I wept after reading this book. You would think that things this awful would have been made up, but they weren't. It is almost inconceivable that this young woman endured the unthinkable and lived to tell the story. The writing is sometimes simplistic and naive, but the story is told simply and directly like a young girl, which is what she was when the holocaust started. I read a LOT of books, but this one won't soon be forgotten. It was a page turner and is an important contribution to holocaust literature in my opinion, since stories such as Livie's should never, ever be forgotten.
good book - love this author
After liberation from Auschwitz, 14 year old Elli, her brother and their mother attempt to rebuild their lives in Czechoslovakia. The atrocities of the Holocaust are behind them, and they are ready to return to their normal lives. But this is not so easy. It doesn't take long for Elli to realize that even though the war is over, anti-Semitism is not and she and her family decide to escape to America along with thousands of other Jews.
Getting from Czechoslovakia to America is an ordeal, what with the encroaching Iron Curtain and constant threat of attack by communists and anti-Semites along the way. Even after the war, life is certainly not without challenges.
Elli's memoir of her experiences after Auschwitz will cativate readers as they follow her throught heartache, frustration, adventure, excitement, love, and ultiamtely triumph.
