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mcreed06's review against another edition
3.0
I recently read A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz, and in that wonderful book were several references to the Jewish Youth Center that was a big part of Deresiewicz's childhood.
I thought about that as I read this quote in the novella in Awake in the Dark:
"This was not so unusual in our close-knit Jewish community, which was largely made up of refugees from Europe. Most of my friends' parents had lost their families in the Holocaust; many were the sole survivors. Perhaps this is why the bonds we formed at the Youth Center were as strong as they were."
In the novella was a question; "Does a parent have the right to make a complete secret of his past?"
My vote is a resounding "Yes." Parents have a right to their privacy, and should not be forced to reveal what they do not want to reveal about their past to their children. Granted, they should be prepared when/if a child finds out since most family secrets have a way of surfacing one way or another.
That was my big problem with the novella. When it was clear that the father wanted to keep the Holocaust horrors of his past deeply buried, the daughter Debra kept selfishly digging for more, endangering the psychiatric safety of her own patient in the process.
Another good quote from this book: "Reality is stranger than insanity. It is reality that defies comprehension."
Awake in the Dark has good short stories, but the novella was rather contrived.
I thought about that as I read this quote in the novella in Awake in the Dark:
"This was not so unusual in our close-knit Jewish community, which was largely made up of refugees from Europe. Most of my friends' parents had lost their families in the Holocaust; many were the sole survivors. Perhaps this is why the bonds we formed at the Youth Center were as strong as they were."
In the novella was a question; "Does a parent have the right to make a complete secret of his past?"
My vote is a resounding "Yes." Parents have a right to their privacy, and should not be forced to reveal what they do not want to reveal about their past to their children. Granted, they should be prepared when/if a child finds out since most family secrets have a way of surfacing one way or another.
That was my big problem with the novella. When it was clear that the father wanted to keep the Holocaust horrors of his past deeply buried, the daughter Debra kept selfishly digging for more, endangering the psychiatric safety of her own patient in the process.
Another good quote from this book: "Reality is stranger than insanity. It is reality that defies comprehension."
Awake in the Dark has good short stories, but the novella was rather contrived.
klgreen's review
3.0
Haunting...literally. I had nightmares almost the whole time I was reading this book. But, it made me think and question, which is always good. I wonder if I would have gotten more out of it if I had some knowledge of Jewish mysticism/Kabalah. That seemed to be a common thread in all of the stories, how the past and present are intertwined and how we possess a "knowing" far beyond the rational. On a personal level, I was most touched by the stories of mothers and daughters. The mothers made impossible decisions due to the circumstances, all born of a fierce love. Haunting.
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