Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
47th out of 386 books
—
1,409 voters
The Cage
As long as there is life, there is hope
After Mama is taken away by the Nazis, Riva and her younger brothers cling to their mothere's brave words to help them endure life in the Lodz ghetto. Then the family is rounded up, deported to Auschwitz, and separated. Now Riva is alone.
At Auschwitz, and later in the work camps at Mittlesteine and Grafenort, Riva vows to live, and t...more
After Mama is taken away by the Nazis, Riva and her younger brothers cling to their mothere's brave words to help them endure life in the Lodz ghetto. Then the family is rounded up, deported to Auschwitz, and separated. Now Riva is alone.
At Auschwitz, and later in the work camps at Mittlesteine and Grafenort, Riva vows to live, and t...more
Paperback, 264 pages
Published
August 1st 1997
by Simon Pulse
(first published 1986)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
Haunting. I couldn't put it down. A young girl is forced to become a woman at an entirely too young age. The horrors of everyday life for Riva and her family are unimaginable. We should never ever forget what terrible things happened so that they won't ever happen again.
This book makes me cry, no matter how many times I read it. This woman struggle through the jewish concentration camps is epic. A non fiction novel that I enjoy reading because it put life in prosective. A can't even tell you how gloriouse this book is.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This book is about a thirteen year old girl who survived from the Holocaust. The girl was named Riva, and the three children. This book was a very good book, which it brought the sadness of the concentration camps. The book was getting fast when it did happened in real life. On the September 10th, 1942, which their mother had taken out of the ghetto during a Nazi raid. This book was quickly, which there were some action, which the officers would kill some Jewish, put in the gas chambers, some di...more
I was surprised by how light this book was. Is that a bad thing to say? My father has a bookcase filled with holocaust literature. I've also read a few of Leon Uris' books so I was surprised to find that there isn't that much detail. I mean of course there is some, but nowhere near the amount that I've been made used to in the few holocaust books I've read. And they were enough. I come from a Jewish family, I've heard about the horrors that happened, and reading this book made me feel so very po...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I thought it was a good book. I'm assuming it's a memoir of the author's life (once I read her biography on Wikipedia). This book sounds vaguely familiar and I believe I have read it before a long time ago but nevertheless I thought I might as well read it again. It's a small book with less than 200 pages and I was so interested and engrossed in it that it took me several hours to finish it. I wanted to keep reading to see what would happen next, I wanted to know how she managed to survive throu...more
I remember the 8th graders at my previous school read this book, and since I have a propensity for reading Holocaust novels, I finally picked this one up. This is an autobiographical account of Riva's life as a young girl in Lodz, Poland. Riva, her mother, and her three brothers live in a ghetto there at the start of World War II. Several older siblings had moved to Russia before the war started, and her father had died years prior. Riva's story mirrors those of other Holocaust novels I have rea...more
I cried a lot but could not put it down
This is a coming of age story about 16 year old Riva Minska and the importance of tolerance as well as the destruction of discrimination. Riva and her family are living in Poland during World War II (1939-1945), under Nazi rule. This story opens with a haunting poem written by Riva. She is asking why, has all of “this” happened to her and her family, she describes how she feels like a trapped bird in a cage.
At only 16 years old, Riva, is forced to take th...more
This is a coming of age story about 16 year old Riva Minska and the importance of tolerance as well as the destruction of discrimination. Riva and her family are living in Poland during World War II (1939-1945), under Nazi rule. This story opens with a haunting poem written by Riva. She is asking why, has all of “this” happened to her and her family, she describes how she feels like a trapped bird in a cage.
At only 16 years old, Riva, is forced to take th...more
This book is about a young girl who loses her mother in a holocaust raid. She later gets separated from her younger siblings that she was responsible for ever since her mother was taken. Riva developed an infection in her hand from working in he concentration camp. She is treated by the kindness of the many officers of the concentration camp, even the commandant. Riva is freed from the concentration camp, she has a wonderful daughter that always asks her about her grandparents, Rivas parents. Th...more
While any Holocaust-related book has a good chance of ripping your heart out from page one, Sender's pointed, fast-moving delivery of the horrific times she and her loved ones endured amplified the emotional pain of reading this firsthand account of unfathomable monstrosities. With each sentence, I could hear the cries for help of the millions of Jews whose lives were systemically destroyed during Hitler's ultimate showcase of incessant racism gone mad. Sender's own real-life strength, courage a...more
i can hardly start on this book. it seems to me to be a love/hate type of book. where either you LOVE it or you hate it. but i might be wrong. i for one, loved it. i have always been fascinated by the holocaust. i don't enjoy reading about the horrible things that occurred, but it interests me. This book gives us, like many other holocaust memoirs, a inside look at one survivor of the holocausts life before, during, and after the holocaust. There are definitely some sick parts, like where one gi...more
Riva is a Jewish teenager in Poland during WW2. This book tells her story of regular life to moving into the ghetto, to losing family and friends, to a few camps and eventually liberation. It's told as a story within in a story, though, with old woman Riva telling her daughter (or granddaughter?) about it. Unsurprisingly, she has some terrible experiences and very urgent and serious concerns. However, she also has some amazingly beautiful experiences at the dark times and her life was blessed by...more
This is a good young adult read about the Holocaust. It reminds me of Anne Frank, but it is more accessible. First of all, it is an easier, shorter read. Secondly, the protagonist lives, even though her family is wiped out. It is amazing for personalizing the Holocaust for young people. While it is certainly horrifying, it actally portrays certain nazis as being less harsh than one would expect; the author does express her own puzzlement over how certain individuals were generally so very cruel,...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I loved this book! As I have stated I love historical based books. This is a book based in World War Two, from the perspective of a Jew who has a rather interesting story to tell. I would highly recommend this story.
This is the story of an older Jewish woman looking back and telling her grandchildren about her years as a Jew during Hitler's regime. She was living in Poland, and hid for a long time, her mother, and younger brother were not so lucky. When her younger brothers and herself were fin...more
This is the story of an older Jewish woman looking back and telling her grandchildren about her years as a Jew during Hitler's regime. She was living in Poland, and hid for a long time, her mother, and younger brother were not so lucky. When her younger brothers and herself were fin...more
As long as there is life, there is hope
After Mama is taken away by the Nazis, Riva and her younger brothers cling to their mothere's brave words to help them endure life in the Lodz ghetto. Then the family is rounded up, deported to Auschwitz, and separated. Now Riva is alone.
At Auschwitz, and later in the work camps at Mittlesteine and Grafenort, Riva vows to live, and to hope - for Mama, for her brothers, for the millions of other victims of the nightmare of the Holocaust. And through determ...more
After Mama is taken away by the Nazis, Riva and her younger brothers cling to their mothere's brave words to help them endure life in the Lodz ghetto. Then the family is rounded up, deported to Auschwitz, and separated. Now Riva is alone.
At Auschwitz, and later in the work camps at Mittlesteine and Grafenort, Riva vows to live, and to hope - for Mama, for her brothers, for the millions of other victims of the nightmare of the Holocaust. And through determ...more
I remember reading this in middle school, and then meeting the author. Nerd that I was, I had volunteered during National Reading Week or National Book Week or National Author Week (whatever it was called) to be her student guide. So I picked up Ms. Sender from the principal's office and brought her to the classroom where she spoke to my English class. And socially awkward nerd that I was (am?), I vividly remember walking next to her and hugging the corridor's walls because I could not for the l...more
The Cage is about a girl who has to take care of her brothers in the ghetto ever since their mother was taken away from them. They have to hide because they are Jewish and don't want to be sent to the concentration camps. Soon they are found and they are taken to live on a concentration camp.
A text-to-self connection is that my brothers and I have a close relationship like the family in the book. Also I sometimes take care of them and help them out. We stick up for each other and take care of...more
A text-to-self connection is that my brothers and I have a close relationship like the family in the book. Also I sometimes take care of them and help them out. We stick up for each other and take care of...more
I rarely have never read a Holocaust book, and this is my first. I hesitated to read this book, because I would not want to have the same nightmares as the story would have. But with my homework being in my father's car, and 2 hours to spare, I begin reading the first chapter, which I must say, is absolutely enticing. Although I cannot say I absolutely love the ending, I do love the story, and the characters, and- and... Oh my, the tears are coming out again. It makes me horribly sad to just thi...more
This is a powerful story of a Polish family's struggle during the Holocaust. The social studies teacher I work with suggested we use this book with our students during our Holocaust unit, so I put this book on my list to read this summer. The main character, Riva, is a strong and hopeful girl who is forced to grow up much too quickly. Her tale of survival is heartbreaking and this book will leave you horrified and speechless. I'm still up in the air as to whether or not I should use this in my c...more
I really enjoy historical fiction and the Holocaust, and this was a pretty good read. I tend to read longer books, but The Cage was a good length for a summer afternoon. I read it for a summer book report but would have read it for fun anytime. I am not a person who enjoys gross things, so I appreciate the fact that the author limited the gross things while managing to get her point out. I am appalled to think that anyone would have to go through this, but millions did. This must NEVER happen ag...more
This book is called The Cage and this book is about a girl named Riva that she is by the nazis along with family and are sent to labor camps.Riva talks about the experience from the nazis and the things that ahpeened tp her such as when she got seperated from atleast half her family and some actually died too.The scene "Empty homes bid us their last good-bye."(p.138) is very interesting because Riva the girl in the book is leqaving her homeland along with some of her family and friends and its h...more
Mar 24, 2009
Eva Leger
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
young-mid teens and adults
Recommended to Eva by:
found it on GR
Shelves:
holocaust-wwii,
b-non-fiction
This is a VERY fast book to read. It's one of those books, even with the subject being terribley difficult, that can be read in one sitting, maybe two. I started it late yesterday and finished early morning today. I definitely could have finished it in one sitting had I tried.
I read a lot of reviews from young teens before I picked this up and it was my thinking that the book would be mainly geared towards the young. I was wrong. Adults and teens alike can get a lot from the book.
I'd be lying...more
I read a lot of reviews from young teens before I picked this up and it was my thinking that the book would be mainly geared towards the young. I was wrong. Adults and teens alike can get a lot from the book.
I'd be lying...more
Dec 11, 2012
Patricia
added it
This book is very good. Not quite as explicit in the terrible details that often accompany a holocaust survivors experience, thus perhaps a little easier to read in that respect. Still gives you an idea of what she went through. She was a lot luckier than some, but still had to deal with extremely tough situations. I commend anyone that could keep their hope and faith under such conditions! It always amazes me that a society can be so cruel. I can not even imagine how anyone survived such turmoi...more
I have to say I am fascinated by the Holocaust. I have read a lot of Holocaust lit over the years and am just as moved, touched, startled, and emboldened as the very first one I read (Jacob's Rescue when I was about 9 years old). I find that as I get older what hits me the most has changed. When I was young I was always taken aback by the physical pain. I was able to sympathize with that; the hunger, cold, dirtiness, etc. but now that I am older I find what hits me more is the mental and emotion...more
I read this book for a school project on the Holocaust. The vivid description of concentration camp life in the book made me cringe and the story was heart-wrenching. Sender tells it like it was, without very much embellishment or fluff. The moving kept moving so that I was never bored. There is a different tragedy on every page. Facts about the Holocaust and the storyline melded perfectly. I was worried that because my teacher recommended this it would be boring, but that simply was not the cas...more
The book “The Cage” Written by Ruth Minsky Sender is about a Jewish family in Poland that is hiding from the German Nazis during the Holocaust. The Nazis took deported their mother away to a work camp. After the mother was sent away, the sixteen year old daughter, Riva, is forced to become her younger brothers Motele, Moishele, and Laibele new legal guardian. The kids remember the brave words their mother use to say to them in order to get by everyday. However, they were becoming very ill and ev...more
This holocaust memoir traces Ruth Minsky from her life in Lodz at the beginning of the war through unspeakable hardship and suffering in the Polish ghetto and in the death camps until her liberation at the end of the war. The narrative reads like fiction with betrayals, miraculous escapes and an admirable protagonist who understates the horrific events she lived. Obviously, some of the atrocities she experienced will shock the youthful reader. The book would make a good pairing with Ann Frank, s...more
A true story of survival during the darkest time in our history. Read this one in one day because I didn't want to put it down.
I have read many historical fiction books on the holocaust and a few nonfiction. Somehow I missed the fact that some Jewish people lived in the ghettos for years. I guess I was always with the understanding that they lived there maybe a year at most before they were deported. Also, it seemed really strange that child services came to check on them when they were notifie...more
I have read many historical fiction books on the holocaust and a few nonfiction. Somehow I missed the fact that some Jewish people lived in the ghettos for years. I guess I was always with the understanding that they lived there maybe a year at most before they were deported. Also, it seemed really strange that child services came to check on them when they were notifie...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| the cage | 4 | 26 | Mar 14, 2013 08:57am | |
| The cage... | 1 | 1 | Mar 12, 2013 04:25pm |
Ruth Minsky Sender is a Holocaust survivor. She has written three memoirs about her experience: The Cage, To Life and Holocaust Lady.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Min...
More about Ruth Minsky Sender...
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Min...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
Dec 21, 2012 11:25am