2020/4 Early Thoughts on Edith Eger's The Choice: Embrace the Possible APRIL POLL WINNER

[Jan]

This discussion is for early thoughts and reactions to The Choice, including to the fact we voted it in last month, not knowing life would have changed dramatically since then.

[Shelley]

I read the reviews of this book- all of them spectacular. I want to read it as it is a memoir of a remarkable woman. I just don’t want to read it right now. I am not trying to escape- but I recognize that the bombardment of news including a running tally of deaths from covid-19 and being alone in my house for weeks already has eroded my willingness to immerse myself in what the reviews describe as detailed depictions of Nazi cruelty and torture.

[Jan]

Shelley wrote: "I read the reviews of this book- all of them spectacular. I want to read it as it is a memoir of a remarkable woman. I just don’t want to read it right now. I am not trying to escape- but I recogni..."

Makes perfect sense, Shirley. There's no required reading here, and considering your position, you're best off postponing. A decision best made by each person. I hope you can find one of the other books to interact with others about and counter that aloneness. Have you read one or both of the books for this month?

[Jan]

Jan wrote: "...Makes perfect sense, Shirley. There's no re.."

Sorry about renaming you, Shelley! Not something that would make you feel less alone! 🤭

[Jan]

I have it and hope to give it a whirl soon.

[Jan]

I'm nearing the end now. 100 more pages. Aspects I really liked interspersed with a few disappointing. I'll soon find out how she ends it.

[Jan]

Right off the bat, this book was helpful, despite the Holocaust subject matter or to some extent because of it. The author hadn't lived through what we're dealing with now but had gone through something that upended life as she knew it. I did have some criticisms and will put them in the "conclusions" discussion.

Just goes to show that no two people read the same book (as if we doubted that)!