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The Girl from Krakow A Novel Alex Rosenberg Books

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The Girl from Krakow A Novel Alex Rosenberg Books

This is an excellent novel not only about "The Girl from Krakow," but about the emancipated/assiimmilated Jewish middle class of Poland. The story takes place in 1935-47, mostly in Poland, but with several chapters in Spain, Russia and Germany as well. All but one of the important characters survive, but the tone and ending are not really happy. However, the characters are well developed and the ending reflects the millieu. The millieu of the various countries is also accurate, although it may come as a surprise to readers not familiar with the countries. There is also some sex, including homosexual and lesbian, but it is tastefully handled and appeared a logical part of the story. There are many twists and much suspense - a real page turner. The life of the protagonists may seem fantastic or at least fanciful, but Occupied Europe and especially Poland, were very strange places and there are documented stories of survival which easily fall into the "stranger than fiction" category.
As for nitpicking: an oberst is not a captain, the few German phrases in the book are mostly wrong.and the US 44th Infantry Division probably did not liberate Heidelberg. There is also a lot about the implications of Darwinism and this part might have been shorter.
But, all in all, this book is definitely one to read and keep.


Tags : Amazon.com: The Girl from Krakow: A Novel (9781477830819): Alex Rosenberg: Books,Alex Rosenberg,The Girl from Krakow: A Novel,Lake Union Publishing,1477830812,American Historical Fiction,Audiobook; Audio; Book; CD; Historical; Fiction; Literature,FICTION Historical General,FICTION War & Military,Fiction,Fiction - Historical,Fiction Historical,Fiction Literary,Fiction Thrillers Historical,FictionLiterary,FictionThrillers - Historical,Germany - History - 1933-1945,Historical,Historical - General,Historical fiction,Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945),Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945);Fiction.,Literary,Secrecy;Fiction.,Survival,Survival;Fiction.,Thrillers - Historical,War & Military,War fiction,War stories,World War, 1939-1945,World War, 1939-1945 - Jews

The Girl from Krakow A Novel Alex Rosenberg Books Reviews

This review is for The Girl from Krakow by Alex Rosenberg

The Holocaust affected the lives in one way or another, of almost every living person on Earth. I’m not really sure how to follow that sentence without sounding ignorant, shallow, or discompassionate. But that’s the first thing that comes to mind as I find myself gravitating towards stories of the people (real or fictional) that lived through it and those that did not. In a time when information is so readily available, and news spreads quickly, it’s easy to take for granted what the Jewish people and their supporters went through; how easily the Third Reich ripped apart humanity and nearly succeeded in wiping out an entire people.

Of course, even today, we see the makings of monsters and hear the whispers of genocide on the wind via the internet, but even so, I have to wonder if society, given the ability to know things a million times faster than our predecessors 80 years ago, would we take the necessary measures to STOP history from repeating itself? Or will we just sit back and watch until the threat once again, landed upon our doorstep?

Um, sorry… political musings in a book review are probably weird. Moving on, I’d say that for “The Girl from Krakow”, I’d give it a 4.5. I didn’t absolutely LOVE it, but it was an excellent read. Both M/Cs have the unmistakable knack for quick thinking and resourcefulness, and the ‘luck’ of not ‘looking’ or appearing quite so Jewish. This, again, is ironic because of how varied in appearance, ethnicity, and nationality, the Jewish people really are. We saw that same thing immediately following 9-11 when Hindu and Sikh people were harassed and even murdered for being suspected “Muslim Terrorists”…

Plot So, moving on… The plot of this story is believable, in a ‘Modern day horror story equivalent’ kind of way. The story follows both Rita and Tadeusz (her love interest), in alternating chapters, 3rd person POV, as they both manage to (barely) survive Nazi Europe. As both Rita and Tadeusz live their separate lives in their own attempts at survival, you feel that at some point these two brief lovers might find a way back to each other. At times, however, it doesn’t look like they will, and their paths look bleak, especially having the advantage as a reader in the future, knowing the past and how most Jews on the run (& Jewish people in general) faired.

*Dear Reader I apologize for such a long review. Obviously, this story stirred something in me.

Characters Rita ended up being a strong heroine who found herself and her strength through an amazingly rich and terrifying and heartbreaking few years as a Jewess hiding in plain sight. She lost so much, as many like her did, and she still managed to not break at the end, when the final pieces of the puzzle had been put into place. Had she been a real/non-fictional woman, I’m almost certain she’d have gone on to become an ambassador or Civil Rights leader… or the bare minimum, she would’ve been someone that young people could look up to, as she had all the makings of a person strong of character and convictions.

Tadeusz was crafty and intelligent, and in the end, a hopeless romantic. He thoughtfully made his own destiny, and his forethought served him well.

The Writing The writing is the type that says a lot in very little. Sure there are detailed scenes in here, but I appreciate when the expanse of a few (somewhat ordinary) months can be skipped over & summed up in a paragraph or two.

In Case You Wanted to Know As far as details go, it’s a WWII Holocaust Novel, if this book spared any of the imagery that those people witnessed, for the sake of the reader, it would NOT (IMO) do the victims/survivors of (it) justice. So, yes, there are details… none of which made me turn away or have to put the book down.

Maybe I’m odd, but I just feel that if an author does the research and talks to people who lived through it and then from that info, constructs a story BASED on that information, then it is only right to read through it and feel some of their pain; to connect to the past, etc.

Overall As you can hopefully tell, I liked this novel. Again, I couldn’t say I LOVED it, because it being Historical Fiction and all, plus the subject matter, means that even though it had a mostly HEA ending, there was still too much (unnecessary for ANY human being to EVER go through) realistic pain to had to have been gone through, that couldn’t be excused as artistic liberty by the author and/or fantasy. Unimagined horrors, meaning, not made-up, have NO PLACE in any society… and yet, they do exist.
When I first started this novel, I thought I was going to love it. That didn't happen. Although Rita's story was compelling and the events interesting, I found Rita unlikable at best. Rita, the main character, bounces from sexual encounter to sexual encounter against a background of WWII Nazi occupation of Poland with little discrimination and no soul.

For example, when Rita is first married, she tries to engage her new husband sexually by flouncing around their house in a negligee. I wanted to laugh because, of course, that's the best way to get a man's interest. right? And the only way to achieve any kind of intimacy with someone of the opposite sex, apparently. Oh well, I thought, she's young. She'll learn. Then there is her lover, her male gay roommate, her girlfriend, and on and on she goes.

As Rita moves from person to person, she is only able, it seems, to connect physically. There is no connection on an intellectual, emotional or spiritual level that I could detect with any of her partners. There is no passion that invites us into her as a living, breathing person. It's just sex with just about anyone who crosses her path. I don't mind sexual episodes in the books I read, even explicit ones if it adds to the story, but those in this book were about as erotic as reading a medical textbook on the subject because there was no real connection between the participants. Even her next to last relationship goes from brief anger to, "Oh look who is here!" I kept waiting for someone or something to crack her open. That didn't happen.

And as a mother, I can say with pretty much certainty that no mother would make the kind of decision she did in an afternoon on a park bench.
It took a little while to get into but once I was vested I read 300 of the 400 something pages in one day. Gripping and heartbreaking.

Upon reading some of the reviews here I decided to edit my review and include more detail.

Yes there were some sex scenes, they weren't too graphic and were certainly not the highlight of the chapter they were in. When living in constant fear does carpe diem not eventually set in? I found some of the 1star reviews complaining about this very unfair and narrow minded. Blessed and lucky are we all do never have had to face such emotional turmoil to lose our inhibitions for sake of not becoming numb.

The ending left me sobbing.
This is an excellent novel not only about "The Girl from Krakow," but about the emancipated/assiimmilated Jewish middle class of Poland. The story takes place in 1935-47, mostly in Poland, but with several chapters in Spain, Russia and Germany as well. All but one of the important characters survive, but the tone and ending are not really happy. However, the characters are well developed and the ending reflects the millieu. The millieu of the various countries is also accurate, although it may come as a surprise to readers not familiar with the countries. There is also some sex, including homosexual and lesbian, but it is tastefully handled and appeared a logical part of the story. There are many twists and much suspense - a real page turner. The life of the protagonists may seem fantastic or at least fanciful, but Occupied Europe and especially Poland, were very strange places and there are documented stories of survival which easily fall into the "stranger than fiction" category.
As for nitpicking an oberst is not a captain, the few German phrases in the book are mostly wrong.and the US 44th Infantry Division probably did not liberate Heidelberg. There is also a lot about the implications of Darwinism and this part might have been shorter.
But, all in all, this book is definitely one to read and keep.