TLC Book Tours Book Review: The Brothers of Auschwitz

About The Brothers of Auschwitz

• Paperback : 464 pages

• Publisher : One More Chapter (September 1, 2020) 

  An extraordinary novel of hope and heartbreak, this is a story about a family separated by the Holocaust and their harrowing journey back to each other. There was a good orchestra at Auschwitz. I could immediately hear it was good. I almost wept for the beauty of it, but the large pile of striped pajamas stayed in my mind, and I didn’t cry… Dov and Yitzhak live in a small village in the mountains of Hungary, isolated both from the world and from the horrors of the war. But one day in 1944, everything changes. The Nazis storm the homes of the Jewish villagers and inform them they have one hour. One hour before the train will take them to Auschwitz. Six decades later, from the safety of their living rooms at home in Israel, the brothers finally break their silence to a friend who will never let their stories be forgotten. Narrated in a poetic style reminiscent of Margaret Atwood, Malka Adler has penned a visceral yet essential read for those who have found strength, solace and above all, hope, in books like The Choice by Edith Eger and The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe. Social Media Please use the hashtag #thebrothersofauschwitz, and tag @tlcbooktours and @harpercollins360.

   

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Review: If you are in a bad place mentally this may not be the book for you. I know for me it was a hard read. The material is heavy and not at all uplifting.

Let me say that it has nothing to do with the book. It is wonderfully written but its about Auschwitz so its not the prettiest of subjects.  There are no hearts and flowers here. It is one big downer, though it is a book that shows even in the worst conditions survival can happen.

Dov and Yitzhak are brothers that made it through the holocaust.  I think that alone should sum up this book. I wish there had been a better timeline for the reader though. There are parts of the story in the past and then in 2001. The brother's stories feel disjointed and that made it very difficult for me because it felt off.

We were never aware of what point it was during the war it was just the torture that the two young men went through until the war ended.

To say this book hurt my heart would be an understatement. It is so hard to believe that people were treated in this way. 

The sister's brief story near the end came out of nowhere.

This book is fiction but it is based on real people, which makes it more depressing, because these horrific things really happened to people.

It broke my heart, repeatedly.

Not exactly the type of book you should read when you are depressed. I was really glad when I was finally finished. It left me totally drained.

Still it paints a pretty accurate portrait of one of humanities darkest periods

Rating: 4 flowers

About Malka Adler

Malka Adler was born in a small village near the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. She began her work as an author when she turned 50. After taking a creative writing course, she fell in love with the art. Malka has written six books, four of which are about the Holocaust. She obtained her undergraduate and graduate degrees in educational counselling at Bar Ilan University and is a family and couples' therapist, writer and facilitator of several reading clubs.