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soavezefiretto's review against another edition
3.0
It's a bit harder to rate this book, because it hits pretty close to home. My family history has nothing to do with the one described here - and also, everything. It made me think about how I relate (or in my case, refuse to relate) to my family history. About the book: for some it may lack focus, but I like the author's style, I like how he goes off on seeming tangents, how he imagines conversations that never happens, because that's exactly what I do. So recommended if you like memoirs that are a bit unconventional and/or are interested in the recent history of Europe.
covaderegil's review against another edition
4.0
Me ha resultado bastante fácil de leer, muy interesante. Se nota que el autor es periodista, desarrolla un texto ágil.
Creo que se ha vendido en España refiriendose a un hecho que no es en realidad el que trata el autor, y tiene más que ver con el titulo en alemán :
Und was hat das mit mir zu tun? Ein Verbrechen im März 1945. Die Geschichte meiner Familie.
¿Qué tiene esto que ver conmigo? Un crimen en marzo 1945. La historia de mi familia
Esa matanza fue el detonante de la investigacion para escribir el libro, pero no es lo más importante que se cuenta en él.
Creo que se ha vendido en España refiriendose a un hecho que no es en realidad el que trata el autor, y tiene más que ver con el titulo en alemán :
Und was hat das mit mir zu tun? Ein Verbrechen im März 1945. Die Geschichte meiner Familie.
¿Qué tiene esto que ver conmigo? Un crimen en marzo 1945. La historia de mi familia
Esa matanza fue el detonante de la investigacion para escribir el libro, pero no es lo más importante que se cuenta en él.
chewdigestbooks's review
4.0
This was interesting because it was part family history and part navel-gazing. The author goes to therapy questioning if trauma and evil are passed down via genes and to find out why he feels little or no connection to his country of birth.
It starts with a coworker tossing a newspaper article onto his desk about his great aunt and her guests supposedly taking a break from a party to slaughter 180 Jews in WWII Hungary only to go back to the drinks and dancing. Now that would be shocking to anyone and who wouldn't want to start investigating it's verity although it's hard for Betthyanay because the only one left in his family is his father who is less than communicative about the past, as many who lived through that time are. His grandfather had spent 10 of his formative years in the gulag of the Soviet Union, so it isn't like his father knew much about that side of his family anyway.
However, his father did not honor his own mother's wishes to destroy her journals and never having read them, passes them onto his son as if the past means nothing to him, so "here you go."
(Note: why did his dad, who didn't seem to care, not destroy the journals as asked if he didn't care and never looked at them? This question, never answered, intrigued me. I would have loved an enlightening conversation with his dad about that though I'm not sure that he even really knew.)
To Be continued, my PC is being a wanker.
It starts with a coworker tossing a newspaper article onto his desk about his great aunt and her guests supposedly taking a break from a party to slaughter 180 Jews in WWII Hungary only to go back to the drinks and dancing. Now that would be shocking to anyone and who wouldn't want to start investigating it's verity although it's hard for Betthyanay because the only one left in his family is his father who is less than communicative about the past, as many who lived through that time are. His grandfather had spent 10 of his formative years in the gulag of the Soviet Union, so it isn't like his father knew much about that side of his family anyway.
However, his father did not honor his own mother's wishes to destroy her journals and never having read them, passes them onto his son as if the past means nothing to him, so "here you go."
(Note: why did his dad, who didn't seem to care, not destroy the journals as asked if he didn't care and never looked at them? This question, never answered, intrigued me. I would have loved an enlightening conversation with his dad about that though I'm not sure that he even really knew.)
To Be continued, my PC is being a wanker.
introvertedacademician's review
4.0
The greatly written story of the present, past and future. It is interesting how much does the past of our families forms us as people. Who we are and what we do, how we think. Even when we think that we are independent people, there is always something in our past what bound us. It is in our DNA after all. We are not just we. Part of us is something from the past. Something that was given and can't be taken away, even if we try so hard sometimes. There is an interesting point about this in this book. The voice of an author who wants to know why he feels that way. And at the same time, he tells us that it is ok to feel that way, to be that way. That it is not our vulnerability. That our past is something that we live with, deal with and sometimes it is ok to stop and just think about it. Deal with it. Find our inner peace with our past, present and also upcoming future.
hopevollm's review
3.0
Hmmm, this book is different than I expected. Not necessarily a bad book, but I felt like it wasn't exactly as advertised. The whole blurb said that it was mostly about a party where 180 Jews were killed...but that really wasn't the focal point of the book.
It felt kind of disjointed and some of it was unnecessary to me... like the made-up parts were confusing. I felt like they didn't add to the story that was being told.
It felt kind of disjointed and some of it was unnecessary to me... like the made-up parts were confusing. I felt like they didn't add to the story that was being told.
ameliasbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Dies ist ein wichtiges Buch, ein Buch das versucht historische umfassende Ereignisse mit persönlicher Familiengeschichte zu verbinden und einen Weg zu finden, damit zurecht zu kommen. Gleichzeitigt stellt es viele Fragen, die eine große lautet, inwiefern furchtbare Ereignisse aus der Vergangenheit noch etwas mit einem persönlich zu tun haben können, auch wenn man doch in dieser Zeit noch gar nicht geboren war. Der Versuch ist leider nicht ganz gelungen, vieles davon ist dann vielleicht doch zu sehr persönlich auserzählt und ist eigentlich auch nur für Familienangehörige selbst interessant und insgesamt ist es ein wenig verwirrend strukturiert. Trotzdem habe ich das Buch gerne gelesen. Antworten darf man jedoch keine erwarten, aber vielleicht ist das genau eine.
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