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Death Had Two Sons: A Novel

Yael Dayan

3.74 · Rating details · 73 ratings · 13 reviews

A father is forced to choose between two sons, a decision that haunts the family decades later

Haim Kalinsky lies in an Israeli hospital, terminal lung cancer about to cut his life short. Across the street stands his son Daniel, unable to visit his dying father because of an excruciating decision Haim made during the Second World War.

When the Nazis marched into Warsaw, ...more

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ebook, 185 pages

Published April 7th 2015 by Open Road Media (first published 1967)

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May 10, 2015 Mandy rated it it was amazing

This is a deeply moving story, beautifully written, with empathy and insight, and one that leaves a lasting impression. Daniel, still a young man when the book opens, has survived the Holocaust in spite of the agonising decision his father had to make in a death camp in Poland. We follow him from his arrival as a refugee in Israel, his growing up on a Kibbutz, and his development into an adult, who still has to come to terms with what happened with his father back during the war. It’s an upsetti ...more

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Jun 08, 2020 Pam rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Death Had Two Sons: A Novel is by Yael Dayan. This is one unusual book. One must have plenty of time to go back and reread what was just said to try to understand the story. The narrator jumps between the past and present and way past as he tells the story. If you miss something important, you have to go back and reread. It is a post- WWII story that takes place in Israel.
Daniel Kalinsky had been brought to Israel when he was eleven. He was an orphan and the orphans were being taken to Israel. Death Had Two Sons: A Novel is by Yael Dayan. This is one unusual book. One must have plenty of time to go back and reread what was just said to try to understand the story. The narrator jumps between the past and present and way past as he tells the story. If you miss something important, you have to go back and reread. It is a post- WWII story that takes place in Israel.
Daniel Kalinsky had been brought to Israel when he was eleven. He was an orphan and the orphans were being taken to Israel. The guide for his group was Yarom who became his best friend and his family. Yaron was six years older than Daniel. Daniel was the second son of Haim Kalinsky, a Warsaw merchant. His older brother Shmuel played the piano and sang. He was eleven to Daniel’s nine when the Nazis came. They first took his Mother and then the Father and sons. As they were walking down the street to the ghetto, the soldiers gave Haim a choice. He had two very nice-looking sons, he could choose who would go with him and who would die. Such a choice. Almost unconsciously Haim chose Shmuel to go with him. No explanation was given, no goodbye said, they were just separated. However, the men lied to Haim, they didn’t kill Daniel, they kept him for three months until he managed to run away. Daniel never talked about his time during the war to anyone.
Now, his father, step-mother and step-sister had come to Israel at his invitation. They had been given a place to live and work in the southern part of Israel, while Daniel was on the Kibbutz in the north. He saw his father and family and tried to help them; but they never grew close nor ever talked about the past. Now, his Father was in the hospital dying and Daniel was the only one who had not gone to see him. He stayed in a friend’s apartment across the street from the hospital and thought of his Father and what he would say to him; but he never entered the hospital.
Would his Father die before Daniel took the first steps towards him or would he go over so they could talk and clear the air between them?
The book is really different. The second time reading it, it makes a little more sense.
...more

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Mar 02, 2019 Mimi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A character study of two damaged people and how they each try to build a life for themselves in Israel after surviving the Holocaust. How they try and fail to connect is the essence of this novel. I couldn't help but feel for Daniel as I read of the path his life took, both during the Holocaust and afterwards, from his arrival in Israel, his placement on a kibbutz, his friends, and his military service. The story alternates between past and present, providing the background on why he behaves the ...more

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Dec 27, 2020 Stayci Blea rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This story was hard to read. It jumped from past to present without a clear transition. The character development was minimal. Daniel was angry, understandably so, but even to those he knew for years, never became anything more than indifferent. Except with Yoram. Daniel’s feelings for Yoram didn’t seem natural. He seemed obsessed with Yoram, beyond friendship or even love, just unnatural. Daniel was not a likable character, and none of the other characters were developed enough to fully underst ...more

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Mar 21, 2016 Maria Beltrami rated it really liked it

Shelves: narrativa-israeliana, olocausto

Nell'ora più buia della sua vita, dopo aver già perso la moglie, un uomo si trova a dover scegliere la vita di uno dei suoi due figli: i dementi soldati nazisti che giocano con lui, nel campo di concentramento in cui è rinchiuso, lo costringono a questa orribile scelta. E lui sceglie.
Per uno strano scherzo del destino il figlio scartato, Daniel, sopravvive e, alla fine della guerra, viene portato in Israele, dove viene allevato in un kibbuz. A chiunque gli faccia domande, Daniel risponde di non Nell'ora più buia della sua vita, dopo aver già perso la moglie, un uomo si trova a dover scegliere la vita di uno dei suoi due figli: i dementi soldati nazisti che giocano con lui, nel campo di concentramento in cui è rinchiuso, lo costringono a questa orribile scelta. E lui sceglie.
Per uno strano scherzo del destino il figlio scartato, Daniel, sopravvive e, alla fine della guerra, viene portato in Israele, dove viene allevato in un kibbuz. A chiunque gli faccia domande, Daniel risponde di non ricordare nulla del suo passato, e che di sicuro tutta la sua famiglia è perita, e invece lui ricorda, ricorda il momento terribile in cui suo padre ha scelto, e questo ricordo avvelena la sua vita, il suo modo di rapportarsi con gli altro, l'amore per le donne, tutto, fino al giorno in cui suo padre, nel frattempo ritrovato, morirà veramente, e allora sarà troppo tardi per il rimpianto.
Bel libro, ben scritto, sofferto, un nuovo pezzo del puzzle della crudeltà la cui lezione a quanto pare non abbiamo imparato bene.
Ringrazio Open Road Integrated Media e Netgalley per avermi fornito una copia gratuita in cambio di una recensione onesta.

In the darkest hour of his life, having already lost his wife, a man has to choose the life of one of his two sons: the demented Nazi soldiers playing with him in the concentration camp where he is detained, force him to this horrible choice. And he chooses.
In a strange twist of fate, the son discarded, Daniel, survives and, after the war, is taken to Israel, where he is brought up in a kibbutz. To anyone who questions, Daniel answers that he doesn't remember anything of his past, and that certainly his entire family perished; instead he remembers, remembers the terrible moment when his father chose, and this memory is poisoning his life, his way of relating to the other, love for women, everything, down to the day when his father, in the meantime found, really die, and then it will be too late to regret.
Beautiful book, well written, suffered, a new piece of the puzzle of cruelty whose lessons apparently have not learned well.
Thank Open Road Integrated Media and Netgalley for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review. ...more

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Sep 03, 2017 Carolyn rated it liked it · review of another edition

Good book

I enjoyed this book, but I found it hard to follow. Times jumped to often, frequently in the same paragraph. The end was also unsatisfactory. The story itself was interesting though.

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Mar 13, 2015 Helen rated it really liked it

How can a father choose which son will die at the hands of the Natzi ? This heart retching decision had to be made by Haim Kalinsky, a Polish Jew who loved both his boys equally. The story moves back and forth from that horrible decision to current times when Haim is dying with cancer. Daniel is the son not chosen to live by his father and it turned out he was the only son to survive. Years later Daniel is now dealing with his reunion with his father a nd his feelings about not being the chosen ...more

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Mar 01, 2014 PolitePolarBear added it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

p>Questo libro me lo porto in giro per l'Italia, durante i miei traslochi, da oramai 30 anni. Eppure non ho ancora avuto il coraggio di ri-leggerlo. L'ho letto da piccolo (scuole medie o, forse, primi anni del liceo) e ne sono rimasto scioccato. E' devastante quanto possa essere tremenda la cattiveria degli uomini e delle guerre. Ricordo ancora il senso di impotenza che avevo di fronte alla scelta del protagonista. Vi è narrata una crudeltà inumana che solo i cattivi possono provocare.

E' un roma

...more

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Mar 09, 2015 Polly Krize rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2015-recommendations

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Upon arriving at an extermination camp, Haim Kalinsky faces the awful choice between life and death for his two young sons, Daniel or Shmuel. Clinging to Shmuel, Haim makes his choice. But as he lays on his deathbed years later, it is Daniel that is struggling with the broken relationship with his father.

Insightful and compelling, Ms. Dayan has created a book with the memorable character of Daniel and his own life journey. The prot ...more

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Jul 23, 2011 Sheerena marked it as to-read · review of another edition

I think this novle is something about family that may be a reflection to us as a family member. Especially to those to faces family problems.

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Mar 12, 2016 Andrew Scholes rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Well, that was encouraging.

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Feb 08, 2010 Elaine rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010-reads

What a powerful book about family relationships. The author's style is very Amos Oz (a favourite author), and this intense book has style, wit and a very good storyline. ...more

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About Yael Dayan

Yael Dayan

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is an Israeli politician and author. She served as a member of the Knesset between 1992 and 2003, and from 2008 to 2013 was the chair of Tel Aviv city council.Her service on the city council ended with the 2013 election.She is the daughter of Moshe Dayan and sister of Assi Dayan.