Thank you, Alicia Appleman-Jurman, for telling this heroic, heartening, tragic, horrifying story of the Holocaust. You are a hero for the ages. Please keep telling the story as much as you can. Readers: if you have not read this, please buy or borrow this book and do so. You need to learn this story of the Holocaust. This story because it is to compellingly written and told. This story because of the heroism of the author. This story because the Holocaust should never be forgotten.
I read this book as an assignment for my freshman English class. As it turned out, when the assignment was to read chapter 5, I had finished the book. I knew the holocaust was bad, but I never knew it was horrifying like Alicia tells it. If you havent read this book, you wont know what you are missing, even if an aquaintance tells you the basic story. You wont know the truth of the matter. I thought my life was bad. Well, at that point in time, Alicia would have most likely given all she had to have a life like mine. I think my life is bad when I have do do the dishes. Well, she survived the worst massacre in all of history. I truly admire her confidence, and I wish that I could be that strong.
With her keen memory and talented writing, we are filled with terror and admiration in this highly detailed account of the authors tragic experiences. Well worth the read, we can only wonder if WE could be as strong in the face of such adversity, and after it was all over, could go on to build a new life without ones family as Alicia did. I have read many Holocaust biographies but this is one of the finest.
