bluefairybug's review
4.0
Eva Mozes Kor is a hero of mine. She was a real powerhouse. A survivor who maintained all her humour until the end.
Having watched numerous documentaries about Eva/with Eva in, her story was not new to me. However everytime I read something about/by her I am reminded of the truly terrific woman she was. That's a review of Eva the person, not the book though.
So to the book. It was an "easy read" (in terms of language, not subject matter) and would be perfect for young adults or teens who need an introduction to the Holocaust. Eva writes as if she were still 10 years old as that's the age she was at the time. For me this isn't a negative thing, it adds a layer of realism to the story. Eva is, after all, recalling events that happened to her as a child, that she understood with all the innocence and intelligence of a child. Looking back as an adult and trying to explain and understand what happened with the benefit of hindsight and maturity would change the story somewhat.
Having watched numerous documentaries about Eva/with Eva in, her story was not new to me. However everytime I read something about/by her I am reminded of the truly terrific woman she was. That's a review of Eva the person, not the book though.
So to the book. It was an "easy read" (in terms of language, not subject matter) and would be perfect for young adults or teens who need an introduction to the Holocaust. Eva writes as if she were still 10 years old as that's the age she was at the time. For me this isn't a negative thing, it adds a layer of realism to the story. Eva is, after all, recalling events that happened to her as a child, that she understood with all the innocence and intelligence of a child. Looking back as an adult and trying to explain and understand what happened with the benefit of hindsight and maturity would change the story somewhat.
chamboh's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.5
An educational and important book for all to read.
katy157's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
5.0
theshaggyshepherd's review
5.0
The Twins of Auschwitz // by Eva Mozes Kor and Lisa Rojany Buccieri
I generally like to mix up my genres to avoid getting burned out and so that I don’t read a lot of serious books one after the other. I just finished a fantastic fantasy book (see my review here) so I thought this would be a good time to read another serious book. Well, it does not get much more serious than this and I sobered up rather quickly. It starts like so many books about the survivors of the Holocaust do: with a cattle cart headed for Auschwitz.
As a German myself, I have often been on the receiving end of both questions about our education on the Holocaust as well as Nazi jokes to the point of practicing my English so much that I have lost my accent enough to not sound German anymore. While I’m glad to say that we receive much more education about the horrors of the time of our country than the US does about their atrocities, there are still so many things that I have not heard of. The evils of the Nazi regime knew no bounds and this book is another testament to that. As the remaining survivors continue to leave this earth, we are receiving less and less first-hand details about this time in history. It is important to never forget what happened, which is why I continue to pick up these books despite the pain they bring of knowing that my own country has been so cruel.
While I knew about the propaganda in Germany against Jews and how, step-by-step, Hitler and his government managed to spread hate for Jews and other minorities, I did not know the extent to which that was shown to young children in school in other countries as well, using math problems and short films about how to kill Jews. I also have often heard about the denial of many Germans that did not believe that things were as bad as people made it out to be but I did not realize that there were also Jews that felt the same way, believing things just could not be that bad until it was too late for them and they arrived in the ghettos or even the concentration camps. Every time you think that something has to be the worst thing you learned about, something else comes along to shatter that illusion, such as finding out about the experiments that Mengele performed on twins and other groups of people. When I read that after the death of one twin due to a purposely caused disease, the other (healthy) twin would be killed so they could compare their organs to each other, I had to put down the book and walk away to work through all the emotions.
I am so thankful that Eva Mozes Kor did the difficult work of remembering her experiences in detail to pass along the story of what happened to her and her family. I am in awe of the work she did throughout her life as well to spread awareness about what happened during the Holocaust in an effort to never let the world forget about it. While I have some mixed feelings about certain choices in her later life, especially after reading The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan, there is no doubt that she did what she felt was right to honor the memory of her family and the many lives that were lost. As someone that often skips over acknowledgements, afterwords, etc., I highly recommend you continue reading through everything after her Epilogue. There is a lot of interesting information there and I appreciate that we get to hear even the criticism that she received as well. It helps paint a complete picture of who she was and what her goals were.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
I generally like to mix up my genres to avoid getting burned out and so that I don’t read a lot of serious books one after the other. I just finished a fantastic fantasy book (see my review here) so I thought this would be a good time to read another serious book. Well, it does not get much more serious than this and I sobered up rather quickly. It starts like so many books about the survivors of the Holocaust do: with a cattle cart headed for Auschwitz.
As a German myself, I have often been on the receiving end of both questions about our education on the Holocaust as well as Nazi jokes to the point of practicing my English so much that I have lost my accent enough to not sound German anymore. While I’m glad to say that we receive much more education about the horrors of the time of our country than the US does about their atrocities, there are still so many things that I have not heard of. The evils of the Nazi regime knew no bounds and this book is another testament to that. As the remaining survivors continue to leave this earth, we are receiving less and less first-hand details about this time in history. It is important to never forget what happened, which is why I continue to pick up these books despite the pain they bring of knowing that my own country has been so cruel.
While I knew about the propaganda in Germany against Jews and how, step-by-step, Hitler and his government managed to spread hate for Jews and other minorities, I did not know the extent to which that was shown to young children in school in other countries as well, using math problems and short films about how to kill Jews. I also have often heard about the denial of many Germans that did not believe that things were as bad as people made it out to be but I did not realize that there were also Jews that felt the same way, believing things just could not be that bad until it was too late for them and they arrived in the ghettos or even the concentration camps. Every time you think that something has to be the worst thing you learned about, something else comes along to shatter that illusion, such as finding out about the experiments that Mengele performed on twins and other groups of people. When I read that after the death of one twin due to a purposely caused disease, the other (healthy) twin would be killed so they could compare their organs to each other, I had to put down the book and walk away to work through all the emotions.
I am so thankful that Eva Mozes Kor did the difficult work of remembering her experiences in detail to pass along the story of what happened to her and her family. I am in awe of the work she did throughout her life as well to spread awareness about what happened during the Holocaust in an effort to never let the world forget about it. While I have some mixed feelings about certain choices in her later life, especially after reading The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan, there is no doubt that she did what she felt was right to honor the memory of her family and the many lives that were lost. As someone that often skips over acknowledgements, afterwords, etc., I highly recommend you continue reading through everything after her Epilogue. There is a lot of interesting information there and I appreciate that we get to hear even the criticism that she received as well. It helps paint a complete picture of who she was and what her goals were.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
migsnail's review
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
arabellasbooks's review
4.0
An incredible yet heartbreaking and gut wrenching story told in first perspective to give even more insight on humanity's horror at Auschwitz and the story of those who survived, determined to remain together and be safe in life once more. Although this was a very tough read, learning more about the events at Auschwitz and how Eva, afterwards, used her experience to educate others and look towards a more positive future is so inspiring and wonderful to read about.