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There are currently 34 member reviews
for I Want You to Know We're Still Here
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Mary Jane D. (Arlington Heights, IL)
Good Personal Family History
I Want You to Know We're Still Here is a memoir that makes the terrible aftermath of the Holocaust personal and believable. Esther Foer and her sons question and search for missing details of their family history and find some things not expected. They do much research and visits to the areas that were associated with their family and didn't give up until they found answers and many unknown relatives. What they find puts an exclamation point on how the Nazis wiped out not only whole towns and residents but also their history. Although written from her personal perspective I'm sure many families experienced the same fate and relatives are still trying to piece details together. Although the names were a bit confusing (real names ) her writing was clear and the story progressed to its final conclusions quite smoothly. I would recommend the book to those interested in Jewish history and the Holocaust and think it would make a good book club choice.
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Janet H. (Utica, NY)
I Want You To Know
I have read extensively on the Holocaust and appreciate the different perspective this book offers on the horrors and suffering experienced by so many. Esther Safran Foer doesn't offer a neat package of her parent's lives during the years of World War 2 and its aftermath. Instead we experience her search for answers and while some are reached, in some cases the silence reminds us that the traumas continue into future generations. The book is not extremely well organized and at times the story circles round and round. There are so many names it is easy to get a bit lost. However, this is also part of the value of the book...I was left feeling as if I had just had a conversation with a relative who is so caught up in the remembering and sharing her thoughts that logical organization is less important than the story itself...a story that is ultimately one of triumphant survival.
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Suzanne G. (Tucson, AZ)
A great memoir
This book was informative and interesting. I give credit to the author for the research and traveling to find the truth of her family. I did find the people described in the book hard to keep track of. That the names weren't familiar to me didn't help the remembering as to who was who and why. But I found a way to combat that—I read it again and it was much easier to follow. I hope the finished book will have informational captions. I learned a great deal concerning the Jewish faith. I will recommend the book to my reader friends.
Anyone who denies the Holocaust needs to read this, but we realize they never will.
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Esther L. (Newtown, PA)
Riveting Memoir
With thanks to BookBrowse for the opportunity to read and review "I Want To Know We're Still Here" by Esther Safran Foer. It is a deeply personal and riveting memoir by the author of her family's Holocaust history, those lost and those that survived.
Her tenacity and perseverance in researching this story involved her three sons, one of whom published the novel "Everything Is Illuminated", a fictional account of their story that started In Ukraine. Having read this novel, it gave added insight to her memoir. The author also mentions "The Holocaust by Bullets" by Father Patrick DuBois which chronicles the thousands of Jewish deaths by bullets in the killing fields of Ukraine.
This book is a wonderful addition to my Holocaust library. Esther also mentions Mi Polin,a Warsaw Judaica company whose tagline is "We make Judaism tangible". They travel all over Poland,where more than 3.5 million Jews lived before World War ll, to find traces of the mezuzah's that had been on the doorposts of the Jewish homes. A mezuzah is a rectangular case with a piece of parchment inside that holds a prayer for the house and its inhabitants. My mezuzah is from the city of Krakow and a visible reminder of all that was lost.
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Lucy B. (Urbana, OH)
I Want You to Know We're Still Here
First of all, I don't think I can pronounce correctly many of the names of persons in the book.
It was a sad story, but happy in so many ways. I'm happy that Esther was able to find out about life in her past, what happened to her family, and to connect with relatives living now.
Also, not everyone who lived through the Holocaust and moved on were able to go back to their former homes, or former countries, and speak with some of the survivors or to see what their former home sites looked like in the present day.
Every time I read about the Holocaust, I feel sad for what those people went through that experienced it and those that did not survive it. I have to feel very fortunate that I did not have to be in that situation.
I thank the author for telling her family's story and for letting us see through her eyes what her experience was like by going back to her mother's homeland.
Esther was fortunate to still have her mother.
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Robin M. (Newark, DE)
Slow to Start but Worth the Effort
I requested this book because my friend's father was one of the hidden children during WWII, and she was able to locate and visit the children who remember playing with her father.
I was excited to read this book, but the first 5 or 6 chapters took a long time to read. After that the reading was much easier and more interesting.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was worth the time and effort invested in reading it. I would recommend this book to people interested in the Holocaust and in WWII. It provides an interesting perspective that is not often presented in the literature or narrative on the subject.
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Ariel F. (Madison, WI)
I Want You to Know
Foer tells the story of her journey to learn about her family's real history. A history that had been to horrific to share. Was she born in September or March? In what country? I found the book interesting but at times I got lost trying to keep names straight.
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