suddenly poor and sick, coming to his parents for help and comfort.
   
   Abruptly, Appelfeld's memories switch to crowds being loaded into railway cars. Even more abruptly, Appelfeld's memories shift to his years wandering alone in the forests - eating a rotten apple alongside a stream while trying to visualize his dead mother's face; huddling next to dogs or farm animals for warmth at night.
   
   At the war's end, Appelfeld finds himself in a displaced persons camp in Italy. From there, he is relocated to the newly-formed Israel, along with other war refugees. With great sensitivity, Appelfeld recounts his struggles to learn a new language and to fit into a new culture, while mourning his loss of the culture and languages of his childhood. Appelfeld, whose formal education ceased at first grade, was able to self-study and gain admission to a university where he studied the humanities and eventually became a professor.
   
   Appelfeld makes clear throughout his memoir that his body remembers his experiences, but that his mind deals with the memories in a different fashion. Sometimes there are vacant spaces in his conscious memory, and sometimes unwanted memories come rushing back. With a sense of awe bordering on horror, he states that, by translating these memories, vacant spaces and sensations into fiction, he has become a voice of the collective experience. I came away from this memoir with a sense of indebtedness to Appelfeld.

No comments about Dream Homes: From Cairo to Katrina, an Exile's Journey (Jewish Women Writers).

5 comments about The Avengers.

1. The Avengers may be out of print, but it's story will live on through those who are fortunate to read it. It is the true story of a small group that was part of the Jewish underground. For any of you who are not aware of the sheer bravery, the strength, the commitment, and the endurance of this band of heroes, you are in for a riveting, well written book. Don't miss this one.



2. I have read many books about Jewish resistance during World War II and this one is among the best I have read. Once I started reading it, I could not put it down. The book covers the life of Abba Kovner, a Jewish resistance fighter from Vilna, through World War II and its aftermath. At the end of the war, Abba planned and executed acts of revenge against the Nazis. This is described in the book as well as Abba's participation in Israel's War of Independence. The book is well written and easy to read. It gives you two different pictures of Jewish suffering during the war. One picture is that of many of the Jews in the Vilna Ghetto.....one of fear and submission to the Nazi oppression. The other picture is that of Abba and his group of partisans.....one of resistance and hatred of the Nazi oppressors.



3. Rich Cohen has written an extraordinary tale of heroism and survival during the most horrendous and brutal moment in mankind's history. The tale of these three individuals, Abba Kovner, Ruzka Korczak and Vitka Kempner, shine through as living testimonies in the dark night of the Holocaust. You will not be able to put this book down as you race through the pages of "The Avengers." It is so well written and well documented that you wish you had 20 more books just like this one. It really is amazing how these individuals actually survived this horrible time, but they did in fact prevail and triumph against overwhelming odds. Perhaps the greatest challenge that these people faced in the end was not to end up like the monsters who had persecuted them. Rich Cohen has done an amazing and tremendous thing by writing this book, sharing with the world the incredible testimony of these three courageous individuals. After you finish reading this book, you will never think about the Holocaust in the same way.



4. The Avengers follows the life of Abba Kovner and his associates, through the horror of Nazism through attempts at revenge, and to a life in Palestine. Although I have read several books on the holocaust, I must admit, I could not bought this book down. Cohen's writing style is very engaging. Cohen makes no value judgements here; it is up to the reader to decide right and wrong. Although I think most people would have a tough time accepting what the avengers tried to do after the war, I cannot possibly judge them. I also cannot imagine living the horrors (which are spelled out in graphic detail) that these Jews went through. One is struck again and again by the brutality and sadism used by these Nazi animals.

   Although not a comforting book, I believe this book should be read by anyone with an interest in one of the most evil periods in history.




5. Cohen's story is brilliant and courageous in the way it forces the Reader to acknowledge their hypocracies with regard to terrorism. Specifically, he draws the reader to sympathize and care for Abba Kovner, but also notes that Kovner and his gang try (unsuccessfully) to poison the water supply of Germans, many innocent noncombatants, even children. In other words, these Avengers are also terrorists (if you use the current definitions).

   By exposing the grey are of terrorism/ resistance, Cohen subtly places the reader in the uncomfortable position of acknowledging a double standard between hero, terrorist and freedom fighter. While we all have to come to our own (hopefully consistent)conclusion in that regard, it takes someone like Cohen and his hero Kovener to make us realize that it is not a "cut and dry" issue.

5 comments about Bagels and Grits: A Jew on the Bayou.

1. I do not know what I thought I was getting when I picked this memoir up. Something humorous, perhaps. The title of another Moses' book is FOOD & WHINE. Something Jewish, of course. So many of my lovers were and friends are Jewish that I am perpetually attracted to that subject. And the bayou? That uniquely Southern/French combination. New Orleans is my favorite, but hey, Baton Rouge is close enough.
   
   That is what I expected, but what I got was the author, Jennifer, a terrified whiny young woman who wants it all (including God) for herself but does not know how to get it. Her beloved scattered family, people dying of AIDS in St. Anthony's where she volunteers, her rabbi, and her therapist all influence her. She writes, "God alone knows what the folks at St. Anthony's would think of me if they knew that not only do I cry buckets at the drop of a hat, but also that I actually pay money to someone to listen to me when I cry."
   
   Early reviewers aptly use words like witty, honest, probing to describe Bagels & Grits, which lives up to its reputation. The book opens with Jennifer driving a minivan, listening to HIV-positive patient, Lorraine, with skin "like polished mahogany" describe, again, how she shot her husband "right in the head" when she found him in bed with her auntie. "My favorite damn auntie." The book pads quietly on from there, word by word, day by day, slowly changing into a moving memoir of spiritual growth.
   
   Jennifer questions much of what she sees. Of the Christian God she encounters repeatedly in St. Anthony's she writes, "This is the God Who forgives you every last nasty thing you've ever done, and all you have to do [is] ask. So you've killed a few folks? No problem! Just call on Him at the very end and --presto!--you get into heaven. Whored around? Don't sweat it! Cheated on your income taxes? Come on down!"
   
   "At St. Anthony's, not only did He exist, but also, at times, He came down to earth to say howdy or give a thumbs-up. He was so present, so everyday, that you almost expected to bump into Him at the grocery store."
   
   I love this book. It brought me to tears, which books rarely do. Indeed, I loved the book so much I could not bear to put it down. So I didn't. I turned right back to page one and read it over again. Knowing what would happen, I focused on the wealth of detail Jennifer supplies, like this description of Geraldine, one of the AIDS patients: "she was pretty the way a bird is pretty, with small jutting bones under smooth skin and quick, darting movements."
   
   Read it if you can. Whether you are Christian, Jewish, or (like me) something else, this odd, detailed, delightful spiritual journey is bound to touch you.
   
   MARILYN COFFEY is an award-winning poet and a widely published author of prose. Visit http://www,Amazon.com to purchase her work: GREAT PLAINS PATCHWORK, MARCELLA, or KANSAS QUARTERLY Vol. 15 No. 2.



2. I know the author, whose twin children go to high school with my daughter, and have read many of her columns on religious issues in the local newspaper. The unfortunately-titled "Bagels and Grits", which sounds more like a book on comparative cooking and culture between the Northeast and south Louisiana, made me feel like I know Jennifer Moses a lot better, as I've now read the story of her religious journey from a secular Jewish teenager in Virginia to a woman who teaches Hebrew at her synagogue and writes columns on religious issues.
   
   Her journey and the book are inspired by of all things, volunteering a half-day a week in her new hometown of Baton Rouge, LA at an AIDS hospice. So many of the terminally-ill patients find comfort in their Christian faith that Ms. Moses begins to consider how a deeper spirituality might improve her own life. Her longstanding Jewish identity prevents her from going all the way to Christianity, but a new rabbi at a local synagogue helps her find her way to a deeper understanding of Judaism. She even becomes a bat-mitzvah, completing studies in Judaism and Hebrew that Jews generally do while teenagers.
   
   I found the story of Moses' rediscovery of Judaism in Baton Rouge (the "grits" part of the title) to be much more fascinating than flashbacks to her upper middle class upbringing in Virginia and young adult life in New York City (the "bagel" part). Still, Moses is a talented writer with a willingness to share quite personal information, making her book a quick read. One warning--if you're a big fan of Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson you might want to skip over Moses' two capsule reviews of that book. In her view, Mitch Albom's spiritual awakening doesn't quite measure up. I empathized more with Morrie's story than Mitch's, and didn't have such a negative reaction to the book, no matter its sentimentality.
   
   Four stars for a well-written, serious and informative account of one woman's spiritual journey that will probably be best enjoyed by those of us in the Baby Boomer generation.



3. When the author's husband decides to leave his job as a lawyer to take one as a law professor, the family moves from their upscale, metropolitan home in the upper east to the deep south. Initially Jennifer Moses does so with a set of stereotypical beliefs about her new home area. She has a feeling of smug superiority over her new neighbors who, to her, all sound alike and don't know about the good things in life.
   
   Moses is Jewish, in a by-name-only way. She never became a bat mitzvah as a young girl.
   
   Her father, who never let his daughters date on Friday nights and always went to shul on Saturdays, never pressed his religion on his family. The author has lived life on the outer edges of Judaism. Moving to the Bible Belt makes her question her ideas about God and probe into her relationship with Him. In her new surroundings "you can't live in Baton Rouge without bumping up against Jesus just about every time you walk out of the house...."
   
   While living in a world full of strangers, the one woman she's known every day of her life deals with cancer. How does a good Jewish daughter deal with a terminally ill mother? Unable to help her mother with the distance between them, she volunteers at a residential treatment facility where she works with AIDS patients.
   
   With a sense of humor and a willing spirit, she works with people who may not have much longer to talk about the important things in life. Moses conveys the changes in her life along with the reasons for them in a way that makes you feel as if you already knew all this-you'd just never put it into words.
   
   Reading, you feel as if you're having a conversation with a new neighbor and learning what makes her tick. You'll surely invite her over to chat again as she's entertaining, engaging, and caring. And when you close the door on her book, you can't help but smile ... and ponder the subjects she discussed.
   
   Armchair Interviews says: A very touching story well told.



4. This book is a collection of a northern woman's condescending opinions of social and religious life in a southern city. As a former resident of Washington, D.C., the author arrived in Baton Rouge with airs of intellectual and moral superiority. After many years, she has still not abandoned northern stereotypes of southerners or gained any insights into the southern way of life.



5. Moses, Jennifer Anne. "Bagels and Grits: A Jew on the Bayou", The University of Wisconsin Press, 2007. $26.95.
   
   Seeking the Divine
   
   Amos Lassen
   
   My review copy of "Bagels and Grits" just arrived this afternoon as I was waiting for the delivery of furniture for my new place. I sat down with it and before I realized it I had read the entire book and I had the best time. Jennifer Moses is not new to the world of publishing. Articles she writes appear regularly in newspapers and magazines and she is a writer by profession. She is also a mother and volunteers at an AIDS hospice in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and also teaches Hebrew at her synagogue.
   If you did not know she was a writer, you could probably tell from her prose which abounds with grace and style combined with a noble wit. Her pages exude charm and you just want to find a way to get to her abode for a Shabbat dinner just so you can sit and chat with her.
   Moses writes about having moved from a liberal and affluent neighborhood of Washington, D.C. to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the land of gospel, crawfish and Christianity where everyone seems to be a friend of Jesus. After her move, she embarks on a journey of self-discovery and attempt at communion with G-d. In doing so, she finds the differences in culture in this country and she shares them with us.
   Moses was raised as an observant Jew in the northeastern United States and G-d is no more than something far away. Upon arriving in the South and the Bible belt, she went through a period of crisis regarding faith while serving as a volunteer at an AIDS hospice. As she writes, Moses takes her back to her past and then to the present and her conflicts that she experiences in the South. The portraits that she gives of her childhood and of her parents is vivid and the picture of the G-d of her mother is just like an oil painting, executed in beautiful detail. That G-d was one who, in her mother's words, was one "of good works and of giving to the Democratic party". Her father carried the mantle of Judaism and it is with her father that Moses seeks a relationship with G-d. Even though she was raised as an observant Jew, more or less, her skewed vision of G-d later drove her to seek a communion with her maker.
   It is her trip South that is the catalyst for her quest. The people she meets in Baton Rouge seem to be constantly in communion with G-d but in the author's opinion some of the encounters the people have with the deity are absurd and ridiculous, causing her to recoil in anger. They, of course, add bits of local color to their visions of the divine and this riles her up.
   Yet it is these people that take Moses into their world and they take the reader as well. Moses feels both anger and jealousy when she sees and hears about the southerners beliefs and she yearns to "be filled with a faith so buoyant" that it would sweep her past herself, past memory and sorrow and into an eternal embrace with G-d. She finds it increasingly difficult to understand why others have a relationship with G-d and she does not.
   Moses acts on this issue and begins to learn Hebrew as the first step. She slowly experiences divine touches as she struggles with skepticism but her faith increases and when she is diagnosed with breast cancer, she understands that her recovery will be a great deal easier because she has taken herself on a spiritual journey. Before she received the diagnosis, se began to see signs of G-d in ways that she can understand and her world begins to change.
   Surely by now you are wondering why she went to Baton Rouge in the first place. Her husband tired of his job as a lawyer and took a position as a professor of law at Louisiana State University. The family, herself and her husband and three children, moved there and it was then that her ideas about the Jewish religion began to deepen. It was the evangelical Christians who really made her realize that she needed to find strength in her G-d and this is what the book is all about.
   Moses tells a beautiful story of her own life as well as of the life of her family and brings the stories into a larger arena concerning the challenges that modern Judaism faces. Her desire to make sense of and live up to her historical heritage is an exquisite tale of self-discovery and renewal of faith.

2 comments about Rescuers: Portraits of Moral Courage in the Holocaust.

1. On the front cover of "Rescuers" are 12 photographs of some very nice looking people. They are pictures of people that you might meet every day; of friends and family, or someone that you might pass by on the street. They are the faces of very ordinary people, but they are also much more than that. They are the faces of people that risked their lives to save the lives of others during the Holocaust. They are the faces of the rescuers. There are many more photographs inside the book, of rescuers from countries all over Europe. Author Malka Drucker and photographer Gay Block interviewed and photographed the rescuers, seeking the heart of compassion and moral courage. They found that heart in men and women; the young and the old; and in people from all walks of life. Every story told by the rescuers is very moving. Some rescuers saved one person from death; some saved many thousands. All of the rescuers are worthy of the greatest respect and honor. The rescuers were sometimes asked the question of why they helped others to live, when so many other people stood by and did nothing. The rescuers would answer that question by saying that they were only doing what they knew was right. By caring for other people, they were acting the way that everyone should have been acting. One of the most inspiring truths found in the book, is the thought that we all have that same spark of goodness within our hearts, that was shown so nobly by the rescuers. We all have the capacity for doing what is right, even in times of the greatest fear and terror. This is a book that will warm your heart, and it is well worth reading.



2. This book is wonderfully formatted, arranged by geographic area of Europe. Each interview starts with black and white photos a person who helped Jews and other persecuted people during WWII. A personal narrative of that time in their lives follows, and each interview closes with a color photo of that person as they were in 1992 when the interviews were done. A complicated and moving picture of altruism emerges, and one gets a glimpse of how individuals chose to protect others at the risk of threat to themselves and their families.

5 comments about Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood.

1. I just finished reading Jennifer Traig's incredibly engaging memoir. Who knew a book about a serious condition- OCD, more specifically srucpulosity- would be so entertaining, yet endearing? I was constantly reading parts of the books outloud to my husband, who was wondering why I was giggling.
   Traig is both a gifted and clever author as she gives us an inside peak into a world of extreme religion and cleanliness.
   The story was captivating, the writing wonderful, and yes, the devil is in the details. If you are considering buying this book, definitely buy it. Put a tissue on your head and read it!!



2. Is it wrong to fall over laughing when reading a book about a person with severe OCD? If so, I'm in some deep cosmic trouble, because this was hilarious.
   
   "Scenes" aptly describes the book because, as Traig herself makes clear, her battles with the disease were sporadic. Plus, the book has scattered through it various (also very funny) quizzes, proofs, sample SAT questions, and so forth that give insight into the OCD mind. Somehow, Traig helps us find humor in the horror of bloody, chapped hands, anorexia, and hair-pulling. It's almost a hat trick; I'm not sure how she did it.
   
   Traig and her family, as presented in the book, are immensely likable and weather the bizzare with good humor. There are colorful portraits of them as well as of Traig; no member of her immediate family is there as a mere prop to her own story, which is a real strength in the book, something that helps make it more substantial than many of the more "me-centric" memoirs.
   
   Religion plays a heavy part in this memoir, something that many readers may not expect, but it was the key piece of Traig's disorder. I personally found it fascinating to read about, as so many elements of Orthodox Judaism were unfamiliar to me, and, again, I thought it gave the book a good deal of substance. Some readers may be put off by this element of the unfamiliar, while others may find it intriguing (and it certainly makes this book stand out from any other OCD memoir). The book becomes not just a "book about a girl with OCD" but also a more profound look at a girl coming to terms with her identity and faith. And again-- to be able to make all of this side-splittingly funny reveals rare talent indeed!



3. Intrigued by the excellent art design on the cover of this book, I recently enjoyed stepping into the mind of author Traig as a young girl struggling with a mental disorder amongst other pains of growing up. She writes with a very sardonic tone, which suits the serious subject quite well, making it a fun read instead of a potentially dreary one. The only aspect that seemed slightly out of place was how she didn't really wrap the memoir up with any sense of finality. There was hardly any sense of the author in the present tense, aside from a few mentions of her religious life currently. Perhaps the intent was to create a snapshot of her as an adolescent, but it seems like an abrupt ending to the book regardless. Would definitely recommend to anyone interested in reading a sharply written memoir.



4. Jennifer Traig uses a distinctive comic voice throughout this book that makes it very easy to read. The author describes the trials and tribulations of growing up with OCD, and her anecdotes are both poignant and funny. She provides a non-clinical point of view, describing the impact of OCD on her everyday life. I would recommend this book and am looking forward to reading more works by Traig.



5. I really liked this book. A good read about growing up, religion, family and OCD. I just saw that the author has another book, and I'm ordering that one right now! Good read!

5 comments about Leap into Darkness: Seven Years on the Run in Wartime Europe.

1. an incredible story about the human spirit and the will to live against all odds.



2. Well, the writer is my Grandpa. I am 10 years old so I read it early. My mom helped me out a lot. But thats not exactly a bad thing! Everytime I came to a word I didn't know she would tell me. My mom really could help because my mom was even the one who read it and edited it so she was one of the first, and that really helped because she knew the whole story. I first thought it wasn't such a bad tradgedy of what he did, but after I accually read it, I really changed my mind! If you have not read it, you really got to. Even if you are ten like me, try and you will really like it! Expeccially read it if you like biographies and autobiographies, cause this is an autobiography! Even if you don't like non-fiction, read it anyway! This is so cool that it sounds impossible, and im it sounds impossible it's as fiction as any other book!



3. The part that most struck me was when he wrote "Before the war would end, little Austria would supply nearly half of the staff of all Nazi concentration camps and death camps." and the story he tells of being a boy in Vienna in March 1938 "when Hitler entered the city and found a quarter of a million people rapturously cheering him". He says his cousin Sonja still lives in Vienna "where the citizens now call themselves victims....hoping to keep their secret from the rest of the world". Hitler was an Austrian and so was the head of the Gestapo Kaltenbrunner and many many other Nazi's.



4. I've read several books about the holocaust,whether their authors were survivors of the death camps, survivors on the run, or even non-Jews who helped others survive by hiding them. This book was an incredible story. His escapes were brave and amazing. I'm always looking for more stories such as this, it is amazing to me, there are so many stories, I want to know them all. If you have any other recommendations, e-mail me at Stacy1212@aol.com. Great book, must read.



5. I just finished this book, I coulnt beleive the outcome of it.It was so shocking to hear all of this. I couldn't put it down. Im very interested in the Holocaust, even though im not a surviver, but it is so interesting on how people were back in WWII, it amazes me that people had to go through all of this..I would diffently reccommend this. Thanks to Leo and Michael, to share such a tragic story and a big and unhumian peice of your life, a peice of history..Best Wishes

5 comments about Upon the Head of the Goat: A Childhood in Hungary 1939-1944.

1. I think that you should read this book because it is clear and it gives a good description of what it was like for the Jews as the Holocaust began. The author described how they lived, specifically, how they dressed, slept, and ate. This gives the reader a clear understanding. It is interesting to learn about an actual family that lived during these hard times, especially for the children Piri, Etu, Joli, and Sandor. Piri's family had to make hard decisions in order to survive. The book gives a good description of the Ghetto and how they had to live for those few weeks. For example, the bathroom was smelly and gross with not much privacy. The ground was cold and hard, "What if it rains during the night?" she asked. "We'll all get soaked." They were not allowed to make fires either. They don't even know how long they are going to be there so they don't know what to expect. They build somewhat of a shelter for just their family with a tent inside it for privacy and to help keep the rain out. The author, Aranka Siegal, doesn't just give an overview of what it was like in the Ghetto; she describes every detail about it. Overall, it is a good book and I recommend it to ages 13 an up.



2. Upon the Head of a Goat is a very good book. It gives a lot of back round pre-holocaust. The fact that it is a true story is even better. It teaches and touches upon the home of a Jewish family torn from each other. It describes the obstacles they had to go through to live their everyday life. They had their food, conformability, morals, thoughts, believes, and one another taken from them.
   I liked this book, and I recommend it. There are parts in the book that you will question yourself on the answers that you would provide in certain situations. The ending of the book was a little disappointing because it didn't really touch upon what happened. They led up to all these thoughts and stopped.



3. I like history and the subject of World War II and Nazi Germany, that is why I was surprised how much I did not like this book. I found it boring and uninteresting. I wish the book had more action. I guess it was hard for me to identify with a nine year old girl and what she went through. I also do not like endings that leave you hanging. I wish we knew what happened to them after they got on the train. It was almost like I wish the book started where it ended. This book is probably better for someone younger or for someone who wants to avoid the violence and terror of World War II.



4. This was the first book I read about the Shoah in Hungary, and it was so fascinating that it got me interested in all things Hungarian. It's different from many books about the Shoah in that the majority of it takes place before the Nazi invasion of Hungary on 19 March 1944, when the remaining members of the Davidowitz family are shipped off to a ghetto. Though life is growing increasingly hard for them because of the anti-Jewish regulations and the strain of living during a war in general, and Piri had to stay in the Ukraine with her grandmother and older sister Rozsi longer than she expected to because of a border war, the Davidowitzes still have a pretty normal and decent life before they have to leave for the ghetto. During this time the family also does their part to help other Jewish families and people in need, even with hiding them in safe houses or helping to smuggle them across borders, and Iboya, the next-youngest of Mrs. Davidowitz's children by her first marriage, is very involved in Zionism. And even in the ghetto, Piri's family and her best friend Judi's little family live the best they can, trying to keep their spirits up and to be happy. Piri and Judi both have their first romances in the ghetto, in fact. It's not one of those books that starts out happily and then quickly moves to the ghetto and then the camps. In fact, the book ends as they're leaving the ghetto in the cattlecar, and only a short postscript tells us what happened after that.
   
   The book is also interesting because not all of Piri's siblings are at home, unlike many other Shoah books where all of the family are in the same house. Because her mother didn't want her grandmother to be lonely after she was widowed, she began farming out her five daughters to stay with her to keep her company, but Lilli, the oldest, wasn't her companion very long because she got married at only 16 years old and soon had a baby. Now Rozsi is living with the grandmother, and loves farm life very much, while the other older sister, Etu, is away at university in Budapest. Even after Lilli and her young daugher Manci move back in, there are still only Piri and her sister Iboya left at home along with their halfsiblings Sandor and Joli, and when Lilli's husband Lajos is arrested and Lilli insists on joining him along with Manci, there are still only the youngest four still at home. It makes it interesting because the family are in all different places instead of all suffering the same fates or suffering all together. The only complaint I have about the book is one I acquired in hindsight; it would have been helpful to have told the reader something about the pronunciation of the Hungarian names and that some of the names used, like Ica and Manci, are nicknames and not full given names.



5. It was a very interesting and informing book. It was easy to feel for the characters. I highly recommend it for people who are interested in the lives of young holocaust victims.