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To the Edge of Sorrow

Aharon Appelfeld

4.57 · Rating details · 7 ratings · 2 reviews

From "fiction's foremost chronicler of the Holocaust" (Philip Roth), a haunting novel about an unforgettable group of Jewish partisans fighting the Nazis during World War II.

Battling numbing cold, ever-present hunger, and German soldiers determined to hunt them down, four dozen resistance fighters--escapees from a nearby ghetto--hide in a Ukrainian forest, determined to ...more

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Hardcover, 304 pages

Published January 14th 2020 by Schocken Books Inc

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Nov 25, 2019 Angela M rated it it was amazing

Shelves: edelweiss-reviews

Every once in a while I wake up thinking about the book I finished the day before and sometimes it’s with a haunting feeling that makes me realize that it’s one I won’t forget and that I should have rated it higher . This is one of those books and this morning I decided this was definitely a five star book. Told through the eyes of a seventeen year old Edmund hiding in a Ukrainian forest with a small group of resistors, it’s a story of the atrocities of war. It’s a story of the holocaust even Every once in a while I wake up thinking about the book I finished the day before and sometimes it’s with a haunting feeling that makes me realize that it’s one I won’t forget and that I should have rated it higher . This is one of those books and this morning I decided this was definitely a five star book. Told through the eyes of a seventeen year old Edmund hiding in a Ukrainian forest with a small group of resistors, it’s a story of the atrocities of war. It’s a story of the holocaust even though we don’t see the camps, we know these people in this resistance group have escaped them and that most of their families may not have. It’s a story of bravery, of overcoming fears and doubts and depression trying to do what they must do, fighting Germans, raiding nearby farms and homes for food, saving Jews off the trains leading them to death.

It’s filled with wonderful characters who touched my heart. Besides Edmund, there is Tsila, a ninety three year old grandmother who cooks for them and gives them stories of their families, Milio, a mute two year old boy saved by them, Danzig who becomes his father, Kamil, their leader who who encourages them to save others, to stay alive and for some to be faithful Jews and others. Not all are Jews, and even those that are, not all are devout, but Kamil reinforces the importance of their Jewish identity through reading and discussing the books they find as they loot. The power of the books is stunning, reminding them of their families, their previous lives. They are almost a family, but each suffers their own burdens - who they lost, who they left behind. It’s gut wrenching as we experience their lives before the war, their dreams and delusions, as some lose their lives on the mission and some lose their minds. This is a heartbreaking coming of age story, introspective, moving , beautifully told and important as all of these stories are.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Schocken Books (Random House) through Edelweiss. ...more

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Dec 25, 2019 Csimplot Simplot rated it it was amazing

Excellent book!!!!

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About Aharon Appelfeld

Aharon Appelfeld

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AHARON APPELFELD is the author of more than forty works of fiction and nonfiction, including Until the Dawn's Light and The Iron Tracks (both winners of the National Jewish Book Award) and The Story of a Life (winner of the Prix Médicis Étranger). Other honors he has received include the Giovanni Bocaccio Literary Prize, the Nelly Sachs Prize, the Israel Prize, the Bialik Prize, the Independent ...more