From her diary that begins when she was thirteen years old…through just before her execution, to her poems and letters, the book is an extremely compelling read. The book also contains tributes by parachutists and some memoirs written by Hannah’s mother, Catherine Senesh. Catherine was in the same prison as Hannah, at one point in time, and they had fleeting conversations and glances at each other. Hannah, according to her diary, was always aware of how her decisions would affect her mother, and she adored and loved her mother without a doubt, but her (Hannah’s) passion for what she desired and believed in stayed in the forefront.

We watch the years unfold through Hannah’s diary, and see how she has matured…from young teen, to a mature young women with definite ideals, opinions and pride in being a Jew. Her writings show a young woman torn between choices, sometimes questioning her choice, but always coming to the conclusion that she had made the correct one, for herself. Although, in her diary, she often stated that she did not like the synagogue atmosphere, the required prayers, she did believe in God, and Jewish life was what encompassed her dreams and goals and was what kept her passionate throughout her short life. She lived for Israel, for the Zionist movement. Israel and the Zionist goal was her ultimate dream, and she was determined to move there.

When Hannah made “Aliyah”, moved to Israel, she was young and hopeful, filled with strength, ideals and dreams, and when she died, she was still young and hopeful, full of strength, ideals and dreams, some realized, but most of them not realized. Hannah was strong willed, courageous and true to her emotional and mental fortitude until the end very end, until the last minute. Even her captors could not believe the courage she exhibited throughout her capture and up until she perished. She was executed without a blindfold, by choice so her executioners could see her eyes, and she looked up towards the skies, and died a hero. Her life is immortalized within Israel.

Hannah joined the military, trained and took parachute lessons as part of her training. She volunteered for a rescue mission to Europe during World War II in order to help rescue Jews, and was eventually captured, tortured and executed in Budapest by a firing squad.

Poignant, beautifully written, Hannah’s life is a testament to her faith, ideals, strength, fortitude and determination to live life as she wanted to.

It is difficult to articulate how Hannah Senesh: Her Life and Diary, the First Complete Edition affected me, as I am still filled with the emotions swirling within my mind and my heart from the powerful memoir. That one so young, so well-defined with her journal and poetry, could live such a short life, yet impact so many throughout the years since, is a testament to her very essence.

Hannah Senesh’s life was not in vain, as she continues to teach others, each day, even in death.

Irena was born in 1942, in Bedzin, Poland, within the walls of the Jewish ghetto. Irena’s parents were deported a year later, and while on the train, her father managed to jump off the train. He managed to make his way back to the Bedzin, and made a arrangements with a Polish woman…he would give the woman authority over his property if she would hide his daughter. He promised to return for his daughter as soon as the war was over.

True to his word, he did return for Irena (her mother died in Auschwitz). She was a frightened child, and her father was a stranger to her. The only “parents” she had memory of were the Skowronskis, the family who Irena’s father left her with. He took her to Switzerland, and from there they eventually emigrated to America.

The years pass by and the story begins with Irena’s daughter, who is a reporter, living in Krakow, with her roommates Krys and Magda. The purpose of Einhorn being there is to try to find the family “that made my life possible“, and try to locate the house that had belonged to her grandfather. She knows where to begin, how to get to Bedzin, but is hesitant, afraid of failure. She is more or less on her own, as her mother, Irena, won’t reveal much to her, and is totally uninterested in finding out about the family that saved her life. Irena’s attitude is uncaring and unconcerned. Anxiety exudes from Einhorn’s pores.

The Pages In Between is a fascinating story, taking the reader on an ominous trip back through time, and forward again to the legalities of the present. One is left to ponder several issues, such as greed and entitlement. Is it greed to want monetary compensation for helping to save a life? Doesn’t there come a point when boundaries are crossed in the expectations of those who saved others? Is an individual financially responsible to those who saved the life of their child/loved one? Does one save a life without expecting compensation or reward because it is the correct thing to do? Where does greed begin and gratitude end? Where does gratitude begin and greed end? Are those who are the living indefinitely bound to support those who helped them survive? Who owns the property left under duress and horrific conditions? Who are the victims in the process…the child who was saved, those who helped save her, the succeeding generations, or are they all victims in a sense? There are these and more questions to think about.

I recommend The Pages in Between. It is an extremely compelling memoir, and one that evokes a unique perspective on the Holocaust. It is a book of historical depth and documentation, depicting the continual after-effects of the Holocaust, and how WWII and the Holocaust affected families, in the long-range. It is a book of historical depth and documentation, depicting the continual effects of the Holocaust. Erin Einhorn writes with stark frankness, and at the same time is sensitive to the issues she confronts on her journey of discovery. Her story is an incredible psychological study on the interplay between family dynamics and the Holocaust. For those interested in Holocaust History, this is an excellent resource and a must read.

The passion between the lines, in this wonderfully conceived and crafted book of both prose and poetry, had me totally possessed and engrossed in the multiple and simultaneous stories.

I like the aspect of the novel-within-a-novel, and how the stories of the past intertwine within the story of the present…in a magical and surreal fashion, at times. This is the stuff that passion is made of, and Byatt has outdone herself in this masterpiece.

Possession was a book I became wrapped up in, within the literary creativity, the historical factors, and the beautiful fairy-tale poetry and prose. The novel took me back to a time period I could visualize, and had my senses alert and eager to continue.

Possession, passion, poetry and prose, are all combined in one artful and magnificent novel, Possession, by A.S. Byatt.

In The Image is one of those books that evolves through the characters’ coming of age, journeying towards peace and acceptance, and sojourning towards spiritual identity. One young girl (Leora)l learns to accept the death of her best friend, through the slide images of her best friend’s grandfather. Leora learns to overcome her fear of loss and allows herself to fall in love.

The grandfather (Bill Landsmann) learns to accept his own life, which is built frame by frame, upon his slides, through the images he has photographed during his travels. His life has been preserved on film slides. Landsmann has to learn to leave his past behind, including his childhood and his abusive father. He must learn to accept, and to let go, and not just assimilate within the fabrics of New York City. For him the images represent his life, concrete proof of his childhood in Europe, and proof he existed. Landsmann has to learn to move forward, in order to find the spiritual identity and peace he is searching for.

Leora and Landsmann lean on each other, each one helping the other to overcome their fears, each one helping to free the other from their self-imposed emotional isolation.

The symbolism and undertones in this novel are strong, and leave one in awe. The images are clearly defined through Dara Horn’s words. Age is a state of mind, a number we define ourselves with, but one can be 70 and still be coming of age. This book touches on coming of age, for all age groups.

~~Book Diva

The Cohen family is composed of a tyrannical widower, Abe Cohen, and his five adult children, who seem to be stuck in a time warp, lost within the familial folds. The family unit is composed of four daughters (Jo, Sadie, Celia and Goldie) and one son (Irving). They are seemingly lifeless and unmotivated individuals, overpowered by loss, and by a dictatorial father.

All of them are still in mourning for their mother, and they are lost in a cycle of escaping the painful aspects of life. Their father, seems to be uncaring, and is a demanding and authoritarian individual, especially with his daughters. He escapes into a relationship with a women named Lillian Schumacher. Goldie can’t cope with the demands of her father, and the loss of her mother, and escapes by fleeing the house, leaving those behind to wonder about her, for years (not knowing whether she is dead or alive). Sadie questions her own sanity and the relationship with her husband, who only seems to want her company during times of sexual relations, and watches him become almost as tyrannical as her father. Jo is lost within her protective, obnoxious attitude, which is her form of escape. Celia escapes within her mind, which is sometimes coherent, but more often, not. Irving escapes into alcohol and gambling.

First Desire is adeptly written, and Nancy Reisman’s characters give us insight into depression, patriarchal pressures, and family interactions and dynamics, during the turbulent years that range from the late 1920s to 1950. They are believable individuals, and the climate of the decades is believable.

I have just finished reading Le Clezio’s historical novel, Wandering Star, which I found to be a compelling, mesmerizing, masterful and brilliant novel.

The two main characters are Esther, also known as Helene, and Nejma. Their stories are told separately, yet blend as one.

Esther is a Jewish girl who is coming of age during the Nazi invasion of France, when her family is forced to flee to the countryside. The village they seek refuge in is under the protection of the Italian military. Within the confines of village life Esther begins to view the lives around her, and we watch her slowly turn from naive girl to a young and aware girl on the border of womanhood.

Her maturity eventually causes her to almost become mother-like and nurturing to her own mother, as they must eventually leave the countryside in order to board a ship so they can make their way to Israel. They are making the journey minus Esther’s father, as he is involved as a Jewish partisan. The trek from the village to the coast where they await the ship is arduous and plays not only on the mother and daughter’s physical strength, but their emotional strength, as well. Esther constantly thinks about her father, and loving moments that she had with him.

She dreams of a reunion with him, of eventually having her family unit together and whole, again. Some of her thoughts and dreams take on almost mystical proportions, and Le Clezio’s ability to write with vivid imagery often overwhelms the senses with poetic beauty. His prose turns from delightful imagery to harsh reality, and back again, leaving the reader wrapped within the pages, unable to stop reading.

Esther and her mother eventually reach Israel. Their ideal “promised land” doesn’t seem to be so promising, initially. Israel is in the midst of its War of Independence, and devastation, destruction and fear surrounds them at every turn. They have left one life of turmoil and surpression for another life under almost similar conditions. Mother and daughter eventually become involved in kibbutz life, each with their own contributions to the whole.

Within the daily life, there is an underlying horror occurring, the atrocities of the Palestinian refugees being herded into camps like cattle. Esther is witness to this, and her path crosses that of a young Palestinian girl named Nejma. Each girl looks the other in the eye, and can almost read the other’s mind. They exchange names on pages of a notebook. They are never to meet again, but each one remembers the other, thinking of them throughout the years.

Nejma’s story is told in the last third of the book. It is relayed to us through her diary, which is an account, not only of her daily life, but the daily struggles involved as a Palestinian refugee repressed within the confines of camp life. From growing up by the sea, to surviving under the adverse conditions of desert terrain, we are a witness to the horrors and genocide of war from a differing perspective and environment, other than that of the Holocaust. We are witnesses to the cultural mores of time and place, and of repression of women.

The air is often stifling, difficult to breathe in, yet Esther and Nejma inhale and exhale as best as they can given their circumstances. They are both survivors, strong, and remain hopeful within the brutalities of life and war. Wandering Star is a metaphor, in my opinion, for displacement and survival under the harshest of circumstances, circumstances that include glimmers of hope for a new beginning and better life.

This message is the brilliance of Le Clezio’s writing. He has an almost innate ability to understand culture clashes, diversity and tradition, and how the differences affect the modern climate. Le Clezio melds the lives of the two girls into one absorbing novel that depicts the similarities that each of them have journeyed through. The scenes and landscape in Wandering Star are bold, beautiful, brilliant, and often surface with mystical and other-worldly illuminations. J.M.G. Le Clezio is extraordinary in his ability to blend two young women and their lives into one story with sensitivity and poetic loveliness is incredible. Their two individual stars illuminate the pages. I highly recommend Wandering Star to everyone.

I personally own and have read this book.

We follow the narrator (who is a Russian doctor) as he writes to an unnamed woman. The narrator changes identities after becoming disillusioned with the war’s outcome, and becomes a KGB spy. He falls in love with his female partner, and therein begins a journey through history. He loses contact with her through historical events beyond his control, and constantly tries to locate her, and finding her becomes an obsession to him. We are on his journey with him, as he tries to find meaning, and as he searches for her throughout the decades.

The narrator tries to come to terms with his ancestry, and longs to find the truth of his existence, and the truth behind their love.

His grandfather, Nikolai, deserted the army during the 1917 Russian Revolution, and found love and joy in a rural forest village. His son, Pavel, fought in World War II against the Nazis, joined the KGB as a spy, and in the end, disillusioned, returns to the same small village as his father. In that village, the narrator was born, and his first memories of life and love ended, and a new life began with a white-haired woman.

Love of land, serenity and life’s simplicity are evoked with amazing clarity and word visuals that sweep across landscape and time, summer and winter.

The saga reminded me of Doctor Zhivago in some aspects, yet the similarities are subtle. Makine brings his own excellence to the writing field, exploring war, in-depth, and how the succeeding generations often repeat what their ancestors have done, without being aware of the similarities. It might be a different generation, but the cycle continues. Makine demonstrates that with brutal honesty, baring the souls and emotions of his characters, yet brings sensitivity to them and their situations, at the same time. His ability to illuminate time and place, with vivid tones does not diminish historical and critical events within the confines of the familial stories. Requiem for a Lost Empire is a compelling novel, and the story is intense, poignant and filled with amazing word images, images so vivid that one’s senses are consumed by them. The book is panoramic in its imagery, and the prose is poetic and often surreal.

If you like a sweeping saga which spans three generations of a family over an 80-year period, an intense novel, an insightful and powerfully written novel that is illuminated with brilliance and beauty, then Requiem for a Lost Empire is a book for you!

Andrei Makine is, by far, his own person, and his writing has often been compared to the most noteworthy and classic authors, such as Tolstoy, Proust, Gogol, and Pasternak. His writing shouldn’t be compared to theirs, but be perceived solely as his own works of brilliance. In my opinion, his novels will continue to stand the test of time, classic works in their own right.

Kirshenbaum’s writing is filled with insight and depth, and she approaches love, and what defines it, be it lust, intimacy, truth, betrayal, forgiveness, imagination, denial and historical legacy. All of the above attributes are explored in this beautiful and heartfelt novel.

“His hair grows like grass in a cross breeze. This way and that. Blond and soft, and no more than an inch long. I like his hair. A lot”.

Kirshenbaum brings us two lovers, Peter Falk, a German Professor (who has some clouded-over concepts and ideals, and can not even bring himself to say the word ‘Jew’) and Hester Rosenfeld, an author (Jewish, but not practicing, also with clouded-over concepts and ideals, and in a state of constant denial, who can not bring herself to forgive her parents for the ideals she feels they forced on her). Each one brings their history, their past and their truth, into their present, and their relationship, in this dark, and sometimes comical novel.

What is truth for one person isn’t necessarily so for another. For me, the book was a well-written book, with wonderful word images, and with insight into human behavior, human acceptance, and also lack of acceptance in an intimate relationship. It makes the reader wonder about historical legacy, and what is acceptable in relationships when two people come from opposite ends of the history chain. I highly recommend Hester Among the Ruins, by Binnie Kirshenbaum to those who question history, acceptance and what defines truth and boundaries, in relationships.

Silvio, in his middle age, likes nothing more than to sit at home in the evening by the fire, sipping wine and daydreaming of days gone by. He has a passion (his own unique “fire“) for writing in his journal about the past and the lives of others, a passion born through his youthful travels and romances. He seems content, until circumstances cause a spark, and his “fire” begins to flare up.

What is apparent to Silvio, is not necessarily apparent to those who reside in the seemingly idyllic countryside. The cold and often frigid personalities, seemingly uncaring and wrapped up in their own lives, yet vividly aware of every happening within the confines of their world, each incident passed down through the generations. Silvio is almost like a bystander, as if he is watching the lives of three women from behind a curtain. Nemirovsky brings us a story line with three distinct women seeking peace, happiness and love. How their lives intertwine, and how their love and betrayals interweave is told brilliantly by Nemirovsky, through word imagery that heightens our senses, bringing us flashes of country scents, food for the soul…warm soup , time and place in the countryside of France.

The old cliche that “blood is thicker than water“, holds true regading the adult children in this novel. They display the same “fire in the blood“, the same passion as their mother did. The “fire” has been passed down from one generation to the next, ignited and blazing full force, slowly turning into burning embers on a pyre, in the flicker of time, until the last remnants of ash turn to darkness.

Nemirovsky was extremely cognizant of the culture and mores of the era pre-World War I. Her novel is a brilliantly told story, and a sentient reflection on country life, the light and eventual darkness, the fire and the eventual defusing of the embers.

“Until recently only a partial text of Fire in the Blood was thought to exist, typed up by Irene Nemirovsky’s husband, Michel Epstein, to whom she often passed her manuscripts for this purpose. Two additional pages were found to have been in the suitcase that Nemirovsky’s daughter, Denise Epstein, carried with her.” More pages were later found, and you can read about that in the “Note on the Text“, in the front of the book. You will also want to read the “Preface to the French Addition” in the back of the book.

Irene Nemirovsky converted to Catholicism, and tried to gain French citizenship, but her request was denied.  She died at Auschwitz, and her death is listed as Typhus, but recent documents suggest otherwise. It is extremely ironic, and I’m sure she must have thought the same thing.

Roth brings us characters we relate to, beginning with Nathan Zuckerman, a physically impotent, incontinent, diaper-wearing man in his seventies, who has led a reclusive life for eleven years in the Berkshires, due to a series of threats he received on his life. He leaves his protective cocoon and is brought back into Manhattan in order to have surgery that might possibly help his incontinence. While there, his old existence stirs up memories, emotions and thoughts he had long put to rest.

Zuckerman’s thoughts begin to take hold regarding his mentor and author hero, E.I. Lonoff, and he encounters Amy Bellette who was Lonoff’s lover two characters from the book Ghost Writer . His thoughts wander back to his early twenties, when his life revolved around his ambitions, and his aggressive behavior in order to reach his goals. He remembers his fleeting interest in Bellette, and how she is presently suffering from brain surgery and a recurring brain tumor, but still astute enough to want to protect Lonoff’s literary image from a would-be biographer, who means to destroy Lonoff’s reputation. The city grips him, and he is caught up in rash judgements and events, making decisions based on emotion, not rational thought.

While in Manhattan he meets a married couple through a newspaper ad (Billy Davidoff and Jamie Logan Davidoff), who he impulsively agrees to swap houses with…he will remain in their small apartment in the city, they will live in his secluded house in the Berkshires, miles from the nearest town. She wants solitude due to her fears from September 11th. He begins to let his mind wander (his physical body may not be responsive, but he still has the capacity to think and fantasize about sex). Therein lies the basis for Zuckerman’s new novel…a “he said, she said, series of imagined conversations.

Roth also writes about the current administration, current technology, and current medical advances within the story line. We are given characters that are all seeking solitude and protection in one form or another, whether it be from emotional pain, physical pain, medical issues, aging, or otherwise. Roth has done it once more, and captivates his audience with excellent word imagery, insightful emotional content…often heart-wrenching, and with masterful writing. We will all come to the autumn season, eventually, and Roth demonstrates the ability of the mind and heart to blend together, in order to manage to live (as best we can with our limitations) through the fragile and delicate autumn of our lives.