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The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos by Judy Batalion

4.12 AVERAGE

jlizkosan's review

2.75
inspiring slow-paced

tessa_palomeque's review against another edition

4.0
This book is full of so many incredible stories that need to be told. Batalion did such amazing research in compiling this information, which included translating many many texts. It is so important for these stories to not be lost to history so that we do not repeat history. Many of the stories are horrific and graphic, but that's what happened and I'm glad Batalion didn't sugar coat it. I was constantly in awe of what these brave women did to resist Hitler and how they risked their lives. I'm so glad Batlion wrote this story. However, my one criticism was Batalion's writing style. She bogged this book down with quite a bit of information that rather than add to these women's stories, it detracted from them. I wish she had more organization into how she told these stories. But I would still recommend this book to anyone as I think it is so important that people hear the experiences these women and many others went through.
mj470's profile picture

mj470's review

3.75
3.75 ⭐

I really appreciate the telling of the Jewish women's Holocaust experience. It's something that seems only vaguely referenced but this book sheds a lot of light on the Warsaw Jews and the uprising of women. The history part of this I greatly enjoyed. 

This is very graphic as you would imagine given the content. Many times I felt it hard to read and extremely upsetting. 

The ending is the author giving her perspective on how modern women currently have less freedom than the enslaved Jews of 1940. That take seems irresponsible to me and I felt it detracted from the overall history. 

madelineceleste's review

4.0
challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

crhauser's review against another edition

3.0
I found this book hard to read. The material is very intense and difficult to stomach. That made my progress slow. There are also a lot of people covered in the book. The people are in several places. It is hard to keep up with each person and place. I didn't finish it this time, but might come back to it later.

christinecomito's review

4.0
With all the literature about WW2 and the Holocaust and stories of resistance fighters and others who sabotaged the Nazis, it seems surprising that there is new information. This book highlights the role of women, who often after the war retreated into motherhood and home life without ever touting their roles in the resistance.
This book focuses on Polish Jewish women.

puzzles_and_pie's review

5.0
I couldn't put this book down. Binged it. Incredible stories you've never heard of.

TW: Every horror you could imagine and even more you couldn't.

cecelia_swartz's review

4.0
challenging dark informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced
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sue_ferris's review

4.0
Deeply important, this book outlines the story of Jewish women in the Polish resistance during World War II. Amazing and horrifying - it is a deeply disturbing and emotional journey.

melissa_g04's review

4.0
This book is a little bit like a meta-analysis on the subject of Jewish women resistance fighters. Most mentioned were in the Polish ghettos. This book provides tons of information, gut-wrenching accounts, and incredible acts of heroism both big and small.

Batalion's style of writing is a bit confusing and I found myself lost or unable to keep track of who was being discussed.