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6th out of 86 books
—
35 voters
No One is Here Except All of Us
by
Ramona Ausubel (Goodreads Author)
In 1939, the families in a remote Jewish village in Romania feel the war close in on them. Their tribe has moved and escaped for thousands of years- across oceans, deserts, and mountains-but now, it seems, there is nowhere else to go. Danger is imminent in every direction, yet the territory of imagination and belief is limitless. At the suggestion of an eleven-year-old gir...more
Hardcover, 325 pages
Published
February 2nd 2012
by Riverhead
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Anyone who has viewed Robert Benigni in Life is Beautiful understands the power of storytelling, particularly when confronted with one of the most heinous evils in history – the Holocaust. In that movie, the character uses his fertile imagination to provide alternate stories for his son, interned in a concentration camp. In this debut novel by Ramona Ausubel, a remote Jewish village in Romania erases the approaching danger by reinventing their world and starting from scratch.
It’s an intriguing p...more
It’s an intriguing p...more
10 likes · like · see review
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The first part of this beautiful and intensely felt book, about a Romanian village of Jews caught briefly in an eddy of time, traps the reader similarly in a strange and fantastical imagining of what would happen if you recreated the world anew, in an effort to drive out a horrible encroaching reality. This part of the book seems to stretch out endlessly, but there is, despite this slowing of time, a sense of impending doom, for every reader knows what happens to the Jews of Eastern Europe.
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3 likes · like · see review
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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I loved Ausubel's One Story offering, “Safe Passage” and expected I would love this too. The first hint that I might not was her New Yorker story that most people seem to have loved, but which I couldn't quite believe. And then the novel arrived and I began reading. The premise is brilliant and others have spoken to that.
Ironically, since so many people have also admired Ausubel's skill as a writer, the writing is the problem for me. Characters are held at a distance. Others refer to the fairy-...more
Ironically, since so many people have also admired Ausubel's skill as a writer, the writing is the problem for me. Characters are held at a distance. Others refer to the fairy-...more
When you are a child putting a blanket over top of yourself renders you invisible. This powerful cloaking device means that you are impenetrable, impervious to outside forces and best of all-- invisible. Author Ramona Ausubel elaborates on this kind of child’s logic regarding safety in her new novel No One Is HereExcept All Of Us.
After a brief, intriguing prolog Ausubel begins the story in 1939 Romania. In an out of the way, quiet Jewish village with a whole lot of Norman Rockwell done by Marc...more
After a brief, intriguing prolog Ausubel begins the story in 1939 Romania. In an out of the way, quiet Jewish village with a whole lot of Norman Rockwell done by Marc...more
1 like · like · see review
Magical. Lyrical. Mesmerizing. Haunting. Heartbreaking. Tender. Hopeful. Healing. Life.
How can I describe the unique and unforgettable novel No One Is Here Except All Of Us by Ramona Ausubel? Part fable. Part poetry. Part fairy tale. Ausubel takes the stories that she has heard from her grandmother since childhood and weaves them into a breathtaking and heart wrenching novel with characters that are vivid and alive in their human desires, aches and triumphs.
A remote Jewish village in Romania dec...more
How can I describe the unique and unforgettable novel No One Is Here Except All Of Us by Ramona Ausubel? Part fable. Part poetry. Part fairy tale. Ausubel takes the stories that she has heard from her grandmother since childhood and weaves them into a breathtaking and heart wrenching novel with characters that are vivid and alive in their human desires, aches and triumphs.
A remote Jewish village in Romania dec...more
AWFUL. And by "awful," I am partially referring to the horrific, disturbing details that one would expect from a novel about the Holocaust. I do think it is important for us to be made aware of these events, so I'm not criticizing the author for including them in her book. (Though I do think a scene where a person is raped on a filthy mattress in the middle of a field while the bones of her dead baby rattle alongside her may be a bit gratuitous.)
But I also just feel like this story was awful by...more
But I also just feel like this story was awful by...more
6 likes · like · see review
First they see bomber planes fly over their houses at the beginning of WWII. Then a refugee who threw herself into the river after seeing her husband and children killed washes up on their riverbank. Aghast at what they learn from her, this small village of 102 people decide that the best way to avoid the horror that was clearly coming was to create their own world. They already live on a peninsula, so only one small spot on the river needs to be hidden and they can start anew. That is
indeed wh...more
indeed wh...more
Totally weird and fun read. Set on a island in the middle of nowhere Romania in 1939 an 11 year old Lena tells us about her isolated Jewish community and the start of the war. When a stranger washes ashore from the river that runs past town (remember island) Lena and the stranger decide that they can create their own version of the world and start at day one. They sell the other 100 or so residents on the plan and soon there are decisions to be made about careers, family and how the world will p...more
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This is a book that I was fortunate to receive through Goodreads.
I will admit that it took me a while to warm up to this book. In large part I think this was due to the author's narrative style and in particular a tendency to string out sentences using conjunctions and commas. Rememeber the old song of "the birds and the bees and the flowers etc. - well this type of sentence seemed to dominate the early sections of the book and after a while, tended to grate on me.
Eventually I warmed up to the...more
I will admit that it took me a while to warm up to this book. In large part I think this was due to the author's narrative style and in particular a tendency to string out sentences using conjunctions and commas. Rememeber the old song of "the birds and the bees and the flowers etc. - well this type of sentence seemed to dominate the early sections of the book and after a while, tended to grate on me.
Eventually I warmed up to the...more
5 likes · like · see review
I should have known how much I would love this book based on the title alone; isn't it such an awesome, puzzling, and memorable title? The book is awesome, puzzling, and memorable too. As others have pointed out, there are some pretty disturbing things that happen and some things that may seem inexplicable (such as Lena's parents' decision), but I think they are included with a specific purpose in mind (with respect to Lena's parents, perhaps to show the "tribal" influence). My only minor compla...more
There’s something almost magical about this book. With Hitler’s army barring down on them, the residents of a remote Jewish village in Romania decide to reset the world and start over from the beginning. Relationships are reset; our narrator, an eleven-year-old girl, is reassign to another family to be their daughter, to be their baby. Genesis begins anew. For a while the dream manages to sustain them. The young girl grows up and becomes a wife and mother. Yet like all good dreams, the residents...more
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2 likes · like · see review
I have been procrastinating on posting a review of this one because it is such a strange book that I have been having a hard time deciding what to say. When I found out I had won this on a the Goodreads giveaway, I was excited, as I love historical fiction, especially about WWII and the Holocaust. It was not at all what I was expecting.
When the residents of a small, isolated Jewish town in Romania realize the war is coming, they decide to cut off their peninsula from the outside world and prete...more
When the residents of a small, isolated Jewish town in Romania realize the war is coming, they decide to cut off their peninsula from the outside world and prete...more
"If you can't remember the stars' shapes, make more up. Sometimes, you have to make your own heavens."
This piece of advice passed from a father to his son in "No One is Here Except All of Us," summarizes nicely this most original and mesmerizing story I have read in a long time. In the remote Romanian village of Zalischik, the mysterious villagers learn to become completely self-sufficient by trading with no neighboring villages and by cloaking themselves in stories of their own invention in or...more
This piece of advice passed from a father to his son in "No One is Here Except All of Us," summarizes nicely this most original and mesmerizing story I have read in a long time. In the remote Romanian village of Zalischik, the mysterious villagers learn to become completely self-sufficient by trading with no neighboring villages and by cloaking themselves in stories of their own invention in or...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This strange story has the magical charm of a fairytale and the twisted, dark slant of a Gothic tragedy.
In 1939, the villagers of a tiny Romanian town are horrified to learn, upon the arrival of a stranger, that the winds of war are sweeping toward them. For centuries, they have prided themselves on avoiding such trouble, tucked away in the forgotten wilderness.
Lena, an eleven year old girl, suggests that the adults simply pretend that the war isn't happening. Her simple statement takes hold, an...more
In 1939, the villagers of a tiny Romanian town are horrified to learn, upon the arrival of a stranger, that the winds of war are sweeping toward them. For centuries, they have prided themselves on avoiding such trouble, tucked away in the forgotten wilderness.
Lena, an eleven year old girl, suggests that the adults simply pretend that the war isn't happening. Her simple statement takes hold, an...more
"There is always a story. No matter what we do it can't help but unfold."
"I'm afraid," I said.
"Yes," she told me.
This is one of those books.
You could say it's a story of war and holocaust. You could say it's about magic and language and time. You could say it's a story of connections, of how strangers become families, of how families and communities begin, end, continue. You could say it's a spiritual story, full of questions and poetry and prayers. You could say it's about water and earth and s...more
"I'm afraid," I said.
"Yes," she told me.
This is one of those books.
You could say it's a story of war and holocaust. You could say it's about magic and language and time. You could say it's a story of connections, of how strangers become families, of how families and communities begin, end, continue. You could say it's a spiritual story, full of questions and poetry and prayers. You could say it's about water and earth and s...more
At first I thought this was a strange book, but I was intrigued by the thought that a people, in the face of unspeakable evil, would think to stop all flow of the world into their village and create an entirely new world in order to keep the evil out. I was moved by the thoughts and decisions they made, thinking that in the end they were no better or worse than the ones the real world outside had made from the beginning. I was tortured by the abuse of the child bride and her young, young husband...more
Set in a remote village in Romania in 1939, NO ONE IS HERE EXCEPT ALL OF US tells the story of nine Jewish families who make a brave and unusual decision when the encroaching effects of the Nazi’s campaign across Europe arrive in the form of a nearly drowned woman. This stranger tells of an evil army who has tortured and murdered everyone she loves, and the villagers recognize their own danger.
Together, they decide to reinvent themselves. Husbands and children are exchanged, jobs are swapped, an...more
Together, they decide to reinvent themselves. Husbands and children are exchanged, jobs are swapped, an...more
6 likes · like · see review
After reading the summary of the book, I thought the author had an interesting concept of creating a new make believe world to live in, while a horrible world goes on around them. I've read a few chapters and over all the author is starting to capture my interest as it goes on. I would say that there are some things that don't necessarily make sense in what she's developing, but the inconsistencies are minimal and don't take away from the general theme of the book. We'll see as I keep on reading...more
1 like · like · see review
This book is getting a lot of hype and I’m still scratching my head wondering why. By now you probably know the premise of the remote Romanian village of Jews who choose to reinvent their world and isolate themselves from the chaos of war. The main thing I don’t understand is why people are calling this a Holocaust book. The war is so distant because the villagers decide to ignore it. At some point, yes, it reaches them, but the dreamlike narration makes it feel surreal and unimportant. Which le...more
5 likes · like · see review
The power of storytelling and desperation in the need to believe in something good is the backbone of this story. I loved the almost magic surrealism the author weaves throughout the story. I read the some other reviewers comment on not liking the implausibility of the plot, but the surrealism is what gives it that timeless storytelling feel. Have you ever listened to an older relative telling a story about family history? A bit of glint gets woven in to suspend reality, elevating the feel over...more
Wow! I've been on a bit of a WWII kick lately with my books. This one was not at all what I expected.
This book tells the story of Lena, a your Romanian Jewish girl living in an all but forgotten village in rural Romania as WWII rages around them. The town decides to reinvent the world in hopes of keeping the war at bay. It works for a time, until a newly forbidden radio is discovered under the floor boards of a barn turned temple. Once the radio is again brought to life, the war crashes in arou...more
This book tells the story of Lena, a your Romanian Jewish girl living in an all but forgotten village in rural Romania as WWII rages around them. The town decides to reinvent the world in hopes of keeping the war at bay. It works for a time, until a newly forbidden radio is discovered under the floor boards of a barn turned temple. Once the radio is again brought to life, the war crashes in arou...more
Loved this one. Lyrical, poetic, and intense. Starts off a little slow and vague, but wrapped me into the story about a third of the way in, and then I couldn't wait to get back to it. A passage I liked which sums up the essence of the story: "But the dream every single one of us had, and the one that broke our hearts, was not about death or destruction or anything momentous. It was this: a normal day, no new world, no new rules, just an unremarkable day. Nothing floated down the river. We drank...more
1 like · like · see review
It was a great start and a fabulous idea that unravelled along the way. I made myself stick with it, hoping to 'get to know' the characters but in the end, I just didn't get it! Not sure how the stranger fitted-in or what her purpose was. I couldn't connect with any of the characters and found the narrator's voice distant and disconnected. I tried to think about how human nature suspends reality when it's under pressure, trying to survive and about how people fling-aside their usual moral obliga...more
Surviviing WWii by making a new world, shutting out the world at war and reimagining everything around you. Lena, the narrator and her village are able to "hide" from the tragedies that engulf the rest of Europe and the certainty that because of their religion will surely mean their death. Imagination and various strange decisions for survival build the story. (Lena being given to her aunt and uncle to raise as their own; that Lena agesa year every few weeks to satisfy her new mother's longing f...more
I received a copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads.
A small Jewish town far removed from civilization attempting to keep themselves removed from the atrocities of World War Two by starting the world over on their little river made island. (view spoiler)
It took me a little while t...more
A small Jewish town far removed from civilization attempting to keep themselves removed from the atrocities of World War Two by starting the world over on their little river made island. (view spoiler)
It took me a little while t...more
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| Bloggers Unite™ : Win an ARC of No One Is Here Except All of Us | 1 | 4 | Mar 03, 2012 09:44am | |
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| Creative Reviews: Win an ARC of No One Is Here Except All of Us | 1 | 6 | Mar 03, 2012 09:42am |
Ramona Ausubel grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is the author of the novel No One is Here Except All of Us, forthcoming from Riverhead Books in 2012, with the collection of short stories A Guide to Being Born to follow. She holds an MFA from the University of California, Irvine where she won the Glenn Schaeffer Award in Fiction and served as editor of Faultline Journal of Art & Literature....more
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“It doesn't always make sense, how you go about loving someone. Sometimes loving means gathering them back, sometimes it means sending them away.”
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4 people liked it
“Time was a dazzling lie, a magician worth a bird in his hat. The truth, I felt certain, was that everything happened at once. How old was I? I was every age at the same time. All the days of our lives were today.”
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3 people liked it
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