Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
This is the story of Stasha and Pearl, twins kept captive at Auschwitz for Mengele’s experiments. Told in the twins’ alternating perspectives, I felt I knew each girl, their feelings for each other and their hopes for the future. A dark tale about pain, survival, and always hope. A unique Holocaust story. Excellent!
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
This book is very informative but also very dark. Overall a good read.
The story is so brutal it actually took the rating down. This was a very hard read. I could not finish. The writing is (purposely) so naive, and so well-told through a child's eyes, that an adult reading it sees through the innocent writing ("My twin sister and I were separated from our parents because we were special!" when speaking about a concentration camp) just feels nauseous - or at least I did. It took me a long time to get through this book. I could only do about 20 pages at a time. Almost two months.
This book was harrowing and painful to read, and yet, even in the most difficult sections, the voices of the lead twins, Stasha and Pearl, were beautiful and compelling. And Konar's reference to slavic fairy tale (Koschei the Deathless, Baba Yaga, maybe others I don't know of), gives the book a mythic element. I didn't know if I could make it all the way through, but when I reached the end, I was glad I stuck with it.
(Spoilers)
I also loved the way that Konar makes Stasha and Pearl's voices almost interchangeable in the beginning, then gradually differentiates them during their experiences in Auschwitz, and finally overlaps them again at the end.
On a historical note, I found myself becoming angry at the thought that Mengele lived out his life in South America (with ski trips to Europe even) and dies of a stroke in 1979. That someone who had committed the worst crimes could face no justice...
(Spoilers)
I also loved the way that Konar makes Stasha and Pearl's voices almost interchangeable in the beginning, then gradually differentiates them during their experiences in Auschwitz, and finally overlaps them again at the end.
On a historical note, I found myself becoming angry at the thought that Mengele lived out his life in South America (with ski trips to Europe even) and dies of a stroke in 1979. That someone who had committed the worst crimes could face no justice...
Very powerful, a tour de force, not for the extremely sensitive.
This book presents a [fictitious] first person account of two twin girls who were sent to Auschwitz and subjected to Josef Mengele's experiments there. Along the way we meet many interesting individuals and situations. This will help you understand the horrors of the Holocaust very clearly.
The story is haunting, painful and beautiful all at once. The will to live is very strong.
This book presents a [fictitious] first person account of two twin girls who were sent to Auschwitz and subjected to Josef Mengele's experiments there. Along the way we meet many interesting individuals and situations. This will help you understand the horrors of the Holocaust very clearly.
The story is haunting, painful and beautiful all at once. The will to live is very strong.
Mischling is the story of identical “half-Jewish” twins, Pearl and Stasha, who spent part of WWII in Mendele’s Zoo as human experiments, along with dozens of other children who were also multiples. As twins, they divide the responsibilities of surviving and resolve that they can handle anything--together. When Pearl goes missing, Stasha relentlessly searches for her and continues her search following the liberation of Auschwitz. Aided by another cleaved twin, she searches throughout the territory of post-war Germany, Austria, and Poland.
This story is told in twin narratives, part from Stasha’s and part from Pearl’s perspective, though Stasha is really the main character. Perhaps for this reason, the standout narrative in this story is the wholeness these sisters feel together and the aching ghost-pain loss apart. Retrospectively, I found myself at times unable to distinguish certain passages and when I went looking was surprised that I wrongly attributed certain thoughts or events. This story lives through the duality of these twin girls who happen to live in a concentration camp, whose strength is in their power held up by two, and whose loss isn’t the lost of their country, their race, or their family, but the loss of each other.
With regard to the setting, it was brutal--of course--but not as haunting as it has been in other recent fictional narratives set at the same time. It was what I would expect from a WWII concentration camp novel, filled with details expected and unexpected. The prose is flowery and extravagant, but beautiful. It is at once an ode to the human spirit and at odds with the subject matter. Konar does an excellent job with her words, juxtaposing expansive, imaginative prose with the bitter brutalities of Nazi Germany for the Jewish minority.
I wouldn’t say that I enjoyed this novel, so much as I endured it, but for the right reasons. It was painful, immediate, and devastating, despite the recreation of the (by now) existing WWII story. I would absolutely recommend reading it.
This story is told in twin narratives, part from Stasha’s and part from Pearl’s perspective, though Stasha is really the main character. Perhaps for this reason, the standout narrative in this story is the wholeness these sisters feel together and the aching ghost-pain loss apart. Retrospectively, I found myself at times unable to distinguish certain passages and when I went looking was surprised that I wrongly attributed certain thoughts or events. This story lives through the duality of these twin girls who happen to live in a concentration camp, whose strength is in their power held up by two, and whose loss isn’t the lost of their country, their race, or their family, but the loss of each other.
With regard to the setting, it was brutal--of course--but not as haunting as it has been in other recent fictional narratives set at the same time. It was what I would expect from a WWII concentration camp novel, filled with details expected and unexpected. The prose is flowery and extravagant, but beautiful. It is at once an ode to the human spirit and at odds with the subject matter. Konar does an excellent job with her words, juxtaposing expansive, imaginative prose with the bitter brutalities of Nazi Germany for the Jewish minority.
I wouldn’t say that I enjoyed this novel, so much as I endured it, but for the right reasons. It was painful, immediate, and devastating, despite the recreation of the (by now) existing WWII story. I would absolutely recommend reading it.
Very well-written World War II story, about a set of twins who were taken to Auschwitz, where Mengele conducted genetic experiments on twins. Hard to read sometimes, but overall had an element of hope. Interesting to learn more about this side of WWII. Fictional story, but based on real events.
Pearl and Stasha are twin sisters who arrive at Auschwitz and immediately capture the attention of Dr. Mengele. Determined to remain safe, close, and true to their dreams, they desperately try to protect their emotional connection with one another. When Pearl goes missing, Stasha is unsure of how to move forward. With the Soviets coming, the camp is emptied and themes of revenge and family become even more paramount-beautiful writing
Ono što mi se najviše sviđa u vezi knjige je odnos blizanki, tj. kako je on prenesen na papir, a ono što najviše ne volim u bilo kojoj knjizi je kad nešto jednostavno ne razriješe, a takav je ovdje kraj, kao da postao nevažan. Ne moraju sve knjige imati happy ending, ali ovakav me jako živcira, čak mi ne smeta niti onaj koji sami možemo izmisliti, no ovakav gdje kao da ti nije više bilo stalo...