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lediamond4's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.0
A truly fascinating, harrowing story that I had never heard before. Definitely something I can and will look into further. The writing was a little dry with a choppy timeline. Sort of like a textbook. I think it would be a good book to discuss with others but as a solo reader I did find myself struggling about halfway through.
rheren's review against another edition
5.0
Really fascinating, to learn about a story few have heard. A group of Polish Jews, hated by the Nazis on one side, the Bolsheviks on the other, and their neighbors in the middle, banded together to create a partisan group committed to saving every Jew they could from the Holocaust, regardless of whether they could contribute to fighting or not. Very inspiring.
The author does a good job of not sugar-coating what happened: none of the characters involved is perfect, and none are without controversy. Even the leader who held everything together had some significant failings, and they are presented unflinchingly. It gives a refreshing feel of realism to the book. I feel like I learned a lot and gained a new perspective on people who had to live through horrific times, but chose to look beyond themselves in the midst of it.
The author does a good job of not sugar-coating what happened: none of the characters involved is perfect, and none are without controversy. Even the leader who held everything together had some significant failings, and they are presented unflinchingly. It gives a refreshing feel of realism to the book. I feel like I learned a lot and gained a new perspective on people who had to live through horrific times, but chose to look beyond themselves in the midst of it.
noonis's review against another edition
2.0
Amazing story but this could have used an edit. There is a lot of repetition of details that makes the reading a little slow even though it's a riveting story.
caitcoy's review against another edition
4.0
I ended up reading this book after really liking [bc:Beyond Courage: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust|13504127|Beyond Courage The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust|Doreen Rappaport|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344619129s/13504127.jpg|19053705] which had a small chapter on the Bielski brothers. The book covers the story of these brothers, Tuvia, Zus and Asael Bielski who from 1942-1944 created a community of Jewish refugees in the forests of Belorussia who escaped from the Germans and created a haven for themselves and fellow Jews. Tuvia was commander of the group, which was linked to Soviet partisan groups and struggled for existence from both Soviet and Nazi threats. It was fascinating to see how much Tuvia focused on saving Jews by sending out scouts to find refugees, sending people into the ghettos to try to convince them to escape and accepting any who made it to his group (young men with guns as well as women, children and the elderly who were often rejected from other groups on the grounds that they would slow the group down) rather than on fighting the Germans for revenge as other rebellious Jews did. Tuvia and his followers managed to save 1200 people by the time the area was liberated by the Soviets in 1944 and the author does a fantastic job showing how the camp functioned, the struggles it faced from all sides just for existence and the conclusion. You really get a sense of these people's lives in the forest and I found it absolutely fascinating! It is written as a history book for a more academic audience and isn't necessarily for the general public but if WWII and the Holocaust interest you, I would highly recommend it!
Edit: I had to change my rating because there was no bibliography! I cannot express how incredibly frustrating it is to comb through the Notes at the back when I want to know what sources she used. I honestly have no idea how an academic history text can have Notes, a Biographical Appendix, a Glossary and an Index but no Bibliography!
Edit: I had to change my rating because there was no bibliography! I cannot express how incredibly frustrating it is to comb through the Notes at the back when I want to know what sources she used. I honestly have no idea how an academic history text can have Notes, a Biographical Appendix, a Glossary and an Index but no Bibliography!
chemwizard22's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
5.0
beorn_101's review against another edition
2.0
Parts of this book were completely engrossing, while others were quite dull or repetitive. This is a historical study of Partisans during WWII, with a special focus on the Bielski and Jewish Partisans. It also inspired an amazing movie, Defiance, which is why I wanted to read the book.
Quick overview of pros and cons:
Pros:
-Interesting fresh view of some parts of Jewish resistance
-Nice section examining the difference between Bielski's emphasis on "surviving" vs other partisans' emphasis on fighting
-Nice beginning showing some of the political and social environments of the are pre WWII, specifically giving an intimate view of Tuvia
Cons:
-After first few chapters the book is not chronological and jumps around
-very tough to get a true feel for the everyday lives of the Bielski partisans, which was odd since most of the source material used was oral
-The book begins arguing Tuvia as a great example of Jewish militaristic resistance to the Nazis, but then pretty much gives no accounts of anything done by him or his men militarily.
-Tuvia starts as the focus, disappears from the narrative for sections, and then pops back up, but the rest of the Bielskis are pretty much nonexistant
Unfortunately, the book didn't really do a great job actually solidifying my understanding of the Bielski family or brothers. Instead, it uses primarily Tuvia, as a lens to examine the large movements of Jewish resistance, or as the book calls it Defiance, in the Belorussian forest, specifically examining partisans, but also families, ghetto runaways, ect. This larger focus was fine; however, it did take away from a truly focused argument.
The book begins mostly chronologically but then meanders depending on what topic the author wanted to discuss, making the overall narrative VERY difficult to follow.
I also was shocked how little I truly felt I knew about the Bielski partisans after reading the book. I didn't have a firm grasp of their everyday lives. Food and food distribution is mentioned, but it was never entirely clear beyond that and producing goods what everyday life in the camp was like. How frequent were attacks on the partisans by Germans? How frequently did they do partisan activities? What, beyond basic survival things, did they do in camp, if anything? What discussions took place in camp about antisemitism? What happened to camp members once the camp was disbanded?
I wanted a better understanding of the experience, and felt like this book gave jarring quick snippets, in a jumping around sort of order, but I didn't feel like I gained too much new understanding. It was tough to place the partisan movement in the forests alongside the larger events at the time, even brief mentions giving context would have helped immensely, but this wasn't done.
Overall, I went in with very high expectations and hopes, and did not feel like this book delivered. It was at times fascinating (about 20% of the time) and the rest of the time very repetitive repeating things about food, distribution, and weapon scarcity over and over and over.
Please note, I am no stranger to denser historical books, so merely being more academic is not what made me think it was merely Ok.
Quick overview of pros and cons:
Pros:
-Interesting fresh view of some parts of Jewish resistance
-Nice section examining the difference between Bielski's emphasis on "surviving" vs other partisans' emphasis on fighting
-Nice beginning showing some of the political and social environments of the are pre WWII, specifically giving an intimate view of Tuvia
Cons:
-After first few chapters the book is not chronological and jumps around
-very tough to get a true feel for the everyday lives of the Bielski partisans, which was odd since most of the source material used was oral
-The book begins arguing Tuvia as a great example of Jewish militaristic resistance to the Nazis, but then pretty much gives no accounts of anything done by him or his men militarily.
-Tuvia starts as the focus, disappears from the narrative for sections, and then pops back up, but the rest of the Bielskis are pretty much nonexistant
Unfortunately, the book didn't really do a great job actually solidifying my understanding of the Bielski family or brothers. Instead, it uses primarily Tuvia, as a lens to examine the large movements of Jewish resistance, or as the book calls it Defiance, in the Belorussian forest, specifically examining partisans, but also families, ghetto runaways, ect. This larger focus was fine; however, it did take away from a truly focused argument.
The book begins mostly chronologically but then meanders depending on what topic the author wanted to discuss, making the overall narrative VERY difficult to follow.
I also was shocked how little I truly felt I knew about the Bielski partisans after reading the book. I didn't have a firm grasp of their everyday lives. Food and food distribution is mentioned, but it was never entirely clear beyond that and producing goods what everyday life in the camp was like. How frequent were attacks on the partisans by Germans? How frequently did they do partisan activities? What, beyond basic survival things, did they do in camp, if anything? What discussions took place in camp about antisemitism? What happened to camp members once the camp was disbanded?
I wanted a better understanding of the experience, and felt like this book gave jarring quick snippets, in a jumping around sort of order, but I didn't feel like I gained too much new understanding. It was tough to place the partisan movement in the forests alongside the larger events at the time, even brief mentions giving context would have helped immensely, but this wasn't done.
Overall, I went in with very high expectations and hopes, and did not feel like this book delivered. It was at times fascinating (about 20% of the time) and the rest of the time very repetitive repeating things about food, distribution, and weapon scarcity over and over and over.
Please note, I am no stranger to denser historical books, so merely being more academic is not what made me think it was merely Ok.
nerdofdoom's review against another edition
4.0
This is an epic and amazing story and that's why i gave it 4 stars. It mad me think a lot about the difference between justice and revenge and about those times when there really is no difference. I like it also because it is so counter to the classic image of Jews in WW2 simply going along with the extermination. The bad thing is that i didn't think it was very well written and at times it was just plain boring.
P.S. The movie sucks ass.
P.S. The movie sucks ass.
kingfan30's review against another edition
3.0
Mostly what I know about the Jews urging the war cones from school, which was mostly consentration camps and gas chambers, so when I saw the film a coupleof years back, it was great to see a new view and one that showed there were survivors out there. On browsing the charity shop for books for an elderly aunt, I spotted this and for 75p couldn't resist! And finally I sit down to read it. It's not a story as such, more of a factual book based on interviews with people that went through this. It wasn't an easy read by any means, but was certainly an eye opener and an education to a different part of the war. And in some ways uplifting, what a hero for saving so many lives.
desirosie's review against another edition
2.0
Okay, so I actually only skimmed this one. I wanted to learn more about the story, but the author was really bad at building a comprehensible narrative.