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emilycrall 's review for:
The Warsaw Orphan
by Kelly Rimmer
I happened, without trying at all, to be reading this book over January 27th, International Holocaust Remembrance Day. That timing made for an extra powerful impact.
This book is told from two POVs: Emilia’s and Roman’s. It’s based in Warsaw with the persecution of both Jewish people and the brave rescue work done by Polish people. It is powerful and compelling and a book that I could not put down.
Trigger warning (and spoiler): rape. Just when it seemed like we were getting to the other side of the German horrors, in come the Soviets with new horrors. I should’ve known something would happen because there was still a good chunk of book left, but it still threw me.
A few quotes that stuck with me:
"We just need to keep putting one foot in front of the other, son. When everything else has been taken from us, all we have left is each other, so we remain true to ourselves and look after one another. What else is there to do? The bitterness would kill us, otherwise." (Samuel to Roman)
"When you have seen these things, things so horrific that you cannot help but become hardened to them, how can you just go back to existing again? Even if the war ended tomorrow, I feel like I would be broken for the rest of my life, and in ways that I can't even understand, let alone explain." (Emilia)
"The one experience she has dreamed of her whole life has been forced upon the very person she loves most in the world." (Sara to Emilia about Truda)
"The next time you leave this place, I want you to look closely at the children you see. See if you can identify which children were conceived in rape and which were conceived in love. There will be an entire generation of children in this country who were forced upon their mothers, and the lucky ones will grow up in love just the same." (Truda to Emilia)
This book is told from two POVs: Emilia’s and Roman’s. It’s based in Warsaw with the persecution of both Jewish people and the brave rescue work done by Polish people. It is powerful and compelling and a book that I could not put down.
Trigger warning (and spoiler): rape. Just when it seemed like we were getting to the other side of the German horrors, in come the Soviets with new horrors. I should’ve known something would happen because there was still a good chunk of book left, but it still threw me.
A few quotes that stuck with me:
"We just need to keep putting one foot in front of the other, son. When everything else has been taken from us, all we have left is each other, so we remain true to ourselves and look after one another. What else is there to do? The bitterness would kill us, otherwise." (Samuel to Roman)
"When you have seen these things, things so horrific that you cannot help but become hardened to them, how can you just go back to existing again? Even if the war ended tomorrow, I feel like I would be broken for the rest of my life, and in ways that I can't even understand, let alone explain." (Emilia)
"The one experience she has dreamed of her whole life has been forced upon the very person she loves most in the world." (Sara to Emilia about Truda)
"The next time you leave this place, I want you to look closely at the children you see. See if you can identify which children were conceived in rape and which were conceived in love. There will be an entire generation of children in this country who were forced upon their mothers, and the lucky ones will grow up in love just the same." (Truda to Emilia)