A Czech recalls his survival of Nazism and Communism in the World War II era.
“One cannot travel far enough to get away from oneself.” That is the eventual realization of Charles Ota Heller, a man who endured German and Soviet oppression as a boy in Czechoslovakia. Heller is born in the mid-nineteen thirties to parents of different religions, one a Jew and the other a Catholic. Nazi occupation divides the family, as his Jewish father escapes the country and fights in the British army. His mother remains behind to defend young Ota (he later changes his name to Charles) and the family assets. They both eventually, and literally, must run for their lives because of the preposterous policy changes that inevitably mark them Jewish. Father, mother, and son survive the war, but at least 15 family members perish. Post war communist takeover pushes them to America, where Ota acculturates, earns a doctorate, and raises a family. Heller’s purpose in telling his story is made very apparent from the book’s beginning. Part of his inspiration comes from a TV spot of Americans who seem quite oblivious to history. That observation, combined with holocaust denial, propels him to question why his own Jewish ancestry was denied. He discusses other struggles too, such as his reaction to Czech peaceful resistance or the Catholic Church’s holocaust role. This sincerity of thought is reflected in the writing’s earnestness. The preface asserts that a memoir should not “play fast and loose with the facts.” Items such as an appropriate and reputable bibliography or Heller’s comments on the role of reconstructed dialog suggest a passion and honesty that effectively engages the reader. Descriptions of martial encounters are informative, but general enough to connect with the non-historian. The travails of escaping at various points becomes slightly exciting, and the last lines of chapters often provide good segues to hold interest. Young Ota’s experience did not include direct witnessing of horrific events characteristic of similar holocaust memoirs, so the story is never emotional in that sense. The reader can certainly identify with the family, but one might not feel a strong emotional connection. Heller does acknowledge the influence of his engineering background resulting in less expressiveness, and perhaps that might be the reason the writing never creates a strong reader-character bond. The book’s subtitle of a nine year old who “shot a Nazi” almost seems overplayed, especially considering the brief description and little direct reference that is made to the incident. The sentiment and last chapter “Coming Full Circle” is slightly clichéd, but overall, the entire story will still appeal to history buffs and memoir enthusiasts. A passionate and reliable story of survival.
Pub Date: Dec. 12, 2011
ISBN: 978-1458201225
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Abbott
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
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