344 Days Underground: A Novel Based on True Events

by Valeriy Gritsiv

It was September 13, 1939, less than two weeks after Hitler invaded Poland. Etcia Goldberg and her children were at the funeral of her husband Chaim in the small town of Korolowka. On this chilly day in western Ukraine, Etcia had no idea how her life and the lives of her children would change in the following months and years. Hitler's invasion of Ukraine forced Etcia and her family to hide underground for 344 days. That tumultuous time period was a true test of Etcia's resilience, faith, and defiant willpower. Etcia's children were her motivation to push forward and survive. This story is about the meaning of being human, and the healing power of forgiveness.

Genres: Historical Fiction

292 pages, Paperback

Published March 9, 2017

Reviews

[Grant]

This book is well written. The story starts with a grandmother, Etcia, having a conversation with her grandson, Valeriy, after Valeriy's fight with some neighborhood boys. The grandson questions why his friends turned on him and called him names. The grandmother proceeds to thoughtfully explain that he is treated differently because he is Jewish. In the process, she retells her personal survival story as a victim of the Holocaust. Etcia is a complex character, and makes some unexpected choices that change the course of her life.

This story is a great example of how resilient the human spirit can be and how hope is sometimes all we need to survive the darkest times in our lives.

Having read the book, I wonder what stories I did not get to hear from my grandparents. Definitely a worthwhile read.

[Elina Brim]

This book tells a story of a woman who survived the Holocaust. What makes this story incredible is that she was living underground for almost a year. She was the sole provider for her three minor children during this time. It is impossible to imagine how she retained her strength during this horrific time. As a mother, I could definitely relate to a lot of her feeling during this time. This book left a lasting impression. Loved it!

[Amanda Sanders]

I love holocaust books, but this one did not have the details that make the horrors of the holocaust come to life. The novel is written by the grandson of the main character (his grandmother) and it is written in first person. That confused me. She survived the holocaust hiding in a cave for 344 days with her children and other Jewish people. Early in the book, the story jumps from holocaust time to the 60s and back and it was confusing also. The descriptions of hunger did not bring vivid images the way other holocaust books have done. An example of a hunger description was that Etcia smoked to hide hunger pains. So did my mother-in-law when she was skipping meals to try to lose weight. It just wasn't descriptive enough. They were hiding in a cave from the Germans. The cold (especially in winter) should have been extremely difficult to bear, but I did not get those details from the book. He did not specifically mention what foods they were able to get when they went out at night foraging. One of the descriptions about anger was "anger that had been nailed in my stomach". This does nothing to help me understand Etcia's anger. It doesn't make any sense. Also, of all the diseases that the cave dwellers had to deal with, he focused a little too much on the teenager's hemorrhoids. I think this story needed to be researched more to get some details from other survivors' descendants.

[Denise]

A story of strength

This book will bring you to tears as you picture the people in the story living underground, in darkness, for almost a year. The details are so vivid that you feel you are there with them, and wish you could help. The strength of these people is extraordinary. This story will remain in my heart forever.

[Donna]

It amazes me what people did to survive during WWII.

[Christina Zacher]

I had the pleasure of actually dining with the author. What a wonderful tribute to his mother and what's he went through.

[Ruth Coats]

Excellent


This book was wrote with great detail to the cave and to emotions. I think this could even be taught in schools!