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A review by sducharme
No One Is Here Except All of Us by Ramona Ausubel
5.0
This story of an isolated Jewish village in Romania reads like an allegory or fable. The villagers decide to save themselves from the encroaching war (WWII) by starting a new world. They throw out their clocks, traditions, and question all ways of being. New possibilities open up about what it means to be a family, a daughter, a friend.
The story has the feel of a fable: The main characters have names but most villagers are described by their occupations; it's told in first person but there's no way our narrator could know all that's described. We have the sense that the story exists everywhere at once.
One of the aspects I enjoyed reading most was the process of starting "new". In this time of dystopia as a hot genre, it was interesting to read about a community just starting the process of deciding what to keep and what to let go from their culture.
I found this completely consuming and, at times, totally disturbing. It's not for everyone - certainly not for those looking for straight WWII history stories. This is much more - a story of family, faith, culture, and our roles therein.
The story has the feel of a fable: The main characters have names but most villagers are described by their occupations; it's told in first person but there's no way our narrator could know all that's described. We have the sense that the story exists everywhere at once.
One of the aspects I enjoyed reading most was the process of starting "new". In this time of dystopia as a hot genre, it was interesting to read about a community just starting the process of deciding what to keep and what to let go from their culture.
I found this completely consuming and, at times, totally disturbing. It's not for everyone - certainly not for those looking for straight WWII history stories. This is much more - a story of family, faith, culture, and our roles therein.