But Can the Phoenix Sing?

by Christa Laird

Seventeen-year-old Richard discovers the incredible details of his stern and remote stepfather's hidden past when he is left a manuscript to read while his stepfather is away in Australia

Genres: Historical Fiction

230 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Liz]

This novel takes the form of letters from an adult man to his hostile stepson as he attempts to come to terms with his own traumatic past and to heal some of the rifts that have occurred in their relationship with one another. In these letters he recounts his experiences as a teenager in the Warsaw Ghetto, his subsequent escape and his life as an underground resistance fighter in a war-torn Europe under a brutal dictatorship. A thought-provoking and moving blend of real historical facts and fictional characters and situations, and one that's obviously well-researched. It testifies to the possibility of humanity and courage, even in extreme situations and in the face of terrible brutality, the ability within us all to make a positive difference to the lives of others and the necessity of learning from the past. A poignant affirmation of the power of hope, love, companionship and family and the joy-giving properties of nature, literature and music.

"... the rescued have no right to assume they would automatically become rescuers if roles were reversed. We simply don't know, any of us, how we would react until put to the test. And the not-knowing troubles me. You see, I don't believe as many people do that courage is a characteristic like optimism or generosity; I think of it more as a mood, like laughter or sadness, a child of the moment, which might come to any of us in certain circumstances- and desert us in others."

"Music is the echo of God's voice- it proves that he existed once."

"Don't listen to people who say that revenge is sweet- it never is, because it's founded on the crude and essentially inhuman calculation that one life or one loss can compensate for another."

"Majdanek, Treblinka, Sobibor, Belzec, Auschwitz... And there is no better illustration of the inability of human beings to learn from the experience of the past than the blank looks on the faces of many of your generation, Richard, when most of those names are mentioned."

"... there is a sense in which they... gave to life more than they took from it. And perhaps that's the nearest I'll ever come to defining what people insist on calling courage, as if it were some undifferentiated, consistent, stable thing."

"In the realm of human ruthlessness, the only limits are those on the human imagination- everything imaginable is possible."

"The river of sorrow may run much of its course underground but it has a way of surfacing in unexpected places. Special sheltered little places."

"... human endurance has its limits, while human ruthlessness and cruelty do not."

[Rachael Adam]

Read this age 11 and it made a big impression on me.

[Sophiau]

The book that i am reviewing is But can the Phoenix Sing: A compelling story of unrelenting courage in nazi-occupied poland the author is Christa Laird. This book is about how a teenaged boy named Misha Edelman a survivor of the warsaw ghetto, And how he makes it threw his traumatizing circumstances. He has to leave behind his family and escapes the threw the sewers and soon to freedom.
Misha was rescued and lead through the sewers and forest by Eva a young partisan. In the forested and threw out the town of warsaw there were partisan groups hiding from german soldiers in the forest. Threw out the hole story Misha has to make hard decisions such as chose to fight or flie. He also was close one of the head doctors named Dr.Henryk. Misha was one of the guards of their terrain along with Evas brother Franek. As Misha got older he started to go on dangerous missions for medicine, information and food. While in the trails in the forest Misha, Eva, Frank and Henryk were ambushed Misha was shot in the leg and Eva was killed along with her brother Frank Henryk later killed the man that shot Misha. He had to make a journey of recovery in a building under a house in the ghetto. After the incident he had to think if he wanted to live or just to give in. While Misha was in the ghetto he had to decide if he wanted to help and joined the the jewish resistance and fight in the uprising his building was blown up when he was in it and he and survived but ben captured along with another member named Antek on september 26 1944. He later learned that henryk died in one of the houses that were blown up during the uprising. They reached berlin at one of the concentration camp they only stayed there for a short while however the camp was taken over by American soldiers and Misha and the others were finally free after years of fighting then He lives in peace in England.
I would definitely recommend this book to others who are interested in historical fiction. Because of the Christa Lairds point of view and style of writing she really lets the readers grab hold of what the character is coming from in the story. It is also somewhat realistic that is if you really think about it. Christa Lairds wrote this book in third person so it really helps you understand the time and place it focusing on. This book is a wonderful book for readers enjoying war tales and the point of view and just how she wrote it is a amazing and fascinating book.

[Rosemary Reeve]

The bulk of this story, about a teenage boy who struggles to survive through a series of fateful circumstances in Poland and Germany during World War II, is quite good and interesting (as much as these types of stories can be called as such, considering the amount of true horror involved). I did not particularly care for the premise that has the story told in letter format to the now-adult man's stepson. And the stepson's letters to his girlfriend were especially unnecessary. It was, in fact, just weird that the whole book consisted of these letters. It kind of made the story itself feel removed from the way in which it was being presented. I think this would have worked better if it was simply the story as written by the man who lived it (keeping in mind that it is a work of fiction, of course).

[Kelly José]

This is a great book. I remember reading it when I was probably no more than eleven or twelve years old. I'm definitely going to read it again someday to see if I still love it like I did then.

I remember this book being full of great writing and emotion. It dealt with the dangers so many people had to face when Nazis invaded their homeland. This book is definitely worth the read.

[Yifu]

Heart breaker.

[Beth]

Small print made this story of danger, hunger, and fighting in the Polish forests and cities during the back end of WWII even grimmer. Very well done.