Richard G. (ralegh) - , reviewed Etty Hillesum: An Interrupted Life the Diaries, 1941-1943 and Letters from Westerbork on + 127 more book reviews
Etty was an amazing woman facing some of the most horrifying conditions imaginable. The diary and letters cover her last year and a half in the Netherlands during the German occupation. At first she seems to be concerned about very normal, ordinary things, but there is a point--easy to find if you're looking for it--where her outlook changes. She becomes a contemplative, finding God everywhere, and her perspective on what it means to be alive, even under the most limiting restrictions. She can do nothing to stop her future death, but she can make it transcendent.