A well-crafted, touching account of horror and fortitude.
A gripping tale that traces the unlikely survival of a Ukrainian teen during the Holocaust.
The atrocities of the Holocaust have provided the backdrop for many books and films, but few are as detailed and harrowing as Rekhtman’s stomach-churning account. Transcribed and translated from Russian by his grandson, this slim volume serves as the only record left of an entire Ukrainian village wiped out in 1942. While such a scenario often leads to heavy-handed sentimentalities and overwrought emotions, the author resorts to very few of those elements. Instead, readers are served a clear-eyed retelling of the cruelty and inhumanity that reigned during World War II. The story opens with a description of the secluded village of Kalyus, where Rekhtman was born and few of its 850 residents ever left. At 14, Rekhtman experienced a peaceful existence in which Jews and Ukrainians lived and worked together. Of course, this reality changed quickly when Communist officials fled during the night and rumors of German brutality toward Jews floated to the town. As the German army advanced into the Ukraine, the author’s neighbors and childhood friends began treating Jews with distrust and hate. A police unit arrived to enforce intense, useless labor such as moving snow from one side of the road to the other, on the Jewish residents. The author was transported to a labor camp where he worked in a stone quarry and became accustomed to constant beatings and starvation. His village was turned into a ghetto enclosed by barbed wire. When it was announced that the Kalyus ghetto was closed and everyone would be transported to another ghetto, none of the villagers realized that they were walking to their deaths until it was too late. Able-bodied people who could work were picked out, including the author’s father, uncle, great-uncle and his two sons. His father refused to leave his family and was shot by rounds of machine guns along with the rest of the village. With quick wit and a huge will to survive, Rekhtman evaded Nazi killing fields and death camps for four years, despite failing eyesight and an emaciated body. This story holds no bitterness or outrage but reveals the unfathomable strength of the human spirit.
A well-crafted, touching account of horror and fortitude.Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-6152-1703-1
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
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BOOK TO SCREEN
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Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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