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carolinamartins34's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
shauna_reads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
4.0
"Finally, the ghetto understands what the Germans intend. If they can take the children, they will take everybody."
This novel tells the true story of Dr. Janusz Korczak, a Polish pediatrician, author, and educator who ran an orphanage in Warsaw during the Second World War. While I was reading I knew that Korczak was a real person but had no idea that nearly every single other character also existed, too. Misha and his wife Sophia worked with Korczak, helping care for the children and bringing food and supplies as the restrictions tightened in the ghetto.
I have read a lot of World War II novels but this was the first one focused around the children murdered by the Nazis. I think that Gifford handled what's an unthinkably tragic topic with great sensitivity. It's not a mystery what happened to Korczak and the kids, but the entire time I was reading I wondered how she was going to handle writing it out. The author takes care to imply their final moments in as tasteful a way as possible without getting into any details.
Afterward, I liked how the remaining chapters all began with a real quote from Korczak, allowing his influence to remain through the end of the novel. This story is heartbreaking yet somehow still manages to bring forth moments of great hope and faith. The final chapter is a thing of great beauty, a serene and peaceful scene of Korczak and his children that one can imagine as all of them together in the afterlife.
The Good Doctor of Warsaw is a book that teaches - not only facts about people, places and events but also how to be a generous human being - while at the same time pulling the reader fully into the story.
This novel tells the true story of Dr. Janusz Korczak, a Polish pediatrician, author, and educator who ran an orphanage in Warsaw during the Second World War. While I was reading I knew that Korczak was a real person but had no idea that nearly every single other character also existed, too. Misha and his wife Sophia worked with Korczak, helping care for the children and bringing food and supplies as the restrictions tightened in the ghetto.
I have read a lot of World War II novels but this was the first one focused around the children murdered by the Nazis. I think that Gifford handled what's an unthinkably tragic topic with great sensitivity. It's not a mystery what happened to Korczak and the kids, but the entire time I was reading I wondered how she was going to handle writing it out. The author takes care to imply their final moments in as tasteful a way as possible without getting into any details.
Afterward, I liked how the remaining chapters all began with a real quote from Korczak, allowing his influence to remain through the end of the novel. This story is heartbreaking yet somehow still manages to bring forth moments of great hope and faith. The final chapter is a thing of great beauty, a serene and peaceful scene of Korczak and his children that one can imagine as all of them together in the afterlife.
The Good Doctor of Warsaw is a book that teaches - not only facts about people, places and events but also how to be a generous human being - while at the same time pulling the reader fully into the story.
bemysea's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide and War
ragnhild's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
3.75
hanlundie12's review against another edition
3.0
This was a good story, but I found it hard to get going in the book. Once the story got moving along, it was very interesting.
*Mild language throughout
*Mild language throughout
libraryrobin's review against another edition
4.0
A fictionalized version of the experiences of Misha and Sophia, a couple who lived in the Warsaw Ghetto, and who worked with educator Janusz Korczak and the children. Moving, frightening, and authentic to the sites I visited there.
montagves's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5. The storytelling was good and even poetic at times, but the main characters were lacking in substance and ended up being too flat for my taste, especially in such dark and morally complex circumstances. I still really enjoyed it, though - it’s pretty much the epitome of what I look for in a summer read.
look_whos_reading's review
5.0
Alright, so this is yet another story of the Nazi occupation. And, it's SO NOT just another story of the Nazi occupation!
This is an ode to the brave and selfless acts of humanity during the terrible holocaust. The story spans a timeline from 1937 - 1943 and covers everything from the stirrings of the Reich's evil plan to its culmination.
The story is set in Warsaw, Poland where the famous Dr. Janusz Korczak set up a children's home to care for orphans and other children whose families couldn't afford to look after them. As the segregation of Jews from Poles started becoming more apparent in education, jobs, the military and in every walk of society, troubles began for Warsaw and it's people. This story is also of a young couple (the doctor's students) Misha and Sophia, who fall in love and face many trials along the way to marriage and beyond. They survived and their descendants were able to recount the terrible days, from journals, letters and other memorabilia.
As the story progresses, we see these main characters evolve with and react to the changing times - the walls go up and Warsaw becomes a ghetto, curfews are put in place, unprovoked violence starts erupting, slow starvation sets in, people (especially children) turn to smuggling rations from outside the wall, the führer tightens the noose with "shoot at sight" instructions, the Reich orders around ten thousand (per day) Jews to be put onto trains to take them to "work camps". These people are never seen again.
Misha and Sophia, like many others, flee at the risk of life to neighboring Ukraine where the Soviet is now doing Germany's bidding. Jews are hunted and killed there too. So they are forced to return to the Warsaw ghetto. Amidst all this, the good doctor continues to maintain that children should be protected from war at all costs. He goes to great lengths to stand by them and provide for them. One black morning, eventually, the guards come for the orphanage. Tens of thousands of children, led by Dr. Korczak, Stefa the housekeeper and all the teachers are marched down towards the trains to Treblinka. Among all the unmarked graves, his is the only one with a name that reads "Janusz Korczak and Children". He said, "you never leave a child alone" and so chose to die with them.
This is a harrowing tale, as are all stories of the war/holocaust. However, it is told with the children as the focal point. How does a child see war? What does it do to a young mind? The good doctor is celebrated as a ray of light in the black history of Poland - for keeping his children unscathed - through humour, love and faith.
If you're interested in first hand accounts of war, political history and human interest stories, I highly recommend this book. The writing is not graphic but there is definitely a subtext of pain and horror.
This is an ode to the brave and selfless acts of humanity during the terrible holocaust. The story spans a timeline from 1937 - 1943 and covers everything from the stirrings of the Reich's evil plan to its culmination.
The story is set in Warsaw, Poland where the famous Dr. Janusz Korczak set up a children's home to care for orphans and other children whose families couldn't afford to look after them. As the segregation of Jews from Poles started becoming more apparent in education, jobs, the military and in every walk of society, troubles began for Warsaw and it's people. This story is also of a young couple (the doctor's students) Misha and Sophia, who fall in love and face many trials along the way to marriage and beyond. They survived and their descendants were able to recount the terrible days, from journals, letters and other memorabilia.
As the story progresses, we see these main characters evolve with and react to the changing times - the walls go up and Warsaw becomes a ghetto, curfews are put in place, unprovoked violence starts erupting, slow starvation sets in, people (especially children) turn to smuggling rations from outside the wall, the führer tightens the noose with "shoot at sight" instructions, the Reich orders around ten thousand (per day) Jews to be put onto trains to take them to "work camps". These people are never seen again.
Misha and Sophia, like many others, flee at the risk of life to neighboring Ukraine where the Soviet is now doing Germany's bidding. Jews are hunted and killed there too. So they are forced to return to the Warsaw ghetto. Amidst all this, the good doctor continues to maintain that children should be protected from war at all costs. He goes to great lengths to stand by them and provide for them. One black morning, eventually, the guards come for the orphanage. Tens of thousands of children, led by Dr. Korczak, Stefa the housekeeper and all the teachers are marched down towards the trains to Treblinka. Among all the unmarked graves, his is the only one with a name that reads "Janusz Korczak and Children". He said, "you never leave a child alone" and so chose to die with them.
This is a harrowing tale, as are all stories of the war/holocaust. However, it is told with the children as the focal point. How does a child see war? What does it do to a young mind? The good doctor is celebrated as a ray of light in the black history of Poland - for keeping his children unscathed - through humour, love and faith.
If you're interested in first hand accounts of war, political history and human interest stories, I highly recommend this book. The writing is not graphic but there is definitely a subtext of pain and horror.