Review for The Girl from Krakow by Alex Rosenberg

The Girl from Krakow by Alex Rosenberg
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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.

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