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A review by emiged
Safe Passage by Ida Cook
4.0
Ms. Cook has a very conversational tone as she writes. As I was reading I could just imagine sitting down to a cup of tea with her and hearing her tell her fantastic story. OF course, a conversational tone can include rather abrupt changes in topic or tenor or seeming leaps from light subjects (opera) to very dark subjects (ghettos, beatings, concentration camps). For some this might be off-putting (especially if you don't care for opera), but I felt drawn in to her confidence and her exuberance. When she wrote about opera, the friends she made who were world-famous opera singers and conductors, the operas she'd been able to see, her travels to New York and the continent for different productions, her passion and enthusiasm for opera practically jumped off the page.
Likewise, she threw herself into her descriptions of the bleakness facing so many Jews during the late 1930s; they were heart-wrenching. But amidst the indescribably inhumane treatment the Jews and others suffered at the hands of the Nazis, there were moments of incredible goodness. Ms. Cook carefully balanced the stories of injustice and terror and fear with lighthearted tales of close escapes and moments of real human kindness so that the horror of the Nazi regime came through, but it wasn't able to quite overwhelm the reader.
Ms. Cook and her sister took enormous risks in order to save as many people as they could, with little thought for their own safety. I hope that if I were in a similar situation I would do the same. Ms. Cook seemed to have a generally optimistic outlook on human nature, despite the evil she saw in Germany. I found that very comforting and encouraging.
For more book reviews, visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
Likewise, she threw herself into her descriptions of the bleakness facing so many Jews during the late 1930s; they were heart-wrenching. But amidst the indescribably inhumane treatment the Jews and others suffered at the hands of the Nazis, there were moments of incredible goodness. Ms. Cook carefully balanced the stories of injustice and terror and fear with lighthearted tales of close escapes and moments of real human kindness so that the horror of the Nazi regime came through, but it wasn't able to quite overwhelm the reader.
Ms. Cook and her sister took enormous risks in order to save as many people as they could, with little thought for their own safety. I hope that if I were in a similar situation I would do the same. Ms. Cook seemed to have a generally optimistic outlook on human nature, despite the evil she saw in Germany. I found that very comforting and encouraging.
For more book reviews, visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.