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There are currently 34 member reviews
for I Want You to Know We're Still Here
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Shawna (TX)
"History is public. Memory is personal."
World War II literature is one of my favorites. I've read many books, fiction and nonfiction, about the Holocaust, however I've never read anything like "I Want You To Know We're Still Here". What a powerful, thought provoking memoir. Esther Safran Foer shares her journey to discover more about her mother and father's experience during the Holocaust and the years just after. Like many whose experiences were too difficult to talk about, her parents didn't speak about the past. "History is public. Memory is personal." "Life was all about moving forward." Both heart-wrenching and heartwarming, her memoir will resonant with many readers about secrets in their own family, and the need to be remembered by descendants. There is much for book clubs to discuss. It is a short book, but will stay with you long after you finish reading.
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Rosemary C. (Golden, CO)
A Poignant Memoir
I thoroughly enjoyed this very heartfelt, readable story-even though it is a tough one. Esther Safran Foer compellingly describes her search for the story of her father's first wife and child and how he survived the Holocaust. The book will appeal to anyone who has grown up in a home with secrets, anyone who has survived tragedy, or anyone who is interested in this period of history. It is extremely well-written and poignant and will appeal to readers of all ages. I can imagine some intense book club discussions.
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Nancy L. (Staunton, VA)
Still Here
Esther Safran Foer has written an emotionally charged memoir of her family's journey after the Holocaust. It is a story filled with longing: longing to see the places in Ukraine, the shetls, where her extended family lived; longing to here the stories and trace the paths that distant relatives have taken; and longing to find the Ukrainian Christian who hid her father from the Nazis. But what she longs for most of all is to know her own story, to understand what her young parents endured to survive the Holocaust and find their way to the US. Her title words say it all, "We are still here".
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Betty T. (Warner Robins, GA)
The Safran Family is Still Here
This beautifully written book flowed so smoothly I felt was having coffee with Ms. Foer as she told her story. I have read countless stories of the Holocaust yet from each I learn something new. The biggest "take-away" for me from this book was that "life was all about moving forward" which may explain why many survivors did not talk about the past. The book is filled with many truly memorable and heartfelt statements. There are stories of heroism and stories of shame (such as how the survivors were so poorly treated in American DP camps that President Truman actually ordered an investigation of the problem). The Jewish people have many traditions of which many we do not know why the tradition exists. I loved Ms. Foer's take on why we leave stones on a grave instead of flowers, and the significance of a mezuzah on our doorposts.
One of the most poignant parts of the book, at least to me, is the statement "Jews are concerned more with memory than with history". We believe that a person never really dies as long as someone remembers her/his name. This is why Foer was so determined to learn the name of her half-sister that was murdered by the Nazis. Someone, somewhere must know her name. A little girl who had barely lived must be remembered.
"History is public. Memory is private." While Ms. Foer's parents chose to keep their memories private, fortunately for us she chose to share the memories she uncovered and to keep these stories alive.
Thank you to BookBrowse for an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own. I highly recommend this book.
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Barbara B. (Evansville, IN)
Powerful Ancestral Memoir
I have a fascination for historical memoirs, and this one is wonderful. It is full of holocaust history and is specifically knowledgeable about the small Ukrainian towns and their citizens destroyed and murdered by the Nazis.
Astonishing and overwhelming discoveries were made by the author, Esther Safran Foer, after she and her sons began questioning her mother and searching her family's history in Ukraine. Esther and her sons felt a link to their past, and in the process encountered distant relatives and acquaintances who provided valuable information. It is true that ancestral research can provide powerful results.
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Gunta K. (Glens Falls, NY)
I Want Youto Know We're Still Here
This tome by Esther Safran Foer is very detailed about her extended family just about all of whom were destroyed in the Holocaust, killed in mass graves but their love for their beliefs not destroyed. Her unrelenting search for survivors of her large family, her poignant verbal cameos of humor with and about her mom are mesmerizing. What is more important is her never give up search on the European Continent for her family members. She has found the graves of many in the most impossible places. This is dedication to one's family, the belief in the good future and teaching young generations of what is possible to achieve if one has a heart and soul and the belief in continuity of life. The life one believes in.
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Susan P. (Mount Vernon, WA)
A Poignant Family Journey
This is a story of a woman's journey, emotional, spiritual and physical, to find details of her parent's story and learn about the family members she lost to the holocaust. It is interesting, moving and profound. Highly recommend this one.
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