3 comments about Anne Frank and Etty Hillesum: Inscribing Spirituality and Sexuality.

1. I have seen some wretched books on the market in my day, but nothing, absolutely nothing, is as offensive and as crass as this. First of all, psychoanalysis is not a science, which makes these authors' approach to Anne Frank and Etty Hillesum's respective ordeals cheap enough, but even with that, it's an abomination to put two women who were victims of the Holocaust under such horrific, over-analyzed scrutiny. As Richard Nixon once said, "I don't mind when people put me under a microscope, but when they use a proctoscope, that's going too far." Indeed! This book is so bad it's unbelievable.



2. Denise de Costa has written a valuable and extraordinarily
   intelligent interpretation of Anne Frank the individual behind the writer, as she presented herself in her original diaries and then in the revised manuscript she prepared in hiding. Reading between these texts de Costa's insights are dazzling, critical and thought provoking: she examines Anne's motivation to write, her growing dependency on the diary, her unfolding maturity and her troubled relationship with her mother. This is a compelling book and a major contribution to our understanding of Anne Frank.



3. the book about anne frank is truely marvalous! A wondfull biography for a teenager or young adult! Defently mworth reading!

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No comments about My caravan of years;: An autobiography,.

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2 comments about While the Messiah Tarries: Stories.

1. I think I understand why the previous reviewer was disappointed, for this book is so rooted in Jewish life and culture that it might indeed go right by someone who doesn't have these roots. But I couldn't put it down, except to stop now and then to stare into space and shake my head YES over such a devastatingly smart-guy-funny and old-guy-wise collection of stories. I also shook my head in wonderment--"Why was this book on a sale table marked down to a dollar and why isn't Bukiet famous?" He is the only American Jewish writer I've read in a very long time whom I consider worthy to fill the spot left by the brilliant Stanley Elkin. Eventually I would like to write the kind of substantial review that these stories deserve but for now, I will just say: these stories are good. In the sense of there being no higher compliment than GOOD. They partake of the reality of being GOOD. Laughter through tears, OK, that's not "new" but laughter through tears so that it hits you anew with total vitality and genuine human presence, why else bother to write and read fiction? So much flotsam and jetsam out there, I mean in the realm of trendy and purportedly mystical/comical Jewish tales, and most are a cleptrep of mishmosh. These stories are cut from the real cloth of Jewish life. That takes a master tailor, trust me.



2. I read the first four of the nine short stories that comprise this book and I just couldn't be bothered to read on. It's not that the stories are poorly written per se, it's more the heavily Jewish themes that pervade them. The "Jewishness" of these stories is integral to each, and doesn't really speak to me, others may enjoy. His novel After is somewhat better.

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