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A review by asurges
The Journey Back by Johanna Reiss
4.0
I woke up one morning wondering what had happened to Johanna Reiss (The Upstairs Room). I'd loved that book when I was a young adult and have revisited it many times since then.
I was surprised to find that she'd written...what...a sequel.
The sequel, as you might have guessed, comes after the events of the Upstairs Room, about Johanna's having to hide in a small town in WWII. The Journey Back makes clear that the survivors weren't necessarily ok when they returned. In the case of the main character here, she is suffering through anti-Semitism and a family that has been fragmented by their years of hiding. The most interesting theme is how each member of this family formed other families with the people who hid them and the conflicts that arise when the birth family tries to re-form. You also see the effects of long-lasting trauma on the main character's stepmother, whose husband was murdered in one of the camps and whose daughter has effectively abandoned her as she makes her own life.
A fascinating book--I only wish I'd known about it when it was published, in 1987.
I was surprised to find that she'd written...what...a sequel.
The sequel, as you might have guessed, comes after the events of the Upstairs Room, about Johanna's having to hide in a small town in WWII. The Journey Back makes clear that the survivors weren't necessarily ok when they returned. In the case of the main character here, she is suffering through anti-Semitism and a family that has been fragmented by their years of hiding. The most interesting theme is how each member of this family formed other families with the people who hid them and the conflicts that arise when the birth family tries to re-form. You also see the effects of long-lasting trauma on the main character's stepmother, whose husband was murdered in one of the camps and whose daughter has effectively abandoned her as she makes her own life.
A fascinating book--I only wish I'd known about it when it was published, in 1987.