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chrisralonso's review against another edition
5.0
I don't know if I'll be able to do this book justice. The voice and the descriptions. You're floating over the narrator, a ghost, fog, and you're breathing air you're not supposed to breathe and hearing things you're not supposed to hear. Dreamlike is the closest word I c an think of, and it's not enough.
demottar's review against another edition
2.0
This was one of the oddest books I've read in a long time and I don't think I understood the author's intentions for her novel maybe 60% of the time.
Without giving away any plot spoilers, I'll just say that the action of the novel felt illogical and dreamlike, which often frustrated and distanced me from developing an emotional connection with the characters. The writing, though lyrical and often beautiful, was so abstract that I sometimes couldn't follow the sequence of events. I felt that the dialogue was stilted and unnatural and this also made me feel disconnected from the characters and their stories.
All that said, No One Is Here Except All of Us is certainly unique and, though difficult for me to comprehend at times, opened the door for me to ponder the nature of identity, family, history, and story-telling while reading.
Without giving away any plot spoilers, I'll just say that the action of the novel felt illogical and dreamlike, which often frustrated and distanced me from developing an emotional connection with the characters. The writing, though lyrical and often beautiful, was so abstract that I sometimes couldn't follow the sequence of events. I felt that the dialogue was stilted and unnatural and this also made me feel disconnected from the characters and their stories.
All that said, No One Is Here Except All of Us is certainly unique and, though difficult for me to comprehend at times, opened the door for me to ponder the nature of identity, family, history, and story-telling while reading.
christiek's review against another edition
I wish I'd been able to read this. I love the title and I love loved the first 10 pages. The I hated the next 60. The narrative choices for the whole new world thing were distancing and slow.
amynbell's review against another edition
4.0
I'm having such a hard time writing a review for this book because it was both a beautiful book to read and a painful book to read at the same time. It reads more like poetry than prose and has a sort of dreamlike quality to it. The "Us" alluded to in the title is the collective population of a small Jewish village who decides to cut themselves off from the world immediately prior to World War II. They reinvent the world (the new one that only contains them) with new memories, new rules, a new religion, and sometimes even new families (a couple of wives swap husbands or children).
I had a hard time believing that everyone in the village could possibly be of the same mind. Yes, we'll take in a stranger and have her be our confessor rather than adhering to our old religion. Yes, you can take my child if you want to and then bring her back for a different one. Yes, I'll marry off my 10-year-old daughter to assuage your grief. Yes, we'll all speak simple sentences and walk around as if in a dream. Yes, we'll all agree to get rid of our radios and not try to get messages out in the mail. I think that it was the complete passivity of the characters of the book just allowing things to happen that really got to me. The 2 main characters of the book allow the ultimate in passivity to destroy their entire family, and then they seem just fine with that choice in the end. I suppose that this is part of the sad beauty of the story.
This does seem like one of the must-read books of the year. The author does a great job with memorable characters and scenarios. And the writing is gorgeous. However, I want to say that I'm really growing weary of reading books that hit the emotional button of killing off babies. It seems that I can't find a book lately without a dead baby, and this one has two. Granted, this book has an excuse for it since it's historically based on stories the author heard from within her family. Still, it brings the book down for me from a 5-star book to a 4-star book.
I had a hard time believing that everyone in the village could possibly be of the same mind. Yes, we'll take in a stranger and have her be our confessor rather than adhering to our old religion. Yes, you can take my child if you want to and then bring her back for a different one. Yes, I'll marry off my 10-year-old daughter to assuage your grief. Yes, we'll all speak simple sentences and walk around as if in a dream. Yes, we'll all agree to get rid of our radios and not try to get messages out in the mail. I think that it was the complete passivity of the characters of the book just allowing things to happen that really got to me. The 2 main characters of the book allow the ultimate in passivity to destroy their entire family, and then they seem just fine with that choice in the end. I suppose that this is part of the sad beauty of the story.
This does seem like one of the must-read books of the year. The author does a great job with memorable characters and scenarios. And the writing is gorgeous. However, I want to say that I'm really growing weary of reading books that hit the emotional button of killing off babies. It seems that I can't find a book lately without a dead baby, and this one has two. Granted, this book has an excuse for it since it's historically based on stories the author heard from within her family. Still, it brings the book down for me from a 5-star book to a 4-star book.
szeglin's review against another edition
3.0
ARC received through the Goodreads First Reads program.
This story is about a small Jewish village in Romania and the waking dream that they experience together. After a strange woman is washed up on the banks of the river after a bombing test with an ominous story of what is going on in the world outside the village (the year is 1939), one of the village children suggests that they start completely over. No more running--instead, they will begin the world anew. The next day is the first day of the new world, and everything that is not needed is discarded. The girl with the idea, Lena, is given to her childless aunt and uncle. For years, the village is able to live in their new world, long enough for Lena to become a wife and mother herself. Then, one day, the old world can no longer be denied.
Ramona Ausubel's prose is dreamlike. It toes the line in between reality and delusions. Reading this novel feels like drifting repeatedly across the border between wakefulness and sleep. Other reviewers have described it as reading like a fairy tale because of this style. It's an interesting device, and for the most part it does work--although in some passages it does feel stilted and unnatural. The reader definitely is caught up in the group-think of the villagers. When the rare allusion to the outside world is made, it seems like a fabrication. That, I suppose, truly means that writing the book in this way is a success. I found the author's note to be enlightening into why the book was written the way it was. The novel's basic skeleton is a true story told by Ausubel's relatives, but the muscle driving the story's movement was written years later, when only the basic outline of the story remained in the author's memory.
This book is truly unlike any other book about World War II/the Holocaust I have ever encountered, largely because these events are barely mentioned. Knowledge of them lingers in the background, casting a faint shadow over everything that occurs in the book. The story in these pages might have been a little difficult to follow at times, but all of the parts add up to something more than what the reader would get from the plot alone.
This story is about a small Jewish village in Romania and the waking dream that they experience together. After a strange woman is washed up on the banks of the river after a bombing test with an ominous story of what is going on in the world outside the village (the year is 1939), one of the village children suggests that they start completely over. No more running--instead, they will begin the world anew. The next day is the first day of the new world, and everything that is not needed is discarded. The girl with the idea, Lena, is given to her childless aunt and uncle. For years, the village is able to live in their new world, long enough for Lena to become a wife and mother herself. Then, one day, the old world can no longer be denied.
Ramona Ausubel's prose is dreamlike. It toes the line in between reality and delusions. Reading this novel feels like drifting repeatedly across the border between wakefulness and sleep. Other reviewers have described it as reading like a fairy tale because of this style. It's an interesting device, and for the most part it does work--although in some passages it does feel stilted and unnatural. The reader definitely is caught up in the group-think of the villagers. When the rare allusion to the outside world is made, it seems like a fabrication. That, I suppose, truly means that writing the book in this way is a success. I found the author's note to be enlightening into why the book was written the way it was. The novel's basic skeleton is a true story told by Ausubel's relatives, but the muscle driving the story's movement was written years later, when only the basic outline of the story remained in the author's memory.
This book is truly unlike any other book about World War II/the Holocaust I have ever encountered, largely because these events are barely mentioned. Knowledge of them lingers in the background, casting a faint shadow over everything that occurs in the book. The story in these pages might have been a little difficult to follow at times, but all of the parts add up to something more than what the reader would get from the plot alone.
rebeccafromflorida's review against another edition
5.0
“There is always a story. No matter what we do, it can’t help but unfold.”
No One is Here Except All of Us by Ramona Ausubel is the most moving book I have read in a long time.
I grabbed it from the library after Leah @ Books Speaks Volumes raved about it, and I was not disappointed.
The small Romanian village of Zalischik is isolated from the rest of the country geographically. When a stranger is found, still alive, in their river, with a horrific tale of WWII tragedy, the town takes 11-year-old Lena’s advice to begin the world again. What does this mean? The villagers ban together, “forget” and get rid of old world things, and start their lives over.
This leads to some wonderful and some very tragic experiences.
For the full review, visit Love at First Book
No One is Here Except All of Us by Ramona Ausubel is the most moving book I have read in a long time.
I grabbed it from the library after Leah @ Books Speaks Volumes raved about it, and I was not disappointed.
The small Romanian village of Zalischik is isolated from the rest of the country geographically. When a stranger is found, still alive, in their river, with a horrific tale of WWII tragedy, the town takes 11-year-old Lena’s advice to begin the world again. What does this mean? The villagers ban together, “forget” and get rid of old world things, and start their lives over.
This leads to some wonderful and some very tragic experiences.
For the full review, visit Love at First Book
darcijo's review against another edition
3.0
I was hoping for a little more from this book. I'm not sure why though. It was a good book, but I think the characters could have been developed a little better.
thefoxcharmer's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
the writing was borderline absurd and ruined the story
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Child death, and War
Moderate: Child abuse