fish_reads's review
5.0
This book was a roller-coaster of emotion, and I need to read it again. I'm a sucker for books set in WWII, but this was so dramatically different than most of the crushingly devastating books you get set in Auschwitz. That's not to say that this book wasn't crushingly devastating, because at times it really was, but there was also so much light and humour and joy and hope. The protagonist, Dita, is honestly one of the most refreshing characters I've seen in a long time. She's so real (which probably has something to do with the fact that she is a real person), even though it's almost insane to me how someone could stay so strong and optimistic in such a dark place.
There were moments during this book that were completely and utterly horrific, and every time I picked it up, it was almost traumatizing setting it back down. I wanted to live and breathe this book until it had reached a satisfying conclusion. The characters were all so perfectly portrayed. The writing (translation?) was beautiful and perfect. This is the best book I've read this year so far.
There were moments during this book that were completely and utterly horrific, and every time I picked it up, it was almost traumatizing setting it back down. I wanted to live and breathe this book until it had reached a satisfying conclusion. The characters were all so perfectly portrayed. The writing (translation?) was beautiful and perfect. This is the best book I've read this year so far.
akissire's review against another edition
The writing was too contrived and awkward. The author didn't weave the research into the fiction smoothly; instead, a character would tell her friend all about how the school worked, or the gas chamber worker told others every detail and fact about the chamber he worked at. I suspect that veteran Auschwitz prisoners already knew that information. So clunky.
mgre185's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
laurelinwonder's review
5.0
Like all books of this subject matter, it was awful heartbreaking awful. But it was nice to read something a little different, something a little hopeful despite being right in the depths of the Holocaust. Read this one.
elittle's review
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
coralma's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
neighborhood_librarian's review
5.0
“Books don’t cure illness; they don’t fill your stomach or quench your thirst. It is true: Culture isn’t necessary for the survival of mankind; for that you only need bread and water. It’s also true that with bread to eat and water to drink, humans survive; but with only this humanity dies. If human beings aren’t deeply moved by beauty, if they don’t close their eyes and activate their imaginations, if they aren’t capable of asking themselves questions and discerning the limits of their ignorance, then they are men or women, but they are not complete person.”
December 1943, 14 year old Dita Adlerova is transported with her parents and 5,000 other Jewish prisoners from the Terezin ghetto in Prague to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp; where they were put into a special group called Block 31. What sets this camp apart from all the rest was that although men and women had separate sleeping quarters families were not separated and children were allowed to live. Prisoners kept their own clothing and were not required to shave their heads like everyone else so that they would in turn write to their family and tell them that the Nazis aren’t so bad and that they should be trusted. Fredy Hirsch a well trusted sports coach asked for permission to keep the kids busy playing games and such so that the parents would better be able to focus at work; it was with this initiative that a school was created right under the Reich’s nose. It is in this school that Dita is given the most dangerous job in the whole camp; she becomes the librarian responsible for eight books smuggled into the camp. With Dr. Josef Mengele watching her like a hawk, Dita carries and repairs the books that give hope to children who would have all else lost it.
While there are many books out there about the Holocaust, a book about the nine camps in Birkenau (BIIb) also known as Theresienstadt Family Camp, has never really been talked about. This real life camp was used a propaganda ploy so that families wouldn’t believe that they were being tortured and write to the Jewish Council and their families telling them to trust the Nazis and that they were being taken care of. After nine months of being in this camp, prisoners were then gassed or taken to other work camps. While this story focuses on real life prisoner Dita Alderova and her struggles inside the camp, there are a few other real life stories included in this book as well including that of Fredy Hirsh the man who is credited with starting the secret school and keeping moral alive, and the story of two men who managed to survive escaping the camp and their struggle to get people to believe what was going on. While this is a fictional story it is based on real people and real events and will give the reader a new sense of what happened in the concentration camps that is not talked about. It is an amazing testimony to the strength of human character and the power learning and books can have in a young person’s life.
December 1943, 14 year old Dita Adlerova is transported with her parents and 5,000 other Jewish prisoners from the Terezin ghetto in Prague to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp; where they were put into a special group called Block 31. What sets this camp apart from all the rest was that although men and women had separate sleeping quarters families were not separated and children were allowed to live. Prisoners kept their own clothing and were not required to shave their heads like everyone else so that they would in turn write to their family and tell them that the Nazis aren’t so bad and that they should be trusted. Fredy Hirsch a well trusted sports coach asked for permission to keep the kids busy playing games and such so that the parents would better be able to focus at work; it was with this initiative that a school was created right under the Reich’s nose. It is in this school that Dita is given the most dangerous job in the whole camp; she becomes the librarian responsible for eight books smuggled into the camp. With Dr. Josef Mengele watching her like a hawk, Dita carries and repairs the books that give hope to children who would have all else lost it.
While there are many books out there about the Holocaust, a book about the nine camps in Birkenau (BIIb) also known as Theresienstadt Family Camp, has never really been talked about. This real life camp was used a propaganda ploy so that families wouldn’t believe that they were being tortured and write to the Jewish Council and their families telling them to trust the Nazis and that they were being taken care of. After nine months of being in this camp, prisoners were then gassed or taken to other work camps. While this story focuses on real life prisoner Dita Alderova and her struggles inside the camp, there are a few other real life stories included in this book as well including that of Fredy Hirsh the man who is credited with starting the secret school and keeping moral alive, and the story of two men who managed to survive escaping the camp and their struggle to get people to believe what was going on. While this is a fictional story it is based on real people and real events and will give the reader a new sense of what happened in the concentration camps that is not talked about. It is an amazing testimony to the strength of human character and the power learning and books can have in a young person’s life.