Showing posts with label Jewish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jewish. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

The History of Love

by Nicole Krauss
4 Stars
Jewish
Setting: USA
260 pages
Published 2005

Ellie's Review
This book was very enjoyable, and I was sad to finish it. Different people narrate this novel, which was confusing at first (maybe because I was listening to the audiobook?). I absolutely loved the narration of Leo Gursky - he was a quirky and amazing character who I fell in love with and just wanted to hug.  Simply, it was a great book.

Book Summary
Leo Gursky is trying to survive a little bit longer, tapping his radiator each evening to let his upstairs neighbor know he's still alive, drawing attention to himself at the milk counter of Starbucks. But life wasn't always like this: sixty years ago, in the Polish village where he was born, Leo fell in love and wrote a book. And although he doesn't know it, that book also survived: it crossed oceans and generations, and changed lives." Fourteen-year-old Alma was named after a character in that book. She has her hands full keeping track of her little brother Bird (who thinks he might be the Messiah) and taking copious notes in her book, How to Survive in the Wild Volume Three. But when a mysterious letter arrives in the mail she undertakes an adventure to find her namesake and save her family.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Night (Night #1)

by Elie Wiesel, translated by Marion Wiesel
5 Stars
Nonfiction: Memoir
Classic, WWII, Jewish

Setting: Germany
120 pages
Published 1958

Ellie's Review
Wow, this is an incredible account of Elie Wiesel's time in concentration camps as a teenager. It's a must read. I haven't read the other books in his series (Dawn and Day), but I should.

Book Summary
A terrifying account of the Nazi death camp horror that turns a young Jewish boy into an agonized witness to the death of his family...the death of his innocence...and the death of his God. Penetrating and powerful, as personal as The Diary Of Anne Frank, Night awakens the shocking memory of evil at its absolute and carries with it the unforgettable message that this horror must never be allowed to happen again.