Tuesday, April 9, 2013

The Lost Wife: Book Review






The Lost Wife
By Alyson Richman

How would you feel finding your Bashert after 60 years??  Is this  G-ds will, or fate, or luck?

You go to your grandson's wedding. You see someone that looks familiar to you. Those eyes.... You will never forget those eyes, no matter how long it has been.

The Lost Wife, is not a typical holocaust novel.  It doesn't dig deep into the horror of the Jews, and the concentration camps, like the other literary novels do.  I would call this a light read, maybe even a romance novel.  But, that said, I enjoyed reading, Lost Wife anyway.

Spoiler Alert==============================Spoiler Alert======================
 Lenka and Josef are sweethearts.  But, then WW2 erupts and everything changes.  Lenka and Josef are separated

 Lenka is rounded up with her parents and her sister to be transported to Terezin.

Terezin, is the camp where many artists had shared their horrors with the world with their art, during and after the war.  Some of the art work was buried and later discovered after the war.  Other art work was slipped secretly out of the camps for the world to see during the war.

I liked the author's style of telling the story.  She started. the story with a wedding, when they are in their 80's. they have not seen each other for over 60 years.  I am not going to tell you too much more. Because it will ruin the surprise.

 They go back in time, when they first meet.

There are many authors that use the same style. Peeling the story back very s-l-o-w-l-y. Sometimes it works, and sometimes not.  Alyson Richman's style, was a mix of straight narrative, and peeling the onion. But, not using it too much. She peeled back the story in the beginning. She did not go back and forth peeling the onion too many times.

There was not too much to discuss. But, what was discussable was talking about the artistic works that were done during the war.  U.S. Government and the Red Cross's participation. Were we  and our government's  fooled??  or just a blind eye??    The people of the world just did not want to believe something like this could happen. It was too horrific.


I  enjoyed reading the novel, even though I would call this romance. I loved the artistic view point.  The artists that resisted the Germans, by using their art work. How they buried their work, and later came back.   There were parts of the novel, that I actually cried in buckets.

HOW WOULD YOU FEEL THINKING YOUR BASHERT HAS DIED, and then seeing him after 60 years he or she is still alive?? 

I like a book that I learn, or experience something new.  I give it 5 stars. You can check out the author's website here.
 
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