Editorial Review

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Reviews (58)

100% Recommended
It recounts the hellish 12 months that Primo Levi, an Italian jew, spent as Haftling 174517, at the notorious Deathcamp (during 1939 and 1944 2 million people were murdered there). He was captured by the Fascist Militia in December 1943 and wished to be charged based on his religious beliefs rather than his political ones in the view that he would be treated more leniently. After a period in a detention camp at Fossili, Modena, he along with the rest of the Jews are transferred to the concentration camps. The opening chapters describe the horrific conditions of the transfer and the hasty selection process used to determine who would go to the camp and who would go to the gas chambers at Birkenau; all the women, children and infirm were sent to cremation without question. In some ways he was fortunate to have avoided arrest until the latter stages of the war as the Germans decided that the prisoners in the lagers would be of more use to them alive than dead, at Auschwitz they were detailed to build a Buna - a synthetic rubber processing plant which never saw a day of production. Prior to this the prisoners were killed without recourse.
Primo Levi enthusiasts: This is a re-issue of 'If this is a man'
It's a great book. But if you've already got 'If this is a man', don't buy this.

Brutual & Clinical Look of Survival
I stopped reading books of the Holocaust several years ago simply because the stories that come out of the Holocaust are heart-wrenching, bitter, courgaeous, guilt-ridden .... all of the emotions and thoughts that we human have produced can be a lot to digest at one time.
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Subjects:  1. Auschwitz (Concentration camp)    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Historical - Holocaust    4. History: World    5. Holocaust    6. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    7. Italy    8. Jewish Holocaust Personal Narratives    9. Levi, Primo    10. Levi, Primo - Prose & Criticism    11. Literary    12. Personal narratives    13. Personal narratives, Italian    14. World War, 1939-1945    15. European history: Second World War    16. History / Jewish    17. Poland    18. The Holocaust   

Reviews (2)

Tupac:A Precious Side to Remember
This book is so incredible!!!Just to turn the pages brings awe and goosebumps.The life and times of Tupac are captured in his words on CD and in his writings which are so eloquently reproduced that you feel you are holding the actual paper that he wrote upon.The personal memorabilia scattered throughout the book bring him alive.The man in all of his complexity and compassion is revealed.This is a book to treasure.

RIP to a Poetic ICON 10 years later
Tupac meant so many things to different people. he was a Poets Poet,but he also made Hit&Miss Albums over his career. a strong Screen pressence for acting,but he hardly got the right role to showcase his full greatness.the Man had Personality,charisma&overall a :IT" Factor&Swagger about him,but he was also searching for direction&purpose to fullfill his whole being. there was so many layers to what made him as a Artist&as a person. this is a Great Overview on Tupac Shakur's Career&life.in such a short time period He left a Lasting Legacy&Impact that is felt today&Shall be for many years to come. RIP. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Composers & Musicians - General    6. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    7. Genres & Styles - Rap & Hip Hop    8. People of Color    9. Rap (Music)    10. Rap musicians    11. Specimens    12. Toy and movable books    13. United States    14. Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts   

Reviews (10)

Could have been Better for Those in the Know
For those in the know, the book suffers for want of careful editing. It is flawed, for example, by illustrator David Diaz' arrogance in placing his own designs on Quezada's pottery. Had this book been about van Gogh, Picasso or any other well-known artist, it is unlikely he would have portrayed their art with no concern for what it looked like in reality. This puts down Juan Quezada. Diaz also carelessly depicts Quezada building a pot by the continuous-coil method of the Indians of the American Southwest rather than by the distinctive method that he innovated and for which he is known. Better editing would have caught these problems with the illustrations as well as a multitude of minor inaccuracies that occur in the text, nearly one to a page. For example, in speaking of using a bean to burnish pottery, the author comments, "Of course dried beans can be found in any kitchen in the village." The bean in question is an inedible wild bean, the chilicote-not the kind that would normally be found in anyone's kitchen. Such editorial problems do not, however, detract from this production as a children's book. They are the sort that only one in the know would see.

My kid is obsessed with this book
The absorbing subject matter of this book, presented through catchy rhymes and alliteration and strong, colorful illustrations, has completely captured the imagination of my four-year-old.For three days now, he's been "Juan" almost exclusively, following ants to a vein of "the very best clay, all squishy and white," pretending to make vessels for every conceivable purpose, and peppering me with questions about Mexico, pottery-making, and Juan himself.I've had to draw the line at cutting my hair for paintbrushes and gathering the "dried cow manure" left by the neighborhood dogs."The Pot That Juan Built" appeals to pre-schoolers' burgeoning interest in rhyme and other aspects of language; making things out of simple materials; and the world around them generally.I give it my highest recommendation!

Excellent, Beautiful Book!
I'm appalled at the lack of love for this book!I am a teacher of a 3rd grade classroom in California where my children are learing about how humans use the world around them to create their life and build their culture.This book is a perfect tie-in to this concept.The illustrations are beautiful and I found the rhymes to be intelligent and descriptive.Two thumbs up from me, and 48 thumbs up from my class!! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Art - General    2. Art - History    3. Biography & Autobiography - Art    4. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Nonfiction    5. Children: Grades 2-3    6. Juvenile Fine Arts    7. Juvenile Nonfiction    8. Juvenile literature    9. People & Places - Mexico    10. People & Places - United States - Hispanic/Latino    11. Potters    12. Pottery    13. Quezada, Juan    14. Technique    15. Ceramic arts, pottery, glass    16. Fiction dealing with multiculturalism    17. Mexico    18. Multiculturalism    19. Picture books   

Reviews (122)

I want more!
I loved this book! The art is simple, yet powerful. The story, informative, heartwarming and compassionate. And all done by one person, which is not all that common. I actually FELT for the characters, I felt like I knew them. That's a sign of great storytelling.
Touching, Humorous and Entertaining All at the Same Time
This is a really good story of a young girl that would be inspiring to anyone of any age and is told in a particularly interesting way. It's definitely one of my favorite graphic novels, especially since it's such a different sort of topic than most. I liked the black and white images...it was the perfect way to present them.

Unique eye-opener.
This was my summer reading assignment before my freshmen year of college, so I naturally assumed it would be a long, boring novel. I was pleasantly surprised by the comic book format, and even more pleased to actually be reading a story. This is a humorous, interesting, eye-opener. I found some chapters to be confusing and a little boring, but overall, I enjoyed the read. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1969-    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography And Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Childhood Memoir    7. Comic books, strips, etc    8. Ethnic Cultures - General    9. Fine Arts    10. Literary    11. Middle East - General    12. Satrapi, Marjane,    13. Women    14. Biography & Autobiography / Women   

Reviews (141)

WHATISIT ?/
uhmm well ive seen the reveiws listed but one question still racks my brain... whay type of book is this ? is it a book that consists of multiple tales of black people or it it one book that comcludes a story of "A Black Boy" ???
Required reading
This is one of the most moving books that I have read. Its message stays with you and motivates you to considered thought about it long after you have finished it.

Lessons In Sociology
Richard Wright, born in 1908, tells his life's story while living in Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and later, the more accepting city of Chicago, in this interesting and eloquently written autobiography.
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Subjects:  1. 1908-1960    2. 20th century    3. African Americans    4. American - General    5. Authors, American    6. Biography    7. Biography & Autobiography    8. Biography / Autobiography    9. Biography/Autobiography    10. Childhood and youth    11. Historical - U.S.    12. Homes and haunts    13. Literary    14. Mississippi    15. People of Color    16. Social life and customs    17. Wright, Richard,    18. Wright, Richard, 1908-1960    19. Biography & Autobiography / People of Color    20. Modern fiction    21. Wright, Richard    22. Reading Group Guide   

Reviews (240)

Absolutely gripping, this story had me in tears -a must read
Betty Mahmoody married an Iranian, who had been naturalised to America for more than 20 years.Yet when Khomeini led the Islamic revolution, he began to talk more and more of 'home'.While Betty had fears about going to Iran, she thought she must, as she did not want to file for divorce and risk her husband's wrath, and worse, that he could take her daughter who she might never see again.
Amazing Story
This is one of the few books I read in a couple of days.It is an amazing story and was refreshingly honest about a different culture without all the politically correct stuff that is usually in books!I highly recommend it!

A Great Book for High School Students
I first read this book when I was in high school. I loved the book so much that I had to have a copy for myself. This is a very compelling story and Betty shows herself to be strong and always thinking of her daughter's safety more than her own.I think that if high school students had a chance to read this compelling story then they would understand the hardships that some Americans go through when they go to foriegn countries or marry foriegners who end up kidnapping them once they get them into their native land. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Ethnic Cultures - General    4. Iran    5. Mahmoody, Betty    6. Movie-TV Tie-In - General    7. Movie/Tv Tie-Ins    8. United States    9. Wife abuse    10. Women   

Reviews (25)

Prominent doesn't mean anything!
All those interviews proved is that the diversity among "prominent" Jews is the same as that among the general Jewish population. It may make observant Jews angry and non-observant Jews feel good but doesn't contribute to anyone else's well-being or beliefs in any shape or form.All one has to do is pick one interview and say that's why 1. Either I dont' still feel I'm a Jew or 2. I still feel I'm a Jew.

disappointing and uninspiring
What a disappointment. These people are prominent, but not for their connection to Judaism. Sarah Jessica Parker chooses to have a mezzuah because she thinks it's a cute good luck charm. Many of the people highlighted had no Jewish upbringing and know little about their religion.
Jewish in Detail, but Applicable to All
The surprising thing about this book is that the people being interviewed have achieved such prominence in other fields such as acting, reporting, designing, judging, financing.
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Subjects:  1. Attitudes    2. Biography    3. Ethnic Studies - General    4. Interviews    5. Jewish Sociology    6. Jewish Studies    7. Jews in public life    8. Popular Culture - General    9. Social Science    10. Sociology    11. United States    12. Social Science / Ethnic Studies   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (161)

A Driveling Story of Self Pity
Despite my profound love of literature, I could not bring myself to enjoy "The Woman Warrior".The monotonous writing style as well as the bland anecdotes did nothing but block me off from being immersed from the story.I felt myself yawning everytime I had to start a new chapter, and would have been estatic when I finished the book had I contained the energy to feel in such a way.I closed the book feeling drained, bored, tired, and unfulfilled.And if that was what I was aiming for while I read, I wouldn't enjoy the skill at all.

Not a must-read, but a should-read
As a student of literature, I have had to read Kingston's "No Name Woman" numerous times as it is widely anthologized. This story represents the first of five sections in "The Woman Warrior."
Amazing
I just finished reading this book as a requirement for my research in Folklore and Mythology class. At first, I wasn't exactly thrilled at the opportunity to read it, for I'm sure that anyone can relate with the pains that go with required reading. However, I was truly blown away.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. California    6. Chinese Americans    7. Ethnic Cultures - General    8. General    9. History    10. Minority Studies - Ethnic American    11. Social life and customs    12. Women's Studies - General    13. Biography: general    14. Social Science / Women's Studies   

Editorial Review

Snow White's stepmother looks like a pussycat compared to the monster under which Adeline Yen Mah suffered. The author's memoir of life in mainland China and--after the 1949 revolution--Hong Kong is a gruesome chronicle of nonstop emotional abuse from her wealthy father and his beautiful, cruel second wife. Chinese proverbs scattered throughout the text pithily covey the traditional world view that prompted Adeline's subservience. Had she not escaped to America, where she experienced a fulfilling medical career and a happy marriage, her story would be unbearable; instead, it's grimly fascinating: Read more

Reviews (320)

Falling leaves return to their roots.
Adeline Yen Mah was born in a well-placed, moneyed Chinese family prominent in the elite of Shanghai and later on in booming Hong Kong. Her mother died shortly after her birth, and she was always blamed for her death. Her father then married Niang, a beautiful Eurasian who is evil (particularly to Adeline), but nonetheless a formidable force in the Yen household.
Do some people just like abuse?
It is difficult to feel sorry for this woman.
Falling Leaves
This book was very interesting and a easy read. I love the fact that the author conveyed historic events. I would say that she could have went into to more details about her life with her second husband. How did the latter events affect her marriage and family? I would love to read about what has happened since the death of the stepmother. Good Book! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1937-    2. Asia - China    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. California    8. China    9. Chinese Americans    10. Ethnic Cultures - General    11. General    12. Mah, Adeline Yen,    13. Social life and customs    14. Women    15. Women physicians    16. Biography & Autobiography / General    17. Mah, Adeline Yen   

Editorial Review

Binjamin Wilkomirski (the name the author believes to be his, though he will never know for sure) was held in a Nazi concentration camp in Poland as a young child. Read more

Reviews (51)

Talk about "false memories"...
After some investigative reporting by the media, it was discovered that this alleged "true story" of a Holocaust survivor was anything but. The facts? Binjamin Wilkomirski is actually Swiss-born Bruno Grosjean Doessekker, and his experience was about as real as that of the supposed "fellow survivor" who corroborated his story, Laura Grabowski.
If Lippy likes it, you know it's garbage
Just follow the money trail, the political bantering and incessant self-victimization (which always seems to lead into getting paid one way or another) and you'll see why the most powerful of the jewish lobby (yeah, I'm not afraid to say it) will still ENDORSE IT after it has been proven to be a complete fabrication.
Zero stars
When I read this book several years ago, I did not understand how anyone could have believed it. Having known several true Holocaust survivors, and heard their stories, I certainly didn't.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Fiction    4. Historical - Holocaust    5. History: World    6. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    7. Jewish children    8. Jews    9. Poland    10. Wilkomirski, Binjamin    11. Non-Classifiable   

Editorial Review

Melding superb research and the extraordinary expedition photography of Frank Hurley, Read more

Reviews (147)

An essential book
This is such a good book, because of the way it is written, and also because of the incredible adventure it describes.It is the story of Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914 expedition to Antarctica.Shackleton had been to the Antarctic twice before.The first time he accompanied Robert Falcon Scott in 1901 in an attempt to reach the as yet unclaimed South Pole and claim it for Great Britain.They were unsuccessful and came very close to losing their lives.The significant problems that went with traveling in the Antarctic were that no one lived there (and so no one was there to help if you got into trouble), nothing lived in the interior (no plants or animals to feed on), and the climatic conditions were horrific (snow, ice, wind speeds of up to 200 miles an hour and temperatures as low as -100 degrees Fahrenheit).Scott proved to be a very difficult man to travel with -arrogant, abusive and not particularly competent, which is not what you are looking for in the leader of such an expedition.The next time he journeyed south, in 1908, Shackleton, as the leader, chose his own men, and made his own mistakes, such as taking a team of ponies that were supposed to pull the sledges.The ponies were very ill-suited to such an environment and were eventually shot and eaten.This expedition was also a failure, but Shackleton had again learned a lot from the experience.By the end of 1912 the South Pole had been conquered by the Norwegian Amundson, and Shackleton's rival, Scott, had perished with all of his men only eleven miles from a supply depot that would have saved their lives.Now the only significant prize left to be achieved in the Antarctic was the traversing of the continent from one side to the other.Thus Shackleton's 1914 expedition was called the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition.
Real adventure
It's a book that takes you to an incredible adventure. Photogrpahs make it even more exciting !

What an Adventure, and Pictures,Too.
I don't know why I keep reading these sagas of sufferring and adventure about polar expeditions,but I do.Of course, Shackleton's Anarctic expedition is one of the best of the bunch.
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Subjects:  1. (1914-1917)    2. 1874-1922    3. Discovery And Exploration (General)    4. Earth Sciences - Geography    5. Endurance (Ship)    6. Expeditions & Discoveries    7. History    8. History - General History    9. History: World    10. Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition    11. Polar Regions    12. Shackleton, Ernest Henry,    13. Sir,    14. Special Interest - Adventure    15. Travel    16. Biography: general    17. Geographical discovery & exploration    18. Ireland    19. Journeys    20. Shackleton, Ernest Henry    21. Travel / Adventure   

Reviews (15)

I Can't Do it Justice
This is a wonderful book, easy to read and will appeal to you no matter what your gender, age, race, color, creed...
Great family tale
Since I barely watch TV, I had no idea who Mike Leonard was.He works for NBC, and contributes to the Today show.I was really impressed with this first book.It has the main aspects I love in a good memoir, humor, self-effacing honesty, wit and history.Mike takes his eccentric parents, 80'ish, and three of his grown children on a motorhome trip across America.Oh, the stories you'll love in this one.
Pleasant reading, but a little pointless.
I think this book was a little too personal to be widely interesting to a large readership.The writing style was pretty good, and there are a lot of pretty funny incidents.But, in a way, it was easy to put it down and forget to pick it up again.I had to read it for my book club (and paid for the book!) or I probably would have set it aside and picked up something more compelling.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography And Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Editors, Journalists, Publishers    7. Essays & Travelogues    8. Irish American families    9. Irish Americans    10. Personal Memoirs    11. Recreational vehicles    12. Travelers    13. United States    14. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Reviews (81)

The One Book
This was the second book I read in my Holocaust Literature class and it's excellent! Gerda describes everything perferctly, taking you back in time. She remembers both the good and the bad with extreme clarity, something I wish I had (I have a horrible memory). The actual story being told is extremely sad though and I almost feel that it's wrong to tell of something like Gerda went through and saw, but the courage and strength she has gained in life is unbelievable (an epiloge is included in the back showing this). Gerda is such an inspiration and I hope that there are more people like her in the future. If I could only bring 1 holocaust book with me to a desert island, this would be it! Highly recommended.

Amazing
I read this book for an eigth grade English project last year.It is truely touching and amazing to think how the world once was, and still is in some areas of the world.When I read this book, I could hardly put it down.Even now, it makes me remember the pain the war caused.This is a good read that speaks the truth.

Life, Hope, Survival
It may have been serendipity that the author survived the German labor camps.This book, however, is about more than serendipity--it's about character, and the ability of a survivor to heal and find beauty, purpose and love in the aftermath of great personal tragedy. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1924-    2. Bielsko-Biaa    3. Bielsko-Bia±a    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Biography/Autobiography    8. Conscript labor    9. Germany    10. Historical - Holocaust    11. Holocaust    12. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    13. Jews    14. Klein, Gerda Weissmann,    15. Personal narratives    16. Poland    17. Women    18. World War, 1939-1945   

Reviews (1)

One of the best WWII books I've read
I picked this book up on a whim and was unable to put it down. James Bradley's book is graphic at times, but enlightening. I found myself extremely curious as to what happened to members of my own family who fought in the Pacific. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Atrocities    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Chichi Island    7. History - Military / War    8. Japan    9. Military    10. Military - Aviation    11. Military - United States    12. Military - World War II    13. Prisoners Of War    14. Prisoners and prisons, Japanese    15. World War II - East Asia    16. World War, 1939-1945    17. Biography & Autobiography / Military   

Editorial Review

The language and form of this searing book are as powerful as the life experience that inspired them. In a series of essays that cohere into a spiritual autobiography, the author writes prose that's deceptively simple yet rich in metaphor. An wild horse living in the parking lot of a Navajo school becomes a symbol for living creatures' intrinsic wildness, tamed only at a terrible cost. "We are all runaway horses" is one constant refrain, as is the reminder "you are your history." The author's history is painful: born in 1950 the son of an alcoholic Native American woman and a white cowboy father who "would sell my mom to other migrant men for five dollars," Nasdijj grew up a "mongrel" and an outcast, contending with his violent father's demons while his mother beguiled them with Indian stories. Living on a reservation, never fully accepted because of his white skin, he adopted a baby boy with fetal alcohol syndrome who died at age 6. The book's most beautiful passages meditate on Tommy Nothing Fancy's short life and express his father's love. Nasdijj has been homeless, he has taught Indian children on a reservation, he has retraced with a historian friend the dreadful forced march to Bosque Redondo, where the Navajo and their culture were nearly exterminated. These and many other ordeals are related in the agonizingly lucid words of someone who has turned to writing as a lifeline. This remarkable memoir has its share of bitterness and anger, but Nasdijj transcends both in his acceptance of the world that made him and in the knowledge that "the reservation runs like blood through a river of my dreams." Read more

Reviews (30)

I give this book three stars knowing it is a fraud
This book has to be the worst and most sickening case of cultural apropriation in the history of the US.The fact that it was writen by a white man is further proof of the emperialist and colonialist mentality that still exists in this nation twords the Native American Community.However when I forst read this book Nasdijj was still a navajo within the eyes of the public.At the time the book mooved me deaply.Nasdijj's use if diction and the storytelling nature of his narative was beutifle.It made me want to learn more about the status and problems facing the Plains Indian community and work bring about change.That meens somthing to me and despite what I know now that initial responce when I first read this book stays with me to this day.I urge those who are going to critisize this book to read it first if you have not, and when you read it, do so with eyes un clouded by the trouth.

One Fraud Too Many
It's a shame that because of works like this, not to mention the Forrest Carter (Education of Little Tree) scandal a few years back, many unknown and undiscovered--but authentic--Native American writers will probably have to struggle that much harder to become published. Well-established American Indian authors are already naturally suspect of any newcomers on the scene; the sad fact is that for some reason Native American culture and identity is misappropriated by more misguided white writers--whatever their individual agendas might be--than any other race or ethnic group. The sad truth is that, for every Forrest Carter and Timothy Barris who manage to secure a publishing contract, there are dozens of truly deserving Native voices that are going unheard.And thanks to these imposters making the buying public- as well as agents and editors- increasingly suspicious of anyone claiming to be Native American-their chances to be read and heard are only going to diminish.

The Joke
To hold the power to move people with words regardless of the validity of those words is a very impressive art. With the exception of one specific actor, no one in history has made a powerful film about his or her own life. There is no reason to believe that written works shoud be treated differently from movies in this respect. Obviously this writer has realized that human deception is an important method of eliciting an emotional response from an audience. By reading the responses from readers prior to the false exposure of the true writer, it is clear that this man or woman is light years ahead of current authors when it comes to manipulating the human brain into believing a story, factual or not. With the increasing pace of desensitization of the mind in recent years, obviously new techniques must be made available to entertain an insatiable public. To say that this author's amazing work is only confined within the pages of the book is downwright ludicrous. Everything, including the monikor and real identity of "Timothy Barris" is part of a larger piece of fiction that may be even further exposed as time passes. After this "identity" was unearthed, opposite and even stronger emotional responses were elicited from readers, demonstrated in print on these very pages of Amazon.com. Is it not true that disgust and outrage are also emotions that sub-par authors struggle to touch in their works? "The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams" is such an example of a work of writing and deception that is capable of plucking each string of human emotion in such a way that has never been attempted before. There is a larger picture.
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Ethnic Cultures - Native Americans    5. General    6. Parental Memoirs    7. Specific Groups - Special Needs    8. Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs   

Features

• Illustrated

Reviews (7)

Moving
This is a story of ultimate forgiveness told firsthand by Ernest Gordon.The things he and his fellow prisoners of war experienced are near incomprehensible....and out of such despair comes the forever life-changing love they experience through Christ, Who is the example they start to follow in showing similar self-sacrificing love and kindness to their neighbors - even to their enemies.
Not your typical POW story
While Earnest Gordon's story contains enough description of the atrocities inflicted on him and his fellow POW's by the hands of the Japanese in Southeast Asia during WW2, this does not read like your typical POW story. By typical, I mean a blow-by-blow account (literally at times) of the grueling, horrific experience of Allied soldiers during the war. Though there are passages of such description that aptly set the stage for the story, this book is more about the way in which Gordon and his fellow prisoners of war created the Kingdom of God in the hell of mankind.
fantastic story
Ernest Gordon's first-hand account of being a POW in WWII.Gordon, a Scottish soldier and later Presbyterian minister and Chaplain of Princeton University, was captured by a Japanese warship and placed on the crew that built the bridge over the river Kwai.The account is well written and interesting from a historical perspective, but also engaging from a spiritual one as Gordon tells about his own transformation while imprisoned, as well as that of his fellow prisoners.If you are interested in history and biography told through the eyes of faith, then this makes an excellent read. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Burma-Siam Railroad    3. Fiction    4. General    5. Gordon, Ernest    6. Japan    7. Military    8. Personal Memoirs    9. Personal narratives, British    10. Prisoners and prisons, Japanes    11. Prisoners and prisons, Japanese    12. Prisoners of war    13. World War, 1939-1945    14. Christian Interest    15. English    16. Inspiration / Motivation / Biography & Autobiography    17. Religion / Christian Life    18. Transportation / Railroads / History    19. True stories: Second World War    20. WORLD WAR, 1939-1945_PERSONAL NARRATIVES, BRITISH    21. WORLD WAR, 1939-1945_PRISONERS AND PRISONS, JAPANESE    22. World history: Second World War   

Editorial Review

The condition of exile is an exaggeration of the process of change and loss that many people experience as they grow and mature, leaving behind the innocence of childhood. Eva Hoffman spent her early years in Cracow, among family friends who, like her parents, had escaped the Holocaust and were skeptical of the newly imposed Communist state. Hoffman's parents managed to immigrate to Canada in the 1950s, where Eva was old enough to feel like a stranger--bland food, a quieter life, and schoolmates who hardly knew where Poland was. Still, there were neighbors who knew something of Old World ways, and a piano teacher who was classically Middle European in his neurotic enthusiasm for music. Her true exile came in college in Texas, where she found herself among people who were frightened by and hostile to her foreignness. Later, at Harvard, Hoffman found herself initially alienated by her burgeoning intellectualism; her parents found it difficult to comprehend. Her sense of perpetual otherness was extended by encounters with childhood friends who had escaped Cracow to grow up in Israel, rather than Canada or the United States, and were preoccupied with soldiers, not scholars. Read more

Reviews (20)

a classic
I loved this book when it came out and I love it still many rereadings later. Thisportrait of the Wandering Jew as ayoung girl begins with Hoffman's childhood in Cracow, Poland just after the second world war; moves to Vancouver, British Columbia when she is thirteen; continues on to Texas and Massachusetts for her university years; and ends in New York, where she becomes a writer and an editor at the New York Times Book Review. It encompasses many themes: the defining power of language; the cost of changing cultures, the construction of personal identity, and the consequences, for many Jews, of the Nazi and Communist regimes. Hoffman was born in the summer of 1945. Like many Jews in post-war, Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe, the Hoffmans observed Passover and had home-baked challah, on shabbat but Eva was culturally Polish, reading Sienkiewicz's nationalistic novels, playing Chopin etudes, attending church with her friends, receiving gifts on St. Nicholas's Day. After emigration, she adapts to North American culture, first Canadian, then Texan, then New York. This is a memoir squarely in the Jewish immigrant tradition but one in which the immigrant is a graduate student at Harvard, and relates her situation not only to Mary Antin but to contexts laid out by Sartre and Nabokov, Jung and Freud. Lost in Translation contains stories and essays, phrases to ruminate on, ideas to consider. It is a demanding read that challenges its reader to consider her own autobiography, her own childhood, her own assumptions. Having compiled an internationalbibliography of Jewish women's non-fiction books with poet Irena Klepfisz (available on my website) , I can say this