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The Invisible Wall
This wonderfully charming memoir, written when the author was 93, vibrantly brings to life an all-but-forgotten time and place. It is a moving tale of working-class life, and of the boundaries that can be overcome by love.“There are places that I have never forgotten. A little cobbled street in a smoky mill town in the North of England has haunted me for the greater part of my life. It was inevitable that I should write about it and the people who lived on both sides of its ‘Invisible Wall.’ ” The narrow street where Harry Bernstein grew up, in a small English mill town, was seemingly unremarkable. It was identical to countless other streets in countless other working-class neighborhoods of the early 1900s, except for the “invisible wall” that ran down its center, dividing Jewish families on one side from Christian families on the other. Only a few feet of cobblestones separated Jews from Gentiles, but socially, it they were miles apart. On the eve of World War I, Harry’s family struggles to make ends meet. His father earns little money at the Jewish tailoring shop and brings home even less, preferring to spend his wages drinking and gambling. Harry’s mother, devoted to her children and fiercely resilient, survives on her new shoes that might secure Harry’s admission to a fancy school; that her daughter might marry the local rabbi; that the entire family might one day be whisked off to the paradise of America. Then Harry’s older sister, Lily, does the She falls in love with Arthur, a Christian boy from across the street. When Harry unwittingly discovers their secret affair, he must choose between the morals he’s been taught all his life, his loyalty to his selfless mother, and what he knows to be true in his own heart.
324 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2006
523 people are currently reading
18181 people want to read
About the author
Harry Bernstein
40 books101 followersHarry Louis Bernstein was a British-born American writer whose first published book, The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers, dealt with his abusive, alcoholic father, the anti-Semitism he encountered growing up in a Lancashire mill town (Stockport - now part of Greater Manchester) in northwest England, and the Romeo and Juliet-like romance experienced by his sister and her Christian boyfriend. The book was started when Bernstein was 93 and published in 2007, when he was 96. The loneliness he encountered following the death of his wife, Ruby, in 2002, after 67 years of marriage, was the catalyst for Bernstein to begin work on his book. His second book, The Dream, published in 2008, centered on his family’s move to the United States when he was twelve. In 2009, he published his third book, The Golden Willow, which chronicled his married life and later years. A fourth book, What Happended to Rose, will be published posthumously, in 2012.
Before his retirement at age 62, Bernstein worked for various movie production companies, reading scripts and working as a magazine editor for trade magazines. He also wrote freelance articles for such publications as Popular Mechanics, Family Circle and Newsweek.
Bernstein lived in Brick Township, New Jersey. He died at the age of 101, in June 2011.
Before his retirement at age 62, Bernstein worked for various movie production companies, reading scripts and working as a magazine editor for trade magazines. He also wrote freelance articles for such publications as Popular Mechanics, Family Circle and Newsweek.
Bernstein lived in Brick Township, New Jersey. He died at the age of 101, in June 2011.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,084 reviews
January 31, 2019
One of my favorite parts of reading on vacation is bringing a bunch of paperbacks, finishing them, and exchanging them with the other people on my trip who also had the same idea. Before every trip my mother goes to the $.25 rack at her library and takes half a dozen books or so. This time around, she found a memoir written by a ninety six year old man about his life growing up in World War I era Manchester, England. The book had not been on either of our radars, but turned out so captivating that she finished it in a few days and turned it over to me. We do not always have the same taste in books, but this time mother knew best. Invisible Walls: A Love Story That Broke Barriers by nonagenarian Harry Bernstein was indeed captivating, so much so that I finished it in a day. A story of love and religious convictions, this memoir earns the moniker of most thought provoking book I have read this month.
During the 1910s the world over Jews and gentiles did not mix. This was just the way of the world and in some circles this is still the case. The majority of the Jewish community of Manchester had fled from both czarist pogroms and Bolshevism in Russia and made a new life for themselves in England. They still lead an impoverished life, however, mainly working as tailors or in small shops on their own blocks. And for the most part, Jews did not mix with their gentile neighbors. In the case of Harry Bernstein, Jews occupied one side of his street and gentiles the other. The Jewish community was still too small for Jews to establish their own schools outside of London, so all neighborhood children attended local St Peters School. Boys went to Jewish cheder after school to receive a religious education. Mingling between faiths stopped with the end of schooling except for brief hellos. Jews used gentiles as shabbos goyim to light their fires on the sabbath and paid them a few shillings for their efforts, but there were never signs of all out friendship between people of different faiths.
Bernstein would write later that the separation of faiths on their street was like an invisible wall. As a child he ran errands to gentile stores and attended a Catholic school and experienced some anti Semitism but nothing that would dampen his trust of gentiles. His own father was a chronic drunk and his mother struggled to make ends meet, running a small store in their front parlor. The boundaries between faiths was put to the ultimate test when Harry’s oldest sister Lily fell in love with their gentile neighbor Arthur Forshaw from the time that she was twelve and he was fifteen. At the time, children left school to work at age twelve although Lily desired to be a teacher. Arthur has helped her study to go on to higher learning as he had and their friendship blossomed. The platonic relationship turned to love when Arthur fought for England during World War I and wrote Lily gushing letters. Harry as the youngest sibling in the family was asked to keep the couple’s secret from his parents who would not approve of their relationship.
During the era should a Jew marry a non Jew one’s parents would mourn for a lost child as though s (he) was dead. In certain religious circles, marrying out of faith would result in similar outcome for the offender’s family. Mrs Bernstein desired for her daughters to have the best, to marry a single rabbi and to immigrate to America. England experienced depression before America and Mrs Bernstein desired that her children have a better life than the one she had lead, one with the opportunity to attend university and not experience anti Semitic slurs on a daily basis. Lily was the gem of the family, the oldest, the smartest, yet rather than continue a tradition of over 5000 years, she chose to marry a non Jew and break the chain. Even her father, a drunk, viewed her daughter as though she was dead to him as he still believed in his convictions to adhere to them.
Eventually Arthur and Lily did marry and had a son. His birth was a cause of celebration for the entire block who had little collective joy in their lives. Jews and gentiles came together as one for a community party. The next year 1922 the Bernstein family moved to Chicago and left Lily and her young family behind. Harry quickly became a top student and moved to New York to become a writer. Yet he Invisible Walls is his first book, written to cope with the death of his wife of sixty seven years Ruby. At age ninety six, Harry fulfilled his dream of becoming a writer and wrote a sequel The Dream and even had plans to write a third memoir or novel. Even though I do not personally agree with how Harry’s family lived their lives- attending a non Jewish school, mixing with gentiles-, I thought that the Manchester Jews were hard working and well meaning and that Harry proved that it is never too late to achieve one’s life goals.
4 stars
During the 1910s the world over Jews and gentiles did not mix. This was just the way of the world and in some circles this is still the case. The majority of the Jewish community of Manchester had fled from both czarist pogroms and Bolshevism in Russia and made a new life for themselves in England. They still lead an impoverished life, however, mainly working as tailors or in small shops on their own blocks. And for the most part, Jews did not mix with their gentile neighbors. In the case of Harry Bernstein, Jews occupied one side of his street and gentiles the other. The Jewish community was still too small for Jews to establish their own schools outside of London, so all neighborhood children attended local St Peters School. Boys went to Jewish cheder after school to receive a religious education. Mingling between faiths stopped with the end of schooling except for brief hellos. Jews used gentiles as shabbos goyim to light their fires on the sabbath and paid them a few shillings for their efforts, but there were never signs of all out friendship between people of different faiths.
Bernstein would write later that the separation of faiths on their street was like an invisible wall. As a child he ran errands to gentile stores and attended a Catholic school and experienced some anti Semitism but nothing that would dampen his trust of gentiles. His own father was a chronic drunk and his mother struggled to make ends meet, running a small store in their front parlor. The boundaries between faiths was put to the ultimate test when Harry’s oldest sister Lily fell in love with their gentile neighbor Arthur Forshaw from the time that she was twelve and he was fifteen. At the time, children left school to work at age twelve although Lily desired to be a teacher. Arthur has helped her study to go on to higher learning as he had and their friendship blossomed. The platonic relationship turned to love when Arthur fought for England during World War I and wrote Lily gushing letters. Harry as the youngest sibling in the family was asked to keep the couple’s secret from his parents who would not approve of their relationship.
During the era should a Jew marry a non Jew one’s parents would mourn for a lost child as though s (he) was dead. In certain religious circles, marrying out of faith would result in similar outcome for the offender’s family. Mrs Bernstein desired for her daughters to have the best, to marry a single rabbi and to immigrate to America. England experienced depression before America and Mrs Bernstein desired that her children have a better life than the one she had lead, one with the opportunity to attend university and not experience anti Semitic slurs on a daily basis. Lily was the gem of the family, the oldest, the smartest, yet rather than continue a tradition of over 5000 years, she chose to marry a non Jew and break the chain. Even her father, a drunk, viewed her daughter as though she was dead to him as he still believed in his convictions to adhere to them.
Eventually Arthur and Lily did marry and had a son. His birth was a cause of celebration for the entire block who had little collective joy in their lives. Jews and gentiles came together as one for a community party. The next year 1922 the Bernstein family moved to Chicago and left Lily and her young family behind. Harry quickly became a top student and moved to New York to become a writer. Yet he Invisible Walls is his first book, written to cope with the death of his wife of sixty seven years Ruby. At age ninety six, Harry fulfilled his dream of becoming a writer and wrote a sequel The Dream and even had plans to write a third memoir or novel. Even though I do not personally agree with how Harry’s family lived their lives- attending a non Jewish school, mixing with gentiles-, I thought that the Manchester Jews were hard working and well meaning and that Harry proved that it is never too late to achieve one’s life goals.
4 stars
November 22, 2008
Harry Bernstein was 93 years old when he wrote this tender memoir about his childhood in Manchester, England in the years surrounding World War I. He narrates his family's story from a child's point of view growing up in a poor, working-class neighborhood. The Jewish families lived on one side of the street, and the Christians on the other with an "invisible wall" between. While they avoided the violence that would later oppress the Jews, they suffered persecution in more subtle ways (schoolyard anti-Semitism, also reflected among the adults). Occasional attempts to cross the wall, including romantic attractions between Christian boys and Jewish girls (one Harry's older sister), are fascinating. But some of the more poignant parts relate to the domestic struggles in Harry's home. He watches his drunken and overly authoratative father take out his frustration and anger on his daughters in scenes that are occasionally heart-wrenching; his mother struggling to hold the family together in their poverty and turmoil; his siblings trying to discover their individuality. And then the Jewish community as a whole trying to come to grips with changing times and traditions. This is a beautifully written and very touching memoir.
August 29, 2008
I LOVE YOU, HARRY!
Phew--what a great book. I haven't been that engrossed in - I don't know how long!
If I grew up with a such a bastard of a father, and bitch of a sister (I hate you Rose), I would have...I don't know what I would have done--but it wouldn't have been pretty.
Harry is able to convey all of the emotions attached to living on a 1/2 Jewish, 1/2 Christian street--all that you'd expect and more.
When Lily's father drags her, by her hair, to the factory, thwarting her dream of becoming a teacher, I wanted to kill him myself.
There's so much to this book--the epilogue will break your heart. I loved it and can't wait to read "The Dream."
Phew--what a great book. I haven't been that engrossed in - I don't know how long!
If I grew up with a such a bastard of a father, and bitch of a sister (I hate you Rose), I would have...I don't know what I would have done--but it wouldn't have been pretty.
Harry is able to convey all of the emotions attached to living on a 1/2 Jewish, 1/2 Christian street--all that you'd expect and more.
When Lily's father drags her, by her hair, to the factory, thwarting her dream of becoming a teacher, I wanted to kill him myself.
There's so much to this book--the epilogue will break your heart. I loved it and can't wait to read "The Dream."
July 16, 2023
What a wonderful 10 stars story. Why aren't people still reading this book? When I tell my friends about it they end up having to Read it.1 of my friends said that she loves Jewish stories, and I said that I did too. She did not know why she loved them, and neither do I. Neither of us are talking about the holocaust.
This is a true story, a memoir. Harry Bernstein was born in 1910 and begins his story when he is 4 years old. He lives in Manchester England on a cobblestone street. On 1 side of the street are the Jewish homes, and on the other are the Christian. The invisible wall is the fact that neither of them associate With each other, but over the years that is to Change.
What I found interesting also is the fact that harry Bernstein wrote this book when he was 93 years old. What a clear mind he had. And what a beautiful writer.
Harry is to start school, And he needs a new pair of shoes. He wants wooden shoes like what the Christians across the street are wearing. His mother wishes for him to have a good pair of shoes, but because they are poor he gets his wooden shoes. He wants them because they are fun to wear,
Harry's father drinks Too much, And so they have very little money, but his mother finds a way to make Ends meet. She opens a store in her own home, and this brings the Christian people to her side of the street. When a Jewish girl falls in love with the Christian boy, things fall apart. And then the war begins, And the young men head off To fight it. The only talk of the war is when they get letters from their sons or a telegram telling them that 1 of them is died. Still, the story ends on a good note.
This is a true story, a memoir. Harry Bernstein was born in 1910 and begins his story when he is 4 years old. He lives in Manchester England on a cobblestone street. On 1 side of the street are the Jewish homes, and on the other are the Christian. The invisible wall is the fact that neither of them associate With each other, but over the years that is to Change.
What I found interesting also is the fact that harry Bernstein wrote this book when he was 93 years old. What a clear mind he had. And what a beautiful writer.
Harry is to start school, And he needs a new pair of shoes. He wants wooden shoes like what the Christians across the street are wearing. His mother wishes for him to have a good pair of shoes, but because they are poor he gets his wooden shoes. He wants them because they are fun to wear,
Harry's father drinks Too much, And so they have very little money, but his mother finds a way to make Ends meet. She opens a store in her own home, and this brings the Christian people to her side of the street. When a Jewish girl falls in love with the Christian boy, things fall apart. And then the war begins, And the young men head off To fight it. The only talk of the war is when they get letters from their sons or a telegram telling them that 1 of them is died. Still, the story ends on a good note.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 7, 2019
Thoughts soon.
March 31, 2012
I found out about this book through my mother-in-law who knew Harry Bernstein as they lived in the same community in Brick, NJ. She obtained a signed copy for me, for which I am very grateful. This is a wonderful love story and it's true! Sort of a Romeo and Juliet I guess. One of the most amazing things about this book was that he wrote it in his late 90's (he died at the age of 101)and the details he remembers. He tells his life story as a Jewish boy growing up in England in the early 1900's when the Jews lived on one side of the street and the "Christians" on the other (the invisible wall). The circumstances and the hate (on both sides) was heart-wrenching yet the story is told without anger or bitterness. The main conflict is that his sister falls in love with the "wrong" guy and Harry is caught in the middle. Though there are some bright spots, dysfunctional families (aren't we all)reign throughout. A great book to read if we want to learn from history and what not to do, how not to treat one another. May write more later on this...
February 25, 2014
This memoir was started when Harry Bernstein was 93 and was published in 2007 when he was 96. It is the fascinating story, that reads like a novel, of his young life during World War One. In a small mill town in Lancashire, England, Harry’s selfless mother works hard to keep food on the table and shoes on the children. His gambling father has an angry and abusive manner that makes matters worse for the entire family. They live on the Jewish side of a cobblestone street facing the Christians on the other side. The two cultures almost never cross the invisible wall that divides them. Harry’s oldest sister Lily helps take some of the burden off of her mother by caring for the children. When Lily enters into a bittersweet love affair with a Christian man across the street they keep it a secret because they both know it will not bode well with either family.
I listened to this audio book and the narration, which can make or break an audio book, was wonderful. The accents fondly reminded me of my son-in-law’s parents who live in northern England. There are so many words that I could use to describe this beautiful memoir and the words that immediately come to mind are insightful, courageous, joy and sorrow. In other words it is a memoir filled with emotion that will touch your soul.
I listened to this audio book and the narration, which can make or break an audio book, was wonderful. The accents fondly reminded me of my son-in-law’s parents who live in northern England. There are so many words that I could use to describe this beautiful memoir and the words that immediately come to mind are insightful, courageous, joy and sorrow. In other words it is a memoir filled with emotion that will touch your soul.
July 3, 2016
This is a brilliant book written when the author was in his nineties and written
As well through the eyes of child. The detail and sense of place and understanding of complex relationships is remarkable. That he could remember his youth and childhood in such detail to paint such a vivid picture of bygone times of the backstreets of Manchester, the poverty, harshness anti Semitism, cruelty and triumph of love and humanity agains such odds is
outstanding.
This is one of the best books I have read this year and it will stay with me for a long time. I lived near Manchester in
The sixties and their were still remnants of the city Harry knew, though much destroyed to build high rise apartments with the consequent loss of community that the back to
Back houses enjoyed.
As well through the eyes of child. The detail and sense of place and understanding of complex relationships is remarkable. That he could remember his youth and childhood in such detail to paint such a vivid picture of bygone times of the backstreets of Manchester, the poverty, harshness anti Semitism, cruelty and triumph of love and humanity agains such odds is
outstanding.
This is one of the best books I have read this year and it will stay with me for a long time. I lived near Manchester in
The sixties and their were still remnants of the city Harry knew, though much destroyed to build high rise apartments with the consequent loss of community that the back to
Back houses enjoyed.
August 19, 2010
There is an overwhelming sense of nostalgie and melancholy throughout the entire book. The tone is too sombre for my tastes. The author, in his nineties looks back at his childhood in a small Lancashire village outside Manchester. More specifcally the book is about the invisible wall between the Jews living on one side and the Christians living on the other side. The book starts when the author is four and is centered around his older sister's love for a Christian boy on the other side of the street. The invisible wall between these two groups influences every aspect of their lives. So I ask, is it that invisible? There is so much that unites these two groups. Poverty, number one, and the repurcussions of WW1 and WW2. It is a very intimate portrayal, and oh so sad. The book starts and ends with an utterly beautiful depiction of the village, that you see and hear and smell in all its grime. The sound of the workers' clogs as they go off to work at the mill in the early morning and the reverse sounds as they return home in the evening is the fond recollection I will keep of this book. Nevertheless, the all pervading sense of gloom was too much for me. I feel like shaking them up. Even when something good happens they are not really HAPPY! Please, forget for just an instant the overall gloom. Even at the end, after seeing pending village improvements, poverty remains. And is that wall really torn down? I am not so sure. The tone of the book really does drag you down.
May 12, 2012
The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers is a wonderful memoir written about growing up in the mill town of Manchester, England, in the early 20th Century. The author's family lived on the Jewish side of a narrow street while Christians lived on the other side, separated by an invisible wall. Harry's father is a tailor who drinks up most of his wages while his mother works hard at home, dreaming of a better future for her children. The Jews and the Christians rarely interacted socially, although the worries of World War I brought them to the middle of the street.
Harry's older sister, Lily, fell in love with Arthur, a Christian young man from the other side of the street. They had to arrange secret meetings since their relationship was frowned upon. Lily's mother tried to get her to marry the new rabbi, or send her off to America to keep her away from Arthur. The love story of Lily and Arthur exerted an effect on the neighborhood as well as on their families.
The author does a wonderful job of presenting the hopes, fears, and opinions of the families in the neighborhood. This delightful memoir is written with warmth, humor, and understanding.
Harry's older sister, Lily, fell in love with Arthur, a Christian young man from the other side of the street. They had to arrange secret meetings since their relationship was frowned upon. Lily's mother tried to get her to marry the new rabbi, or send her off to America to keep her away from Arthur. The love story of Lily and Arthur exerted an effect on the neighborhood as well as on their families.
The author does a wonderful job of presenting the hopes, fears, and opinions of the families in the neighborhood. This delightful memoir is written with warmth, humor, and understanding.
August 30, 2009
This is my 3rd book in this genre: memoirs, specifically boy's and I am becoming fond of it. Few years ago, Tata J told me to read ANGELA'S ASHES by the late Frank McCourt and it remains one of my all-time favorite books. Then early this year, he also lend me TOAST by Nigel Slater which I also found amazing (5 stars). Now, how could I not like THE INVISIBLE WALL by Harry Bernstein? It is a lot better than the latter - having a more serious theme (anti-Jews) and more poignant (having two tragic love stories between a Christian man and a Jew lady). However, the storytelling skills of McCourt is better than Berstein. The boy McCourt was more witty, innocent, alive and precocious despite being dirt-poor (remember excitement? and sick in the head?). The boy Bernstein was timid and shy (what will stick to my mind was his "Yis" for yes).
There are two scenes here that I will remember many years from now: the suicide of Freddy and the one where the mother goes inside the platform to get spoiled fruits. The Jewish "Emmos adonnai" is also one phrase that I will also remember. It is a Jewish belief that if you say "Emmos adonnai" prior to a sentence or declaration, you can die if you right after, tell a lie.
Bernstein's story in England started when he was 4 years old and he started writing this book in 1992 right after his wife died. This got published in 1997 when he was already 97 years old. I agree that with his unique experiences, he would surely remember them. However, if you look at the pictures, the poverty of his family was nothing compared to what majority of the Filipinos are currently experiencing.
Someday, I hope I will also be able to write my own memoir and it I know it can surely compete with these three boys' memoirs. I can even say Emmos adonnai as part of own memoir's prologue.
There are two scenes here that I will remember many years from now: the suicide of Freddy and the one where the mother goes inside the platform to get spoiled fruits. The Jewish "Emmos adonnai" is also one phrase that I will also remember. It is a Jewish belief that if you say "Emmos adonnai" prior to a sentence or declaration, you can die if you right after, tell a lie.
Bernstein's story in England started when he was 4 years old and he started writing this book in 1992 right after his wife died. This got published in 1997 when he was already 97 years old. I agree that with his unique experiences, he would surely remember them. However, if you look at the pictures, the poverty of his family was nothing compared to what majority of the Filipinos are currently experiencing.
Someday, I hope I will also be able to write my own memoir and it I know it can surely compete with these three boys' memoirs. I can even say Emmos adonnai as part of own memoir's prologue.
July 23, 2017
Here's the setup: Jews live on one side of the street and Christians on the other, and never the twain shall meet, in a town in England 100 years ago. A memoir, a cross-cultural love story ahead of its time.
The narrator and author is Harry Bernstein, born in 1910 and four year old at the start. His side of the street is populated by families of recent immigrants escaping the pogroms in Eastern Europe. On his side of the street, the fathers toil in tailoring shops. The Christians on the other side are mill workers. All are poor.
We get a time capsule of these people and their lives. Some are kind, some are not. Antisemitic slurs are par for the course, but also each Jewish family has a corresponding Christian who stirs up the fire and removes the cooking pot from the hearth on Friday nights. The Jewish kids have to cluster together to avoid getting beat up by batesemas (Christian bullies) on the way home from school, yet once when that does happen, the rescuer is an older and bigger Christian boy.
At first there is a cautionary tale of another Jewish girl, a teenager on the same street, who has a Christian boyfriend, with little Harry as the go-between. When the girl is found out she gets summarily shipped off to relatives in Australia to avoid this disgrace worse than death (in fact, perceived as death).
At first I wasn't paying much attention to the setting. London, I thought. But, no: it's Lancashire, now part of greater Manchester, if I've got that right. Right from the beginning, though, I was relating this book to another one I'm reading, a nonfiction about the industrial revolution in England, Liberty's Dawn: A People's History of the Industrial Revolution. That one's about the late 17th through the 18th and 19th centuries, but the focus is still the same: the working poor. When I looked up Manchester, I found it was at the forefront of the industrial revolution, the first industrialized city! But there are no Jews so far in Liberty's Dawn; I imagine their presence is a later development.
By the era of the Great War, children are no longer going to work at five, six, or seven years old. They are now getting an elementary education; sounds like around what we call in the States seventh grade--around twelve or thirteen years old--corresponding well with the age of Jewish bar mitzvah.
For Harry's father, though, it was a different story. Growing up in Poland, he was put to work at five years old, sent to various masters who abused him as they saw fit. And he became a violent and alcohol-abusing misfit to whom Harry's long-suffering mother was married off in a last-ditch effort to rehabilitate him, with very, very limited success.
Some reviewers compare this book to Angela's Ashes, a popular book that I tried to read twice (in the past) but could not. I found it lugubriously boring. I will say this book has its share of tales of woe. Even the happy ending is laced with pain and sadness--except that the author did eventually emigrate to America. He did eventually realize his dream of becoming a successful writer and at 96 years of age, with this very memoir.
At first I did have some trouble getting into this book. I had been attracted to it and one day back when I was a library volunteer at my synagogue I started it. But it just didn't seem as intriguing as I'd imagined. Maybe I was expecting to get into the love story right away, or maybe I'd been expecting the narrator, Harry, to be the protagonist in the love story. At any rate, I didn't go on to check it out. At some point, though, I'd picked up the audio version on sale from Audible. Maybe the time was right, or maybe this book works especially well as a story being told out loud, but whatever the reason this time I was hooked. I'm writing now with the checked-out book on the desk to my left.
Not only does the reader, John Lee, get kudos for his effort but also I became interested in the various British accents. You see, I had a very diminished notion of British accents--either standard British English or something I might have considered "Cockney." Well! I found this neat Youtube presentation that says only three percent of British speak the "received pronunciation!" This helps! I can even begin to hear differences. .
Here are a couple of reviews I found online, first from The New York Times in 2007, and then one from a group billing themselves as supporting interfaith families (although I notice that second one gets the time period of the book wrong):
https://nyti.ms/2kvvv44
http://www.interfaithfamily.com/arts_...
The narrator and author is Harry Bernstein, born in 1910 and four year old at the start. His side of the street is populated by families of recent immigrants escaping the pogroms in Eastern Europe. On his side of the street, the fathers toil in tailoring shops. The Christians on the other side are mill workers. All are poor.
We get a time capsule of these people and their lives. Some are kind, some are not. Antisemitic slurs are par for the course, but also each Jewish family has a corresponding Christian who stirs up the fire and removes the cooking pot from the hearth on Friday nights. The Jewish kids have to cluster together to avoid getting beat up by batesemas (Christian bullies) on the way home from school, yet once when that does happen, the rescuer is an older and bigger Christian boy.
At first there is a cautionary tale of another Jewish girl, a teenager on the same street, who has a Christian boyfriend, with little Harry as the go-between. When the girl is found out she gets summarily shipped off to relatives in Australia to avoid this disgrace worse than death (in fact, perceived as death).
At first I wasn't paying much attention to the setting. London, I thought. But, no: it's Lancashire, now part of greater Manchester, if I've got that right. Right from the beginning, though, I was relating this book to another one I'm reading, a nonfiction about the industrial revolution in England, Liberty's Dawn: A People's History of the Industrial Revolution. That one's about the late 17th through the 18th and 19th centuries, but the focus is still the same: the working poor. When I looked up Manchester, I found it was at the forefront of the industrial revolution, the first industrialized city! But there are no Jews so far in Liberty's Dawn; I imagine their presence is a later development.
By the era of the Great War, children are no longer going to work at five, six, or seven years old. They are now getting an elementary education; sounds like around what we call in the States seventh grade--around twelve or thirteen years old--corresponding well with the age of Jewish bar mitzvah.
For Harry's father, though, it was a different story. Growing up in Poland, he was put to work at five years old, sent to various masters who abused him as they saw fit. And he became a violent and alcohol-abusing misfit to whom Harry's long-suffering mother was married off in a last-ditch effort to rehabilitate him, with very, very limited success.
Some reviewers compare this book to Angela's Ashes, a popular book that I tried to read twice (in the past) but could not. I found it lugubriously boring. I will say this book has its share of tales of woe. Even the happy ending is laced with pain and sadness--except that the author did eventually emigrate to America. He did eventually realize his dream of becoming a successful writer and at 96 years of age, with this very memoir.
At first I did have some trouble getting into this book. I had been attracted to it and one day back when I was a library volunteer at my synagogue I started it. But it just didn't seem as intriguing as I'd imagined. Maybe I was expecting to get into the love story right away, or maybe I'd been expecting the narrator, Harry, to be the protagonist in the love story. At any rate, I didn't go on to check it out. At some point, though, I'd picked up the audio version on sale from Audible. Maybe the time was right, or maybe this book works especially well as a story being told out loud, but whatever the reason this time I was hooked. I'm writing now with the checked-out book on the desk to my left.
Not only does the reader, John Lee, get kudos for his effort but also I became interested in the various British accents. You see, I had a very diminished notion of British accents--either standard British English or something I might have considered "Cockney." Well! I found this neat Youtube presentation that says only three percent of British speak the "received pronunciation!" This helps! I can even begin to hear differences. .
Here are a couple of reviews I found online, first from The New York Times in 2007, and then one from a group billing themselves as supporting interfaith families (although I notice that second one gets the time period of the book wrong):
https://nyti.ms/2kvvv44
http://www.interfaithfamily.com/arts_...
May 12, 2008
Harry has a hard life... Jewish and poor in England around WWI in a truly dysfunctional family. Little things bring him joy, many things in his life are scary. Each chapter provides a snapshot of the divided street, Jews on one side, Christians on the other. Harry paints a great picture of times gone by with horses, outhouses, and yet people warring against one another. One wonders how things have changed in the last century, when many considered WWI, the war to end all wars.
I could identify with being the youngest and "protected" from information.
I could identify with being the youngest and "protected" from information.
November 21, 2024
"Sembrava che la guerra avesse quasi completamente abbattuto il muro invisibile. Le donne piangevano insieme, si abbracciavano e l'appartenenza all'una o all'altra confessione sembrava non contare più; si soffriva, si gemeva, ecco tutto." (p. 175)
"La nostra gente si era raccolta in mezzo alla strada, ed ebrei e cristiani discutevano insieme, con gioia ed emozione. Fu forse quella l'ultima volta che vidi i due schieramenti opposti avvicinarsi così tanto. A guerra finita, le cose rientrarono nella normalità e tutto tornò come prima. Ma in quella prima esplosione d'entusiasmo per la vittoria, la felicità, il sollievo - e Dio solo sa quali altre emozioni ci travolgessero in quel grande momento - ci unirono in un sola comunità festante, in uno stato d'indicibile, ebbra euforia." (p. 185)
Negli anni '10 del secolo scorso, in un quartiere di una città industriale in Lancashire, nel nord-ovest dell'Inghilterra, la condizione comune di miseria, indigenza, sfruttamento nella quale verte la classe operaia, non riesce a rappresentare un punto di incontro e a tener uniti i suoi membri. Almeno, non quando in mezzo ci sono divisioni ben più profonde, radicate e stratificate nell'arco di secoli nella psiche umana, come quelle razziali e religiose. Cristiani da un lato, cattolici o protestanti, ed ebrei dall'altro, così vicini e così lontani allo stesso tempo. Laddove unisce la geografia, divide la mentalità, i pregiudizi, la paura di conoscere il prossimo e finalmente comprendere che anche lui è come noi, anzi è eguale a noi.
Harry Bernstein ci prende per mano e ci porta lontano, tra i suoi ricordi d'infanzia che prendono una forma così limpida sotto forma di parole. Le atmosfere che evoca, viste attraverso gli occhi di un bambino, che dai quattro ai quattordici anni vive in quel quartiere dove si è eretto un muro che è difficile, quasi impossibile abbattere, concorrono a rendere il lettore una parte della storia. Non si può rimanere indifferenti davanti a un racconto del genere. Gli ebrei, fuggiti dai pogrom che la polizia zarista effettuava con sempre maggior frequenza in Polonia e in Ucraina, sono sopportati ma non voluti In Inghilterra. Le loro aspirazioni ed ambizioni sono soffocate, devono subire violenze fisiche e psicologiche in ambito scolastico e lavorativo, vivono in quella comunità ma meglio se passino senza dar all'occhio. L'unico momento che unisce è quello tragico e carico di ansia e incertezza della guerra. Solo la guerra costituisce un momento di pausa dalla normalità in cui si soffre insieme. Allo stesso modo, quando la guerra finisce si gioisce tutti insieme.
L'amore tra i due giovani e idealisti, Lily e Arthur, unirà in un giorno le divisioni, grazie alla festa per la nascita del bambino, ma in quella strada le persone di religione ebraica, nonostante la vita quotidiana passati insieme ai cristiani, rimarranno sempre "i nostri ebrei" e non diventeranno mai "i nostri vicini, amici, concittadini". È una storia che è riuscita a commuovermi, i personaggi sono ben delineati. La figura della madre è centrale e i suoi sacrifici la rendono una donna forte, ma la sottomissione ai dettami più ortodossi della religione la allontanano dai figli. Harry lascerà il suo quartiere nel 1922 per stabilirsi negli Stati Uniti, ma il suo cuore batterà sempre per quella strada amata.
"La nostra gente si era raccolta in mezzo alla strada, ed ebrei e cristiani discutevano insieme, con gioia ed emozione. Fu forse quella l'ultima volta che vidi i due schieramenti opposti avvicinarsi così tanto. A guerra finita, le cose rientrarono nella normalità e tutto tornò come prima. Ma in quella prima esplosione d'entusiasmo per la vittoria, la felicità, il sollievo - e Dio solo sa quali altre emozioni ci travolgessero in quel grande momento - ci unirono in un sola comunità festante, in uno stato d'indicibile, ebbra euforia." (p. 185)
Negli anni '10 del secolo scorso, in un quartiere di una città industriale in Lancashire, nel nord-ovest dell'Inghilterra, la condizione comune di miseria, indigenza, sfruttamento nella quale verte la classe operaia, non riesce a rappresentare un punto di incontro e a tener uniti i suoi membri. Almeno, non quando in mezzo ci sono divisioni ben più profonde, radicate e stratificate nell'arco di secoli nella psiche umana, come quelle razziali e religiose. Cristiani da un lato, cattolici o protestanti, ed ebrei dall'altro, così vicini e così lontani allo stesso tempo. Laddove unisce la geografia, divide la mentalità, i pregiudizi, la paura di conoscere il prossimo e finalmente comprendere che anche lui è come noi, anzi è eguale a noi.
Harry Bernstein ci prende per mano e ci porta lontano, tra i suoi ricordi d'infanzia che prendono una forma così limpida sotto forma di parole. Le atmosfere che evoca, viste attraverso gli occhi di un bambino, che dai quattro ai quattordici anni vive in quel quartiere dove si è eretto un muro che è difficile, quasi impossibile abbattere, concorrono a rendere il lettore una parte della storia. Non si può rimanere indifferenti davanti a un racconto del genere. Gli ebrei, fuggiti dai pogrom che la polizia zarista effettuava con sempre maggior frequenza in Polonia e in Ucraina, sono sopportati ma non voluti In Inghilterra. Le loro aspirazioni ed ambizioni sono soffocate, devono subire violenze fisiche e psicologiche in ambito scolastico e lavorativo, vivono in quella comunità ma meglio se passino senza dar all'occhio. L'unico momento che unisce è quello tragico e carico di ansia e incertezza della guerra. Solo la guerra costituisce un momento di pausa dalla normalità in cui si soffre insieme. Allo stesso modo, quando la guerra finisce si gioisce tutti insieme.
L'amore tra i due giovani e idealisti, Lily e Arthur, unirà in un giorno le divisioni, grazie alla festa per la nascita del bambino, ma in quella strada le persone di religione ebraica, nonostante la vita quotidiana passati insieme ai cristiani, rimarranno sempre "i nostri ebrei" e non diventeranno mai "i nostri vicini, amici, concittadini". È una storia che è riuscita a commuovermi, i personaggi sono ben delineati. La figura della madre è centrale e i suoi sacrifici la rendono una donna forte, ma la sottomissione ai dettami più ortodossi della religione la allontanano dai figli. Harry lascerà il suo quartiere nel 1922 per stabilirsi negli Stati Uniti, ma il suo cuore batterà sempre per quella strada amata.
October 8, 2017
…and no religion too
Spira un’aria alquanto antiquata dalle pagine di questo romanzo e non tanto per l’ambientazione negli anni ’10 del secolo scorso, quanto per lo stile risolutamente lineare, un po’ manierato e virato seppia, che fa dell’approccio semplice alle vicissitudini quotidiane di una famiglia del proletariato inglese, con troppi figli e pochi denari, una delle sue due cifre principali.
L’altra risiede nella metafora portante, enunciata fin dal titolo e sottolineata lungo tutto il racconto: la barriera culturale e psicologica che divide la stradina dove tutto o quasi si svolge, separando le misere case ebree dalle altrettanto misere case cristiane, ognuna delle due comunità chiusa nei propri problemi e rituali sociali e religiosi, e guai a chi prova ad attraversare tale confine, invisibile ma estremamente resistente.
Il racconto soffre, almeno ai miei occhi, l’inevitabile paragone con “Le ceneri di Angela” dove, con ben altra potenza temprata da una sapiente dose di ironia (qui del tutto assente), Frank McCourt descrive una vicenda molto simile, mediata anch’essa dallo sguardo di un bambino costretto dalle avversità della vita familiare ad una maturazione precoce, e nel quale si riverbera chiaramente il ricordo autobiografico dell’autore.
Forse il mio giudizio su “Il muro invisibile” è troppo severo perché il quadro dipinto da Bernstein in definitiva risulta vivido e reale e non si insinua mai durante la lettura la tentazione di abbandonarlo, pur nella prevedibilità degli eventi narrati e dell’evoluzione dei caratteri, priva o quasi di sussulti, fino alla sarabanda del volemose bene nel prefinale, molto forzata nell’addolcire i caratteri più spigolosi e le inimicizie più resistenti.
E’ l’epilogo invece a conferire una luce retrospettiva che fa rivalutare l’opera di Bernstein con una genuina malinconia che, finalmente e un po’ inaspettatamente, riesce ad instillare anche nel lettore più indifferente la commozione tenacemente perseguìta lungo tutto il romanzo.
Spira un’aria alquanto antiquata dalle pagine di questo romanzo e non tanto per l’ambientazione negli anni ’10 del secolo scorso, quanto per lo stile risolutamente lineare, un po’ manierato e virato seppia, che fa dell’approccio semplice alle vicissitudini quotidiane di una famiglia del proletariato inglese, con troppi figli e pochi denari, una delle sue due cifre principali.
L’altra risiede nella metafora portante, enunciata fin dal titolo e sottolineata lungo tutto il racconto: la barriera culturale e psicologica che divide la stradina dove tutto o quasi si svolge, separando le misere case ebree dalle altrettanto misere case cristiane, ognuna delle due comunità chiusa nei propri problemi e rituali sociali e religiosi, e guai a chi prova ad attraversare tale confine, invisibile ma estremamente resistente.
Il racconto soffre, almeno ai miei occhi, l’inevitabile paragone con “Le ceneri di Angela” dove, con ben altra potenza temprata da una sapiente dose di ironia (qui del tutto assente), Frank McCourt descrive una vicenda molto simile, mediata anch’essa dallo sguardo di un bambino costretto dalle avversità della vita familiare ad una maturazione precoce, e nel quale si riverbera chiaramente il ricordo autobiografico dell’autore.
Forse il mio giudizio su “Il muro invisibile” è troppo severo perché il quadro dipinto da Bernstein in definitiva risulta vivido e reale e non si insinua mai durante la lettura la tentazione di abbandonarlo, pur nella prevedibilità degli eventi narrati e dell’evoluzione dei caratteri, priva o quasi di sussulti, fino alla sarabanda del volemose bene nel prefinale, molto forzata nell’addolcire i caratteri più spigolosi e le inimicizie più resistenti.
E’ l’epilogo invece a conferire una luce retrospettiva che fa rivalutare l’opera di Bernstein con una genuina malinconia che, finalmente e un po’ inaspettatamente, riesce ad instillare anche nel lettore più indifferente la commozione tenacemente perseguìta lungo tutto il romanzo.
July 21, 2024
Fantastic autobiographical novel! And publishing your first book at the age of 96? Just so cool!
September 25, 2021
A true story but very sad and sometimes disturbing. It has opened my eyes - and my heart - to the experiences of some Jewish families on a single street in Manchester, England from 1910 to 1922. It is too painful to re-read but I am glad, nevertheless, to have read it.
July 20, 2017
Da due mesi faccio parte del gruppo di lettura del mio paese, che, però, si è formato circa tre anni fa, a mia insaputa, così, ora, sto cercando di recuperare una delle loro letture precedenti!
Ho scoperto solo alla fine, documentandomi sull' autore, che il libro è autobiografico. Narra le vicende della sua vita da quando ha cinque anni all' adolescenza.
"Erano gli unici, nella nostra strada, possedere un grammofono, e lasciavano la porta di casa aperta perché tutti lo potessero ascoltare." Questa frase, presente, già nella prima pagina del libro mi ha dato un senso di nostalgia per come eravamo anche noi e non siamo più. Qui in Veneto si faceva il filò: la contrada si ritrovava nella stalla (dove c' era un po' di caldo) si chiacchierava, si spettegolava, le donne filavano la lana, gli uomini aggiustavano gli attrezzi da lavoro, si pregava ma soprattutto si stava insieme e c' era calore non solo dato dal fuoco, ma anche dalle persone. Anche in un libro che ho letto poco fa, Agnes Browne, il figlio della protagonista diventa "un gentile del fuoco" accendendolo, di sabato, per un uomo ebreo riesce a racimolare qualche soldo. Qui c'è un' intero gruppo di persone che si prodiga in questa azione benevola! Erano i tempi, come si leggerà dopo, in cui una bicicletta aveva un enorme valore! In cui la convivenza e l' aiuto reciproco erano importanti. L' impressione iniziale è stata che questo libro desse una grande lezione di umiltà.
La famiglia di cui si parla è formata da cinque figli e da due genitori un po' stereotipati; la mamma dolce e cara, che se le brusca dal marito, lui un beone disinteressato ai figli. Il matrimonio porta a questa donna solo miseria e sofferenza. Un unico respiro agli affanni della situazione viene da Larry, l' unico amico del padre, che pensiona a casa loro, ma che dopo un litigio se ne andrà. La situazione non migliora quando, dopo studi immani, la sorella più grande, Lily, riesce a superare brillantemente un esame che le permetterà di diventare insegnante; infatti, il padre, la trascinerà fuori di casa per i capelli per relegarla a lavorare nella sua stessa sartoria.
Poi, arriva la guerra. La guerra che livella la società, abbattendo il muro: mischiando poveri con ricchi, cristiani ed ebrei in una sospensione data dal pericolo imminente. Quando sul fronte terminano le ostilità, riprendono le avversioni nel quartiere. Alcuni non torneranno più a casa, altri, come Freddy, tornano orribilmente mutilati e si respira un' aria di sofferenza e morte. I tempi duri arrivano dopo la guerra: miseria e disoccupazione imperano. Quando il nostro protagonista ha dieci anni la situazione economica familiare migliora, ma il peso dell' essere ebrei è imponente.
L' unico spiraglio di luce in questa cupa atmosfera è l' amore tra Arthur e Lily. È un sentimento forte che va contro i pregiudizi tra cristiani ed ebrei, come una sorta di Romeo e Giulietta. Sono socialisti in un luogo sbagliato e portano avanti i loro valori contro tutti. È una coppia fresca, vivace, che si appassiona in discussioni politiche, in un dibattito che non vede differenze tra uomo e donna, in contrasto fortissimo con i genitori di Lily, che parlano raramente tra di loro e solo di faccende pratiche, rivelando una forte chiusura mentale.
Il nostro protagonista ha un padre al quale non ha mai rivolto la parola in tutta la vita ed una madre devota alla famiglia che si sacrifica per il bene dei figli. Tutto questo è portato all' esasperazione, o forse la situazione era davvero così estremizzata, ma mi sono infastidita. Io sono nata ottant'anni dopo quel periodo e non riesco a capacitarmi di come una donna si possa reprimere e umiliare tanto! Questa madre che, pur di evitare l' onta di un matrimonio sacrilego, passa sopra i sentimenti della figlia e si finge cieca e sorda a quell' amore mi irrita!
Mi ha infastidito non poco anche il finale: festa in strada, birra, pacche sulle spalle, gran risate con questa sensazione di avere qualcuno all' orecchio che ti sussurra "tutto è bene quel che finisce bene" ! Dopo duecentonovanta pagine di disperazione, tutto si risolve nelle ultime venti pagine come se niente fosse! Però poi, tranquilli, nella prima parte dell' epilogo si viene, oso dire, quasi rassicurati da altre disgrazie!
A questo libro strappalacrime assegno tre stelle. Sì, sono senza cuore! :)
Ho scoperto solo alla fine, documentandomi sull' autore, che il libro è autobiografico. Narra le vicende della sua vita da quando ha cinque anni all' adolescenza.
"Erano gli unici, nella nostra strada, possedere un grammofono, e lasciavano la porta di casa aperta perché tutti lo potessero ascoltare." Questa frase, presente, già nella prima pagina del libro mi ha dato un senso di nostalgia per come eravamo anche noi e non siamo più. Qui in Veneto si faceva il filò: la contrada si ritrovava nella stalla (dove c' era un po' di caldo) si chiacchierava, si spettegolava, le donne filavano la lana, gli uomini aggiustavano gli attrezzi da lavoro, si pregava ma soprattutto si stava insieme e c' era calore non solo dato dal fuoco, ma anche dalle persone. Anche in un libro che ho letto poco fa, Agnes Browne, il figlio della protagonista diventa "un gentile del fuoco" accendendolo, di sabato, per un uomo ebreo riesce a racimolare qualche soldo. Qui c'è un' intero gruppo di persone che si prodiga in questa azione benevola! Erano i tempi, come si leggerà dopo, in cui una bicicletta aveva un enorme valore! In cui la convivenza e l' aiuto reciproco erano importanti. L' impressione iniziale è stata che questo libro desse una grande lezione di umiltà.
La famiglia di cui si parla è formata da cinque figli e da due genitori un po' stereotipati; la mamma dolce e cara, che se le brusca dal marito, lui un beone disinteressato ai figli. Il matrimonio porta a questa donna solo miseria e sofferenza. Un unico respiro agli affanni della situazione viene da Larry, l' unico amico del padre, che pensiona a casa loro, ma che dopo un litigio se ne andrà. La situazione non migliora quando, dopo studi immani, la sorella più grande, Lily, riesce a superare brillantemente un esame che le permetterà di diventare insegnante; infatti, il padre, la trascinerà fuori di casa per i capelli per relegarla a lavorare nella sua stessa sartoria.
Poi, arriva la guerra. La guerra che livella la società, abbattendo il muro: mischiando poveri con ricchi, cristiani ed ebrei in una sospensione data dal pericolo imminente. Quando sul fronte terminano le ostilità, riprendono le avversioni nel quartiere. Alcuni non torneranno più a casa, altri, come Freddy, tornano orribilmente mutilati e si respira un' aria di sofferenza e morte. I tempi duri arrivano dopo la guerra: miseria e disoccupazione imperano. Quando il nostro protagonista ha dieci anni la situazione economica familiare migliora, ma il peso dell' essere ebrei è imponente.
L' unico spiraglio di luce in questa cupa atmosfera è l' amore tra Arthur e Lily. È un sentimento forte che va contro i pregiudizi tra cristiani ed ebrei, come una sorta di Romeo e Giulietta. Sono socialisti in un luogo sbagliato e portano avanti i loro valori contro tutti. È una coppia fresca, vivace, che si appassiona in discussioni politiche, in un dibattito che non vede differenze tra uomo e donna, in contrasto fortissimo con i genitori di Lily, che parlano raramente tra di loro e solo di faccende pratiche, rivelando una forte chiusura mentale.
Il nostro protagonista ha un padre al quale non ha mai rivolto la parola in tutta la vita ed una madre devota alla famiglia che si sacrifica per il bene dei figli. Tutto questo è portato all' esasperazione, o forse la situazione era davvero così estremizzata, ma mi sono infastidita. Io sono nata ottant'anni dopo quel periodo e non riesco a capacitarmi di come una donna si possa reprimere e umiliare tanto! Questa madre che, pur di evitare l' onta di un matrimonio sacrilego, passa sopra i sentimenti della figlia e si finge cieca e sorda a quell' amore mi irrita!
Mi ha infastidito non poco anche il finale: festa in strada, birra, pacche sulle spalle, gran risate con questa sensazione di avere qualcuno all' orecchio che ti sussurra "tutto è bene quel che finisce bene" ! Dopo duecentonovanta pagine di disperazione, tutto si risolve nelle ultime venti pagine come se niente fosse! Però poi, tranquilli, nella prima parte dell' epilogo si viene, oso dire, quasi rassicurati da altre disgrazie!
A questo libro strappalacrime assegno tre stelle. Sì, sono senza cuore! :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 27, 2020
I enjoyed this memoir written when the author was in his 90’s and 4 years prior to his passing. He writes about his childhood in England; being Jewish and living with Christians on the other side of the street, an invisible divide between them. I thought the book did a good job of depicting this past and current issue. I would be open to reading the two sequels! 9/10.
November 21, 2024
SPOILER ALERT: This book was chosen by my book group. The author, Harry Bernstein recounts his childhood from the age of 4 in the early 20th century in the English mill town of Stockport in northern England and was written when he was in his 90’s. His memoir is about the invisible wall in his neighborhood with the Christians on one side, Jews on the other during a time when England allowed European Jews escaping persecution into the country. Many people with reviews said that the separation had to do with religion, but it was not due to religion. Even though, the family were observant Jews, whose life revolved around the Sabbath and Holy Days, it had more to do with a cultural divide… and the strong feelings about not assimilating into the general non-Jewish population..
Harry recounts the divides that separated people that lived within feet of each other. He tells of the torment he and his siblings faced daily from the Christian kids as well as the torment and love in his own family with an abusive father... His father worked in a tailor shop, while his mother struggled to feed, clothe, and educate their children. Much of his father's meager salary went for his drinking and gambling, and the family was poorer than most.
The two sides come together briefly from time to time. Tragedy unites the two sides as families lost sons in WW I. Sometimes the wall came down and humanity won but, inevitably, the wall went back up.
Harry's older sister did the unthinkable and married a boy from the other side of the street. This sister represented a movement of the time where she believed in Communism and felt the revolution would “fix” society even after a rabbi from the Soviet Union told her stories about how awful life was under Communism after the revolution. Marrying a non-Jew was one of the worst things that a person could do in their community and when her mother was about to send her to America to “save her”, she ran off with the non-Jewish boy.
At the end of the book, Harry and his wife return to the street some 40 yrs later. I listened to the audio book and enjoyed it very much.
Harry recounts the divides that separated people that lived within feet of each other. He tells of the torment he and his siblings faced daily from the Christian kids as well as the torment and love in his own family with an abusive father... His father worked in a tailor shop, while his mother struggled to feed, clothe, and educate their children. Much of his father's meager salary went for his drinking and gambling, and the family was poorer than most.
The two sides come together briefly from time to time. Tragedy unites the two sides as families lost sons in WW I. Sometimes the wall came down and humanity won but, inevitably, the wall went back up.
Harry's older sister did the unthinkable and married a boy from the other side of the street. This sister represented a movement of the time where she believed in Communism and felt the revolution would “fix” society even after a rabbi from the Soviet Union told her stories about how awful life was under Communism after the revolution. Marrying a non-Jew was one of the worst things that a person could do in their community and when her mother was about to send her to America to “save her”, she ran off with the non-Jewish boy.
At the end of the book, Harry and his wife return to the street some 40 yrs later. I listened to the audio book and enjoyed it very much.
April 22, 2009
It took me a long time to read this book. There were so many times that I wanted to shut it for good, but I kept reading it, in hopes that it would get better. It could have been a powerful memoir. The events he witnessed growing up are really incredible and worth sharing. But the story is just not told well at all. It lacks emotion. The narration is completely flat. Every time something tragic happened, I felt absolutely nothing for the characters. I had a hard time telling the neighbors apart from one another. The book, overall, is in need of some major editing. It wasn't until I was more than half way through the book that I finally became interested in the story, and even then, there were many things that bugged me. I had high expectations for this book when I started--perhaps too high--and I ended the book thoroughly disappointed
April 24, 2017
Can't say enough about this book, I couldn't wait to read it, then I found it hard to put down and thought about while not reading it and now I'm done can't wait to get my hands on the sequel. Thank you Harry for writing these wonderful stories and making us believe we can accomplish amazing things, even in our 90's! I know these books are based on his childhood which makes them all the more riveting. I'm very glad I've bought my own copy, its a re-read for sure. His mother is amazing and his love for his family shines through. The only thing that makes me sad is that the main topic is the anti-semitism and I fear 100 years later some places/people have not improved their attitudes.
May 9, 2020
I was enthralled with this book from the start, and it kept my interest. This was a short, but powerful, memoir. The writing was very good and brought Harry’s street to life, including the invisible wall between the Christian and Jewish sides of his street. Yet, despite this divide, there was also a sense of community. I’m looking forward to reading the next memoir, which starts where this ends.
January 1, 2026
Memoir written when the author was 93 years old. His debut novel following the death of his wife.
World War l
English mill town.
One side of the street are Jews. The other side Christians
World War l
English mill town.
One side of the street are Jews. The other side Christians
April 13, 2019
This is an amazing true story written by a 96 year old man. In fact, Harry wrote three books after age 96. He wrote this book conversationally and it was about him growing up in a Jewish family on a street where one side were Jews and the other side of the street Christians. The street served as an invisible wall between the two religious groups.
Bernstein tells the stories of his brothers and sisters growing up and how they lived on the same street as their Christian neighbors but it might as well been in a different city. As it turns out, one of his older sisters fell in love with a Christian boy across the street and Harry served as a mediatior for years and had to keep the romance hidden from his family because of their rules and regulations. Jews and Christians just did not mix.
It was easy to read and told an amazing story of the tough times that often occurred because of the bias and insensitivity that were so prevalent during those years because of the wall. One learns that people are people and have the same desires, needs, and problems no matter their religion. It appears that old traditions and habits are almost impossible to break and the older one is, the harder it is to show any kind of flexibility or compassion.
Walls make it difficult if not impossible to communicate. Breaking down a wall comes at a great cost. It is not easy but it does and can happen with the right motivation and willingness to persevere. "The Invisible Wall" is a moving book that I highly recommend and one that can better enable us to understand differences that exist between human beings due to hidden barriers that are unreasonable.
Bernstein tells the stories of his brothers and sisters growing up and how they lived on the same street as their Christian neighbors but it might as well been in a different city. As it turns out, one of his older sisters fell in love with a Christian boy across the street and Harry served as a mediatior for years and had to keep the romance hidden from his family because of their rules and regulations. Jews and Christians just did not mix.
It was easy to read and told an amazing story of the tough times that often occurred because of the bias and insensitivity that were so prevalent during those years because of the wall. One learns that people are people and have the same desires, needs, and problems no matter their religion. It appears that old traditions and habits are almost impossible to break and the older one is, the harder it is to show any kind of flexibility or compassion.
Walls make it difficult if not impossible to communicate. Breaking down a wall comes at a great cost. It is not easy but it does and can happen with the right motivation and willingness to persevere. "The Invisible Wall" is a moving book that I highly recommend and one that can better enable us to understand differences that exist between human beings due to hidden barriers that are unreasonable.
February 26, 2021
I heard about this memoir in a continuing ed class for work. The author was 93 years old when he wrote the story of his life in England during WWI, the invisible wall down his street separating the Christians from the Jews, and the love story between his sister and one of the Christian boys across the street. I haven't read such a beautiful story for quite a while and I certainly haven't cried so hard. The audio is well done, though I admit, I couldn't listen fast enough and grabbed the book so I could read it faster.
May 24, 2017
‘The Invisible Wall’ describes a virtual line, which separated two rows of houses in a working-class, mill town, in Lancashire, during the early 1900’s. Christians lived on one side of the road and Jews on the other. The author explained that although geographically the distance was only yards between the two streets, socially, the people were miles apart. There was no hostility between the two groups of people, who lived on the street, but they rarely mixed and there were unwritten rules when circumstances demanded. One thing the Jews and Christians had in common, during that time, was poverty. They were difficult times. The story is told through the eyes of Harry Bernstein, from when he was 4 years old.
Harry was a Jew. His mother had five children and struggled to make ends meet. His father earned a little as a tailor, but he spent much of his wages on drink and gambling - and he resented the pittance he gave to Harry’s mother. She just about survived by receiving groceries on ‘tick’ – which was sometimes refused, causing her extreme embarrassment. But she was resilient – and resourceful. Harry explained how she earned a few pennies by running a small business from their house.
Harry, his two sisters and mother were afraid of the patriarch. Their fear wasn’t unfounded. There was an incident that specifically stood out in my mind: Harry’s sister, Lilly, had won a place at grammar school; she hoped that through education she could better herself. It was her dream to become a teacher. But her draconian father refused to let her continue her studies; he wanted her to begin work and earn money. Harry depicted a distressing scene, when his father dragged Lilly through the streets by her hair, towards the tailor factory, where he wanted her to work.
Through Harry, I felt I knew the characters. He has a gift of describing people and events so clearly that it’s possible to visualise his story in vivid detail. I got to know the people so intimately, that during the war, I felt I cared about the young men from both sides of the street. The terror felt by the residents, when Emily, the telegraph girl, rode by on her daily rounds, was almost palpable. The fear for some became a reality; they received telegrams informing them that their love one had either been killed or injured.
Through Harry’s memoirs, I learned a lot about Jewish culture: When Harry’s sister, Lilly, broke the ultimate taboo by secretly marrying Arthur, a Christian boy, who lived across the road – the family disowned her. They even held a Sitting Shiva, where people gathered at their house and mourned her as though she was dead. Lilly and Arthur had been meeting clandestinely, but the discovery of their relationship helped to expedite their marriage, because Lilly’s family had arranged to send her to America to live with relatives.
The ‘Invisible Wall’ made a deep impression on me. It stayed with me for a long time after reading it. At the end of Harry’s biographical account of the people in the street in which he grew up - the epilogue explains what happened to each of them. It was like saying goodbye to old friends.
Harry was a Jew. His mother had five children and struggled to make ends meet. His father earned a little as a tailor, but he spent much of his wages on drink and gambling - and he resented the pittance he gave to Harry’s mother. She just about survived by receiving groceries on ‘tick’ – which was sometimes refused, causing her extreme embarrassment. But she was resilient – and resourceful. Harry explained how she earned a few pennies by running a small business from their house.
Harry, his two sisters and mother were afraid of the patriarch. Their fear wasn’t unfounded. There was an incident that specifically stood out in my mind: Harry’s sister, Lilly, had won a place at grammar school; she hoped that through education she could better herself. It was her dream to become a teacher. But her draconian father refused to let her continue her studies; he wanted her to begin work and earn money. Harry depicted a distressing scene, when his father dragged Lilly through the streets by her hair, towards the tailor factory, where he wanted her to work.
Through Harry, I felt I knew the characters. He has a gift of describing people and events so clearly that it’s possible to visualise his story in vivid detail. I got to know the people so intimately, that during the war, I felt I cared about the young men from both sides of the street. The terror felt by the residents, when Emily, the telegraph girl, rode by on her daily rounds, was almost palpable. The fear for some became a reality; they received telegrams informing them that their love one had either been killed or injured.
Through Harry’s memoirs, I learned a lot about Jewish culture: When Harry’s sister, Lilly, broke the ultimate taboo by secretly marrying Arthur, a Christian boy, who lived across the road – the family disowned her. They even held a Sitting Shiva, where people gathered at their house and mourned her as though she was dead. Lilly and Arthur had been meeting clandestinely, but the discovery of their relationship helped to expedite their marriage, because Lilly’s family had arranged to send her to America to live with relatives.
The ‘Invisible Wall’ made a deep impression on me. It stayed with me for a long time after reading it. At the end of Harry’s biographical account of the people in the street in which he grew up - the epilogue explains what happened to each of them. It was like saying goodbye to old friends.
September 18, 2016
"...arry"
Appena finito di leggerlo, solo una parola...bello !!
Harry, Lily, Arthur, sono solo alcuni dei nomi dei personaggi di questo libro che ho racchiuso nel mio cuore, per non dimenticare la signora Bernstein, grande donna.
E ancora una volta sono le donne a essere grandi protagoniste, questa mamma, che si
ritrova da sola a dover crescere e mandare avanti un'intera famiglia, ben 6 figli, instancabile, fiera e coraggiosa e salda nei suoi principi.
Siamo agli inizi del 1900 poco prima che scoppi la prima guerra mondiale, un libro autobiografico, raccontato con gli occhi e la dolcezza di Harry, 9 anni, guardatevi
la copertina del libro, per me bellissima.
Racconta, in prima persona della sua infanzia, nel seno di questa famiglia e sopratutto di come è vivere in quella determinata strada, tra povertà, stenti e diverse ideologie.
Una strada divisa da "un muro invisibile" che divide i cristiani dagli ebrei..
È mancata la 5 stellina perche il finale buonista "da vissero felici e contenti" mi ha lasciata perplessa..
"Si piegò sulla culla e prese il bambino in braccio e lo tenne stretto a sè, e ci fu
un espressione sul suo viso che già le avevo visto prima, altre volte.
Era stessa che aveva quando guardava il suo bambino, o uno chiunque di noi, ed era
uno sguardo che solo una mamma può avere."
Appena finito di leggerlo, solo una parola...bello !!
Harry, Lily, Arthur, sono solo alcuni dei nomi dei personaggi di questo libro che ho racchiuso nel mio cuore, per non dimenticare la signora Bernstein, grande donna.
E ancora una volta sono le donne a essere grandi protagoniste, questa mamma, che si
ritrova da sola a dover crescere e mandare avanti un'intera famiglia, ben 6 figli, instancabile, fiera e coraggiosa e salda nei suoi principi.
Siamo agli inizi del 1900 poco prima che scoppi la prima guerra mondiale, un libro autobiografico, raccontato con gli occhi e la dolcezza di Harry, 9 anni, guardatevi
la copertina del libro, per me bellissima.
Racconta, in prima persona della sua infanzia, nel seno di questa famiglia e sopratutto di come è vivere in quella determinata strada, tra povertà, stenti e diverse ideologie.
Una strada divisa da "un muro invisibile" che divide i cristiani dagli ebrei..
È mancata la 5 stellina perche il finale buonista "da vissero felici e contenti" mi ha lasciata perplessa..
"Si piegò sulla culla e prese il bambino in braccio e lo tenne stretto a sè, e ci fu
un espressione sul suo viso che già le avevo visto prima, altre volte.
Era stessa che aveva quando guardava il suo bambino, o uno chiunque di noi, ed era
uno sguardo che solo una mamma può avere."
December 11, 2017
I kept thinking of Call the Midwife and Angela’s Ashes...kind of a mash up, but with Jews and Catholics instead. I liked it, it was a quick listen, not quite as tragic, but I think that’s because he didn’t write it with that focus. It was interesting that he lived through both wars, but didn’t personally serve in either. Very interesting childhood.
June 22, 2011
You are never too old to tell your story.
And at the age of 96, Harry Bernstein did just that.
Growing up in Manchester, England on the eve of World War I, Harry details in stunning prose the “invisible wall” that divides his neighborhood – that of Christians on one side and Jews on the other. His father a drunk, and his mother providing for 5 children (eventually 6), Harry’s childhood was filled with poverty, depravity, and neglect, but also a genuine amount of love.
More often than not, neither side of the street would have anything to do with one another. On the occasion of the Jewish Sabbath, a “goy” (or Christian neighbor) would cross the street to perform the necessary duties (light a fire, put a pot on to boil), in order for the Jews to keep strict Sabbath day observance. But that was the extent, for the most part, of their interactions.
The seriousness of this divide was made evident when a Jewish neighbor, Sarah, fell in love with a Christian, Freddy. When the romance was discovered, “shivah,” or mourning of the dead, was performed by Sarah’s family, and she was exiled to Australia.
It is miraculous that Mr. Bernstein can recall in such vivid detail the scenes from his early childhood. He is exact when remembering his home, his mother, the dialogue between his mother and siblings, the beatings he took from the bullies on the street. His portrait of his father is menacing…and we learn that after his mother died, Harry never saw him again.
Ultimately, this was the story of Harry’s sister Lily, and her own romance with Arthur (a Christian), that grabs hold of your heart and won’t let you go. Determined to break with religion, tradition, and risk all that they have, including their lives, for love, Arthur and Lily forge their own way in this very structured society. Harry’s portrayal of how their love bridges the divide is truly magnificent.
Sadly, Mr. Bernstein died two weeks ago at the age of 101.
He published two other works, The Dream, which chronicles his life once he emigrated to America, and The Golden Willow, about his life with his wife of 67 years, Ruby.
I was touched by this story.
But even more so by Mr. Bernstein, that even at the age of 96, you can still grab hold of your dreams.
And at the age of 96, Harry Bernstein did just that.
Growing up in Manchester, England on the eve of World War I, Harry details in stunning prose the “invisible wall” that divides his neighborhood – that of Christians on one side and Jews on the other. His father a drunk, and his mother providing for 5 children (eventually 6), Harry’s childhood was filled with poverty, depravity, and neglect, but also a genuine amount of love.
More often than not, neither side of the street would have anything to do with one another. On the occasion of the Jewish Sabbath, a “goy” (or Christian neighbor) would cross the street to perform the necessary duties (light a fire, put a pot on to boil), in order for the Jews to keep strict Sabbath day observance. But that was the extent, for the most part, of their interactions.
The seriousness of this divide was made evident when a Jewish neighbor, Sarah, fell in love with a Christian, Freddy. When the romance was discovered, “shivah,” or mourning of the dead, was performed by Sarah’s family, and she was exiled to Australia.
It is miraculous that Mr. Bernstein can recall in such vivid detail the scenes from his early childhood. He is exact when remembering his home, his mother, the dialogue between his mother and siblings, the beatings he took from the bullies on the street. His portrait of his father is menacing…and we learn that after his mother died, Harry never saw him again.
Ultimately, this was the story of Harry’s sister Lily, and her own romance with Arthur (a Christian), that grabs hold of your heart and won’t let you go. Determined to break with religion, tradition, and risk all that they have, including their lives, for love, Arthur and Lily forge their own way in this very structured society. Harry’s portrayal of how their love bridges the divide is truly magnificent.
Sadly, Mr. Bernstein died two weeks ago at the age of 101.
He published two other works, The Dream, which chronicles his life once he emigrated to America, and The Golden Willow, about his life with his wife of 67 years, Ruby.
I was touched by this story.
But even more so by Mr. Bernstein, that even at the age of 96, you can still grab hold of your dreams.
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