kiperoo's review against another edition
5.0
Fascinating dig into history though the author's research into her family's own WWII past. I loved the graphic novel format for this book--really brought both her journey and the details she uncovers to life.
martha_g's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
untitledlullaby's review against another edition
4.0
This was pretty hard to read physically, I wish that there was a different layout.
seedwa's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
3.0
This one is tough to review and gave me mixed feelings.
On the one hand, it’s an extremely difficult and important subject matter to tackle and I felt like the graphic novel format was the perfect choice. I didn’t totally love the illustration style and sometimes the illustrations breaking the text was frustrating, but some pages really were beautiful and the way photographs and scans were utilised was great.
It was the content I struggled with. The writing style was simple in a way that felt suitably direct and realistic, so I generally enjoyed its frankness throughout the first half. However in the second half my mood began to shift a bit and I felt a bit grated by the book. The emphasis on guilt and shame ends up becoming a pivoting point to view interactions with Jewish people as a way to absolve that guilt, and the author seeks to run from her familial past rather than to confront it. I was really irked in general by the way Jewish people were written, but especially
The desire for her grandfather to have been ‘one of the good ones’ so badly would have been forgivable had there been more reflection overall. I don’t think anyone would like to think they descended from people who supported terrible genocides. But there needed to be growth around that for it come across as anything other than skirting the truth of history. I wish there had been a final chapter or two that extended the narrative to how she settled into the information learned. I also wish the Holocaust and the Jewish people in the book were more than just a plot device to the authors character development - an ironic streak of racist stereotyping in a book which confronts racist history.
On the one hand, it’s an extremely difficult and important subject matter to tackle and I felt like the graphic novel format was the perfect choice. I didn’t totally love the illustration style and sometimes the illustrations breaking the text was frustrating, but some pages really were beautiful and the way photographs and scans were utilised was great.
It was the content I struggled with. The writing style was simple in a way that felt suitably direct and realistic, so I generally enjoyed its frankness throughout the first half. However in the second half my mood began to shift a bit and I felt a bit grated by the book. The emphasis on guilt and shame ends up becoming a pivoting point to view interactions with Jewish people as a way to absolve that guilt, and the author seeks to run from her familial past rather than to confront it. I was really irked in general by the way Jewish people were written, but especially
Spoiler
ringing the man in Florida and commenting after that he had vouched for her the same way his father had vouched for her grandfather but.. he didn’t?? He just gave a few words of comfort?The desire for her grandfather to have been ‘one of the good ones’ so badly would have been forgivable had there been more reflection overall. I don’t think anyone would like to think they descended from people who supported terrible genocides. But there needed to be growth around that for it come across as anything other than skirting the truth of history. I wish there had been a final chapter or two that extended the narrative to how she settled into the information learned. I also wish the Holocaust and the Jewish people in the book were more than just a plot device to the authors character development - an ironic streak of racist stereotyping in a book which confronts racist history.
yokorie's review against another edition
5.0
A beautiful foray into the past of not only one woman's family, but of an entire nation. Krug not only walks a fine line between being drawn to ones history, to seek out the answers within it, and glorifying the past, she demonstrates how it is best done. Written with honesty and compassion, this book reflects the difficulty many in the modern age face when looking at their history: can we be thankful for those who came before us, without whom we wouldn't exist, while simultaneously being critical of the atrocities many may have committed, or at least were complicit in? As Krug shows in her book, the answers to those questions aren't easily faced, much less actively sought.
I feel that this book would be right at home within library collections for any age group, as well as English classes. History classes would also be more than appropriate for this book, particularly early in the curriculum as learners are encouraged to face the harsh truths that history often presents us with.
I feel that this book would be right at home within library collections for any age group, as well as English classes. History classes would also be more than appropriate for this book, particularly early in the curriculum as learners are encouraged to face the harsh truths that history often presents us with.
readingtheend's review against another edition
3.0
this is such a frank memoir about the author trying to uncover her family's history and get a sense of the extent to which they collaborated with, worked against, or perhaps even supported, the Nazis. it's painful at times, and the everydayness of it is a good reminder of how easy it becomes to participate in evil. still, I felt conflicted about the author's desperation to find proof that her grandfather was a good person, not a collaborator, not a supporter. on one hand, I understand why she would want it to be so, personally, in her personal life. on the other hand, it was a deeply uncomfortable focus for the whole latter half of the book -- the author's drive seemed to be less about uncovering the truth, more about finding some kind of absolution. and that did not feel good to me.
deservingporcupine's review against another edition
2.0
This book does not sit quite right with me. It’s so crucial a story as I think about the white US’s inability to reckon with our history of colonizers and enslavers. I’d always believed that Germany got the reckoning right, and I appreciated that the beginning and end of this book make it clear that they have not. And yet, the sections of this book in which the author seems to be searching for absolution ... just feel wrong. I guess I believe that excusing Nazis just because you want to feel better isn’t worth reading about and doesn’t feel like facing history to me. The absence of Jewish voices is also quite glaring in a book about WWII. I’m glad that I read this book, because it did give me a lot to think about in terms of the complexities of history and family and responsibility, but it’s more an example of the wrong way to approach questions like these. Also, though I liked the scrapbook structure, there were parts that were very hard to read due to color choices.