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mercurialbooks 's review for:
Mala's Cat
by Mala Kacenberg
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Mala's cat is a WWII memoir of a young Jewish girl who survived against all odds, a feat she partially credits to a stray cat she names Malach, which in Yiddish means Angel.
I felt there was a distancing of emotion here between the author and events, something which I think must be a self defence mechanism. I cannot imagine how the heart would break and the tears would flow if it were written in a more emotive fashion. Kacenberg tries her best to stick to the events, rarely than delving into her own emotional state.
A child in a war-torn Poland, with only a cat as a friend and no idea who can be trusted. It is because of her faith, cunning and ability to lie convincingly that she survived.
There are times when she shows incredible compassion, kindness and bravery, risking her own life to help others. But necessarily there are times when she must be ruthless, put herself first or betray someone's trust in order to survive.
I really appreciated that Kacenberg did not gloss over or pretend that she herself had always acted perfectly in order to present herself as a hero. She makes sure we know she was always acting in a manner to make it out alive, and who could ever judge her for that?
A story of a survivor which deserves to be read
I felt there was a distancing of emotion here between the author and events, something which I think must be a self defence mechanism. I cannot imagine how the heart would break and the tears would flow if it were written in a more emotive fashion. Kacenberg tries her best to stick to the events, rarely than delving into her own emotional state.
A child in a war-torn Poland, with only a cat as a friend and no idea who can be trusted. It is because of her faith, cunning and ability to lie convincingly that she survived.
There are times when she shows incredible compassion, kindness and bravery, risking her own life to help others. But necessarily there are times when she must be ruthless, put herself first or betray someone's trust in order to survive.
I really appreciated that Kacenberg did not gloss over or pretend that she herself had always acted perfectly in order to present herself as a hero. She makes sure we know she was always acting in a manner to make it out alive, and who could ever judge her for that?
A story of a survivor which deserves to be read
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War
Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Torture