clarabooksit's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Hate crime, Antisemitism, Genocide, Xenophobia, Racism, and War
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, Rape, Cancer, Child death, Slavery, Violence, War, and Suicide
alana99's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.0
uniskorn's review
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
2.0
I think the subject matter is important, but the overall execution is frankly terrible. Rosner takes terrible events worldwide and meditates on them through the lens of being a daughter of Holocaust survivors and while I think this in essence should work, her reference to said atrocities usually are brief and incomplete when it comes to putting her full thoughts down or leaving the reader scratching their head. There are several parts in here that just don't flow with the overall narrative. She'll make an observation and as a reader, we're wondering why it's important or how it connects which I think cheapens what she's trying to do. There are some characterizations of her father too that had me scratching my head, like when she mentions his tooth falls out but then just moves on as if nothing has happened.
I thought this would be a more thorough examination of epigenetics, or how our ancestors' genetics affect us particularly when they are subject to atrocities. I was interested to learn about that but instead of an interrogation of genetics and memory, it's more of a reflection piece which is fine but the marketing for why I purchased this book is ultimately misleading.
I thought this would be a more thorough examination of epigenetics, or how our ancestors' genetics affect us particularly when they are subject to atrocities. I was interested to learn about that but instead of an interrogation of genetics and memory, it's more of a reflection piece which is fine but the marketing for why I purchased this book is ultimately misleading.
bkish's review against another edition
4.0
This is a very unusual book almost dont know how to review it. It is about trauma and memory and the main focus is the Jewish People and she is Jewish. She has a very close relationship w her parents and her mother died. Both are survivors of the murderous brutal monstrous Nazis. Mother was not in a camp and her father was at very young age in Buchenwald. The book is about these happenings in modern day Germany to remember Buchenwald and the nazi era yet Im not sure how solid is the intention of the german people about this.
Elizabeth also talks about other horrendous killings in countries and its effect on the people.
As I think about the book what I "remember" most is she is talking about the memory of the survivors and what happens when there is no longer anyone who remembers.
There are no answers here no solutions just a presenting
Judy
Elizabeth also talks about other horrendous killings in countries and its effect on the people.
As I think about the book what I "remember" most is she is talking about the memory of the survivors and what happens when there is no longer anyone who remembers.
There are no answers here no solutions just a presenting
Judy
steds's review against another edition
3.0
Set up like a patchwork of snippets. Very interesting, and good introduction to emerging epigenetic research interwoven with personal memoir and a lifetime of searching. Felt it could've used another edit (but also I have an advance copy so perhaps it got one).
crowaii's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
kelshenka's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
elysian_mess's review against another edition
A really intense book which I'll have to be fully on focused to read. It's written incredibly well but I cannot give it the attention it needs at the moment.
tanyarobinson's review against another edition
4.0
I feel completely inadequate as I try to review Survivor Cafe. The title comes from the informal sit-downs organized at the Buchenwald survivor reunions, but for me the subtitle more fully encapsulates what this book is about: The Legacy of Trauma and the Labyrinth of Memory.
Rosner is the child of a concentration camp survivor, and also a historian who feels a responsibility to keep the Holocaust alive in communal memory. In the process of writing this book she has interviewed many survivors and children and grandchildren of survivors. One unique aspect of her approach is the recognition that the trauma of the Shoah has been transmitted forward through generations, whether that is through sharing of memories, epigenetics, or some subconscious secondary experience of a parent's ordeal.
Though her focus is on the Holocaust, she discusses other traumatic group experiences - the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Killing Fields of Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, the Armenian genocide, and more. She acknowledges that each of these tragedies created (often undiagnosed) PTSD that is experienced both by the actual actors and by their descendants.
This sounds absolutely depressing, but Rosner's writing has such a beauty about it that the darkness is transcended. I came away wishing I could sit down with her and her father and hear their stories, hear more from so many of the fascinating people she has connected with. 4 stars.
Rosner is the child of a concentration camp survivor, and also a historian who feels a responsibility to keep the Holocaust alive in communal memory. In the process of writing this book she has interviewed many survivors and children and grandchildren of survivors. One unique aspect of her approach is the recognition that the trauma of the Shoah has been transmitted forward through generations, whether that is through sharing of memories, epigenetics, or some subconscious secondary experience of a parent's ordeal.
Though her focus is on the Holocaust, she discusses other traumatic group experiences - the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Killing Fields of Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, the Armenian genocide, and more. She acknowledges that each of these tragedies created (often undiagnosed) PTSD that is experienced both by the actual actors and by their descendants.
This sounds absolutely depressing, but Rosner's writing has such a beauty about it that the darkness is transcended. I came away wishing I could sit down with her and her father and hear their stories, hear more from so many of the fascinating people she has connected with. 4 stars.