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4.32 AVERAGE
4.32 AVERAGE
3.5/5
I have complicated feelings about this one. It was interesting and engaging and at times difficult to read. Other reviewers have pointed out/questioned the authors motivation for digging into her family history, and I both see their point and acknowledge that it’s a very complicated thing to untangle.
I have complicated feelings about this one. It was interesting and engaging and at times difficult to read. Other reviewers have pointed out/questioned the authors motivation for digging into her family history, and I both see their point and acknowledge that it’s a very complicated thing to untangle.
The best thing about this book is it’s beautiful and unique presentation.
The biggest take-away from this book is to talk to your elders. Find out about the past and your family’s part in history.
The biggest take-away from this book is to talk to your elders. Find out about the past and your family’s part in history.
i feel like there were a lot of things i disliked in this book and a lot of things i loved seeing but i hoped it was in a different book so i could enjoy it.
disliked: how she kept saying that she wanted to “feel closer” or already “feels closer” to her uncles or grandfathers that were full on nazis or did questionable things. i went through the entire book feeling zero sympathy for a single character in this book. it also felt like she was trying to absolve herself of the guilt she felt for being German and having family like that the entire time and i simply wanted to scream at her to just feel the shame and guilt and learn from it. make sure YOU are the person who speaks about injustice. yet she didn’t do that and then sprinkled “israel” in the book. the author did phenomenal at learning nothing. oh my god don’t get me started on the “i married a jewish person so im not like them” rhetoric. save your breath, i don’t want to hear it.
liked: the structure of the book. it felt like i was reading someone’s journal instead of a book which i loved. i liked that it was in her handwriting. i liked that she had pages of “german things” sprinkled in so that we get to learn her connection to objects and how it ties back to the land and then how she used them. i also just loved how varied each page was. she put pictures, drawings, letters, translations, literally everything you could ever think of. again, i just wished it was in a different book.
additional (unsolicited) commentary: i hated how there was zero political commentary, nothing about the german government at the time, nothing about it currently. maybe a page or two here and there but nothing memorable. i felt really irritated reading it the entire time. how someone thought it was okay to take the holocaust and turn it into a book about their GERMAN non-jewish nazi family is beyond me. thank god i finished reading it and im not planning on doing it again. felt like a pity party but one i was never interested in joining and wanted to leave the entire time. god riddance.
disliked: how she kept saying that she wanted to “feel closer” or already “feels closer” to her uncles or grandfathers that were full on nazis or did questionable things. i went through the entire book feeling zero sympathy for a single character in this book. it also felt like she was trying to absolve herself of the guilt she felt for being German and having family like that the entire time and i simply wanted to scream at her to just feel the shame and guilt and learn from it. make sure YOU are the person who speaks about injustice. yet she didn’t do that and then sprinkled “israel” in the book. the author did phenomenal at learning nothing. oh my god don’t get me started on the “i married a jewish person so im not like them” rhetoric. save your breath, i don’t want to hear it.
liked: the structure of the book. it felt like i was reading someone’s journal instead of a book which i loved. i liked that it was in her handwriting. i liked that she had pages of “german things” sprinkled in so that we get to learn her connection to objects and how it ties back to the land and then how she used them. i also just loved how varied each page was. she put pictures, drawings, letters, translations, literally everything you could ever think of. again, i just wished it was in a different book.
additional (unsolicited) commentary: i hated how there was zero political commentary, nothing about the german government at the time, nothing about it currently. maybe a page or two here and there but nothing memorable. i felt really irritated reading it the entire time. how someone thought it was okay to take the holocaust and turn it into a book about their GERMAN non-jewish nazi family is beyond me. thank god i finished reading it and im not planning on doing it again. felt like a pity party but one i was never interested in joining and wanted to leave the entire time. god riddance.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
I wish that more people were willing to engage with the uncomfortable aspects of their/our histories.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
This is a poignant memoir in search of truth. The author is born many years after the end of World War II but, nevertheless, feels a collective guilt for the past deeds perpetrated by her country people, and receives plenty of racist remarks by way of reinforcement. She enters a journey of discovery to determine the culpability of her own family in the events of the past, which has the potential to assuage or exacerbate her own sense of guilt. It is a gripping, tense story that also asks the question, "Do we really want to know?" I was not a fan of the caricature style art and I felt that the book would have benefited from more of a final summary. Despite these minor shortcomings, it is a powerful search for identity. "How do you know who you are, if you don't understand where you come from?"
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
emotional
informative
medium-paced