A review by lory_enterenchanted
A Century of Wisdom: Lessons from the Life of Alice Herz-Sommer, the World's Oldest Living Holocaust Survivor by Caroline Stoessinger

informative inspiring reflective

2.5

The life of a Holocaust survivor is always a deep subject, but this is maybe the first time I can remember reading a treatment of it I'd call "slight." Alice Herz-Sommer is clearly an amazing woman who has inspired many, but I couldn't get much of a sense for her from the book, which largely consists of descriptions of other people, bland statements of how wonderful Alice's playing was (it's difficult to make descriptions of music evocative), wise words that are very true but nothing that hasn't been said more eloquently than others, and so forth. Almost nothing about her experiences during the Holocaust, which she did not want to dwell on for understandable reasons, but again this leached the book of much of the drama it could have had. 

I read this just after a book set in Saudi Arabia, and the idealization of Israel as a miraculous refuge clashed painfully with the bitter attitude of the displaced Palestinians. Alice wishes vaguely for peace, and believes everyone can get along, but that so far has not been enough to solve the conflict. 

I think it would be more effective to actually see the film about Alice, so I may seek that out.