Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.53 AVERAGE
4.53 AVERAGE
What an amazing book! The memories that Dr. Edith Egar shares from her experiences of being a prisoner during WWll, and the psychologist that she becomes later. Is heart wrenching, inspiring, and and helped me feel strength and peace in the our individual abilities.
This book left me shaking and I'm blown away by the stories and lessons that Dr Eger has shared in it. I have a feeling that years from now I will realise just how impactful reading this will have been.
Her personal stories of survival are an amazing account of human resilience and how, even when her life was on the line and under enormous pressure of devastating circumstances, she was able to cling to life and even find love and compassion for others within herself. The lessons that follow teach that all people are capable of all kinds of things and that you have a choice in how you want to be in whatever circumstances you're in. Embrace and explore all the feelings that live inside (also your rage and fear etc.) to better understand yourself and others, so you can live fully. And there is so much more.
This book is incredibly well written and the audio version is read with a Hungarian accent to mimic the author's own. I have devoured it but it's certainly not easy to digest. I absolutely recommend it.
Her personal stories of survival are an amazing account of human resilience and how, even when her life was on the line and under enormous pressure of devastating circumstances, she was able to cling to life and even find love and compassion for others within herself. The lessons that follow teach that all people are capable of all kinds of things and that you have a choice in how you want to be in whatever circumstances you're in. Embrace and explore all the feelings that live inside (also your rage and fear etc.) to better understand yourself and others, so you can live fully. And there is so much more.
This book is incredibly well written and the audio version is read with a Hungarian accent to mimic the author's own. I have devoured it but it's certainly not easy to digest. I absolutely recommend it.
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
A must read. In an age where everyone claims to be a victim of something, this book serves as an antidote. A true victim of the worst sides of humanity, Edith did not let it define the rest of her life. Genuinely inspiring. More people should know her name.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Utterly beautiful - deeply moving and inspiring as well as written with such strong heart. Please read this!
Ordinary lives destroyed by wars, man's inhumanity and incomprehensible cruelty to their fellows. Again and again we read harrowing and horrific accounts of the ordeals that people go through when their country, their city, their home is invaded. And yet people survive all this, be it 99% luck and 1% willpower, or some other distorted ratio, not everyone dies. You wonder would yourself survive? How would you? Would you want to? And what happens after, why did you survive and not someone else, how do you manage to keep on living, find a new life, start again when all around you, people and places are broken?
Well, you have a choice. Edith Eger is now 89 years old. A Hungarian Jew, in 1944 when she was 16, she and her family were packed off to Auschwitz, all her choices taken away from her, other than the decision to live. Her mother's last words of, “Just remember,” she says, “no one can take away from you what you’ve put in your mind.”, and this is what keeps her spirit alive. As a talented gymnast and dancer, she goes deep inside herself to cope with the appalling horror going on around her, the absolute randomness of life and death. She and her sister miraculously survive their one year of horror; their survivals are a miracle, the two of them pulled out of a pile of dead, Edith with a broken back and typhus, amongst other health issues.
But the biggest scars are of course psychological. It takes a long time, and Edith is wonderfully open and candid about the struggle both mentally and emotionally. She marries a fellow survivor, they have children, they flee Hungary, they move to America. Life is not easy, they are immigrants, they have few skills, but eventually they make a comfortable life for themselves. All the time, however, she is tormented. One of the reasons she goes to college as an adult student is to try to make sense of herself, and also try to help others. Which she achieves most magnificently, becoming an eminent psychologist, opening her own practice, and still practising today. Her success has rested on her exceptional ability, through her own traumatic experiences, to unlock the trauma, the conflict, the reasons for her patients being in the state they are in, and then helping them fix it. She is big on how we allow ourselves to become victims of our pasts, how we let the victimisation we suffered or experienced actually turn us into victims. And how we can let go of all that, and become the best person we can be. Through her helping others, she has also healed herself.
This book is both a very powerful memoir, and a lesson for living, helping find the essence of our ourselves that is locked inside of us. We do have choices in how we respond to adversity, to times of stress, how we behave in our relationships with those close to us. This is not a self-help guide to becoming a better person, but a most generously shared and intimate account of just one person's journey back to self-acceptance and self-love.
Well, you have a choice. Edith Eger is now 89 years old. A Hungarian Jew, in 1944 when she was 16, she and her family were packed off to Auschwitz, all her choices taken away from her, other than the decision to live. Her mother's last words of, “Just remember,” she says, “no one can take away from you what you’ve put in your mind.”, and this is what keeps her spirit alive. As a talented gymnast and dancer, she goes deep inside herself to cope with the appalling horror going on around her, the absolute randomness of life and death. She and her sister miraculously survive their one year of horror; their survivals are a miracle, the two of them pulled out of a pile of dead, Edith with a broken back and typhus, amongst other health issues.
But the biggest scars are of course psychological. It takes a long time, and Edith is wonderfully open and candid about the struggle both mentally and emotionally. She marries a fellow survivor, they have children, they flee Hungary, they move to America. Life is not easy, they are immigrants, they have few skills, but eventually they make a comfortable life for themselves. All the time, however, she is tormented. One of the reasons she goes to college as an adult student is to try to make sense of herself, and also try to help others. Which she achieves most magnificently, becoming an eminent psychologist, opening her own practice, and still practising today. Her success has rested on her exceptional ability, through her own traumatic experiences, to unlock the trauma, the conflict, the reasons for her patients being in the state they are in, and then helping them fix it. She is big on how we allow ourselves to become victims of our pasts, how we let the victimisation we suffered or experienced actually turn us into victims. And how we can let go of all that, and become the best person we can be. Through her helping others, she has also healed herself.
This book is both a very powerful memoir, and a lesson for living, helping find the essence of our ourselves that is locked inside of us. We do have choices in how we respond to adversity, to times of stress, how we behave in our relationships with those close to us. This is not a self-help guide to becoming a better person, but a most generously shared and intimate account of just one person's journey back to self-acceptance and self-love.
Loved this book. She tells her story beautifully and shows you that only you can choose to be free. For anyone struggeling in life, wether with trauma or choises in general, it is a great read.
A Life-Changing Masterpiece – More Than 5 Stars
The Choice by Edith Eger is not just a book; it’s a gift to humanity! Dr. Eger’s story is one of extraordinary resilience, courage, and the transformative power of forgiveness. Her ability to find hope in the darkest of circumstances and her wisdom in showing us how to choose freedom, no matter the past, is profoundly moving.
This book is a beautifully written blend of memoir and self-help, offering lessons that resonate deeply. Dr. Eger doesn’t just recount her harrowing journey through Auschwitz—she teaches us how to heal, how to let go, and how to live fully. Her vulnerability and honesty make every page a revelation.
I would give more than five stars if I could to justify this book. Thank you, Dr. Eger, for sharing your story with the world and for reminding us that, no matter the challenges, we always have the power to choose how we respond. This book is not just a must-read; it’s a must-live-by!
The Choice by Edith Eger is not just a book; it’s a gift to humanity! Dr. Eger’s story is one of extraordinary resilience, courage, and the transformative power of forgiveness. Her ability to find hope in the darkest of circumstances and her wisdom in showing us how to choose freedom, no matter the past, is profoundly moving.
This book is a beautifully written blend of memoir and self-help, offering lessons that resonate deeply. Dr. Eger doesn’t just recount her harrowing journey through Auschwitz—she teaches us how to heal, how to let go, and how to live fully. Her vulnerability and honesty make every page a revelation.
I would give more than five stars if I could to justify this book. Thank you, Dr. Eger, for sharing your story with the world and for reminding us that, no matter the challenges, we always have the power to choose how we respond. This book is not just a must-read; it’s a must-live-by!
The first quarter of the book kept me very engaged... the rest meandered a bit, restating the same idea and losing any urgency. The way some of the events unfolded seemed highly implausible and I wonder if memory (or editing) quilted them together in a way that wasn't exactly what occurred.
I felt a lot of narrative distance while reading and assumed it was because of the extreme amount of time that has passed (perhaps Dr. Eger didn't remember much of it anymore). But then at the end, Dr. Eger acknowledged a "cowriter" ...this is usually the most acknowledgement ghostwriters get. I buy memoirs because they're memoirs, which should be an intimate account written by the person who experienced it (I very rarely read "memoirs" of famous people for this reason - almost 100% are ghostwritten). If a "cowriter" had been acknowledged on the cover I probably wouldn't have bought this... and I'm not sure if I'd be worse off for that.
I felt a lot of narrative distance while reading and assumed it was because of the extreme amount of time that has passed (perhaps Dr. Eger didn't remember much of it anymore). But then at the end, Dr. Eger acknowledged a "cowriter" ...this is usually the most acknowledgement ghostwriters get. I buy memoirs because they're memoirs, which should be an intimate account written by the person who experienced it (I very rarely read "memoirs" of famous people for this reason - almost 100% are ghostwritten). If a "cowriter" had been acknowledged on the cover I probably wouldn't have bought this... and I'm not sure if I'd be worse off for that.