Reviews - Bekraštė stepė

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86 reviews for:

There is something about this book that won't let go of me.

When I was in grade six, I started reading this book. For some reason, I had to give it back to my teacher before I was finished. I never forgot it. When I was in university, I finally decide to find it and finish reading it. For some reason, I felt compelled to find it again and re-read it. It is like it calls to me. My great grandparents lived Russia, transplanted from another country, and we don't know a lot of their story except that they ran for their lives when they left there. Every time I read something about that country I wonder if my grandparents story was similar.

The steppe it refers to is the land in Russia. From what I can gather, it is probably similar landscape to Alberta: prairie at the foot of the mountains. The weather is similar too....lots of cold!

This is a story of Jews during World War II. They aren't sent to a concentration camp. Instead they are exiled to Siberia. They go from living a very comfortable life as wealth citizens of Poland to being very poor in Siberia. They live in mud huts. They work for meager wages. They are separated from each other - yet their determined spirits help them to survive. The story is told by the daughter. While she does suffer terribly because of their exile, she also has many of the same concerns all kids have about fitting in at school, having the right thing to wear (shoes, for example....just having shoes to wear) and seeing popular movies her friends have seen. While these people didn't go through the horrors of concentration camps, their experience is still a compelling story.

I read a book with a story similar to this about similar things happening in Canada during World War I. It is interesting that we choose to take large groups of people and banish them because of their culture. This would be a great story to read with Anne Frank. It discusses big issues but in a child-friendly way.

auntieshelly1964's review against another edition

5.0

I read this as an elementary student, over 40 years ago. It stayed with me. It must have been good.

rissiegrace's review against another edition

4.0

Interesting story of a Jewish family surviving WWII. In this case, they were sent to Siberia, which is not a story that I had heard before. It's incredible how much they struggled to survive, and yet (**spoiler alert**) at the end Esther feels sad to leave -- which is a shock to her mother and to the reader. I guess it shows that any place can become home when you have friends and family close to you.

amandawu47's review against another edition

4.75

emotional hopeful inspiring sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: N/A

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Beautiful memoir of hope and resilience. Told simply but beautifully and honestly, this is the remarkable story of one girl's story of surivival of having been deported from Poland to live in exile in Siberia with her family for being "capitalists."

lyddiebug10's review against another edition

4.25

challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The only reason this book isn’t a five star is because it’s such a emotional story

kaysuelen_reads's review against another edition

5.0

This is the true story of Esther Hautzig’s forced exile as a Polish Jew in Soviet-era Siberia during World War II. I cried, I laughed a little at her comedic storytelling and I cried again. I was also reminded that the hate and white supremacy that plagues our world today is not new, just reincarnated.

And Esther reminded me that, “reading was not only a great delight, but a privilege” (p.176). It truly was a privilege to read her amazing story of survival against all odds.