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In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist
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In the courtyard of the Kabbalist
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Mimi
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rated it 4 stars
Jan 13, 2015 02:28AM
I enjoyed this book between the old sick Arab and the could be rabbi! There was a connection between them in the streets they took care of!
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Our shul book review club discussed it and I reviewed it for the Association of Jewish Libraries. It was beautifully written.
I really enjoyed reading this book and I wrote a review of it on my book blog. If you would like to read it then please do.http://leftontheshelfbookblog.blogspo...
Anna wrote: "I really enjoyed reading this book and I wrote a review of it on my book blog. If you would like to read it then please do.http://leftontheshelfbookblog.blogspo......"
I just went to the link and read your review, which I liked very much. I also wrote a comment, but I don't think it sent because I am not signed up with Google (or if I am, I forgot my pass word).
Lilo wrote: "Anna wrote: "I really enjoyed reading this book and I wrote a review of it on my book blog. If you would like to read it then please do.http://leftontheshelfbookblog.blogspo......"
Hi Lilo, you are right. Your comment didn't come through but I am glad you liked the review. The book was really lovely and I really enjoyed it.
Anna wrote: "Lilo wrote: "Anna wrote: "I really enjoyed reading this book and I wrote a review of it on my book blog. If you would like to read it then please do.http://leftontheshelfbookblog.blogspo......"
I think I commented that the book sounds very interesting but that I won't have time to read it any time soon, as I don't read fiction, these days. I am still all into reading non-fiction European history of the 20th century (and have just recently started reading some non-fiction about Israel).
You must know that I am German and that I grew up in Hitler's Germany during WWII. My family (and actually all our relatives and friends) were non-Nazi. Yet we were surrounded by Nazis and even murderous SS criminals. Relatives of our Nazi landlady prided themselves with having thrown Jewish children onto the pavement from 4th floor windows, and Anton Thumann (whom you might wish to google) only lived 2 houses away from us.
I am so utterly disgusted about how the Third Reich and the Holocaust were swiped under the table, in Germany, after the war. It was a total conversation tabu and is probably to this day. (I live in Utah and haven't visited Germany since 2006. So I can't tell for sure.)
Our history teachers started 3x with the old Greeks and stopped each time around 1900, avoiding the infamous German/European history of the first half of the 20th century like the plague. -- I also never saw any related books in bookstores. They must have been hidden on upper or lower shelves. Thus, I had no idea that there were any and, therefore, never asked or searched for any.
It wasn't until I joined Goodreads (in April 2013) and found Amazon that I discovered the abundance of books covering this era. (Up until then, I had only occasionally come across any such books.) So I have a lot of catching up to do.
Lilo wrote: "Anna wrote: "Lilo wrote: "Anna wrote: "I really enjoyed reading this book and I wrote a review of it on my book blog. If you would like to read it then please do.http://leftontheshelfbookblog.blog..."
Hello Lilo, You obviously witnessed some very upsetting scenes during your childhood and it must have been terrifying to be a child growing up in such times. I see you have written a book of your memoirs concerning your time as a child in Germany. Can you tell me more about that as I would be very interested in reading it.
I recently read Hanns and Rudolf: The True Story of the German Jew Who Tracked Down and Caught the Kommandant of Auschwitz which I found incredibly moving but I am very glad that I read it even though some of it was difficult to read due to the subject matter.
I am glad to hear that you have found some good books here on Goodreads.
Hi, Anna,I didn't really witness any upsetting scenes, but I heard of this bragging about these terrible murders. My mother had run into the house and had to throw up, after these SS guys had bragged to her. This incident shocked me beyond measure. Learning no details about the Holocaust -- believe it or not -- until the 1990s, it was the memory of these poor Jewish children that followed me throughout life.
When I started school, 5 months after the war was over, I had to sit next to the younger daughter of one of these murderous SS brothers. I did not like it. (Btw, one of these guys came away unscathed and lived to a rip old age. The other one is said to have shot himself, in April 1945, but there is reason to believe that he just faked his suicide and escaped.)
My early-childhood memoir is still not published because we have been haunted by Murphy's law. Wildfire, flash floods, health problems, etc., etc. -- you name it, we have had it.
Once my book will be published, the e-version will be for free for a certain time. Meanwhile, any of my Jewish friends (and I consider all Jews my friends), can obtain the PDF of my book (if they write me a PM and give me their e-mail address). The only problem is that PDFs are rather bothersome to read. They either have to be read on the computer, or one has to put up with it that they "swim" on the monitor of e-readers.
Once my book will be published (which should happen within a few months unless another disaster hits us), I'll announce it in this group when the book is available for free.
"Hanns and Rudolf" is on my TBR-list. I might have already bought the book. Yet I am terribly backlogged with all my reading, so I don't know when I will get around to read it.
I have read Lilo's book and found it to be an eye-opener to say the least! I think it is an extraordinary story; one that would be of great interest to many people.
Mirta wrote: "I have read Lilo's book and found it to be an eye-opener to say the least! I think it is an extraordinary story; one that would be of great interest to many people."Thank you, Mirta. I don't consider my book anything great, but I think it conveys what life was like in Germany, during WWII; that is, if you were a non-Nazi family, surrounded by Nazis.
Another, similar, but more important book than mine, is "My Name Was Five", by my GR friend, Heinz Kohler. Heinz is 7 years older than I am. Thus, he came to "enjoy" a Nazi teacher (and later, communist teachers). Heinz also grew up in a non-Nazi family. His father, a socialist, spent years in a concentration camp, and Heinz had the bad luck to live where more of the action was, that is, in Berlin. While Berlin, the capital of Germany, seemed to be better supplied (with food, toys, etc.) than our small town, it was, of course, much more dangerous there. I think reading both books would give a much wider view of what life was like in Germany during this era. I consider Heinz's book more important than mine, but think that my book complements Heinz's book well.
In case anyone is interested, here is the link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
