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Book Review: Always With Me by Ariela Ben Ari

June 4, 2019 Leave a Comment

Title: Always With Me
Author: Ariela Ben Ari
Genre: Memoir, Spirituality
Rating: 4,5 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This is the story of a significant life, loving and happiness despite the absent, the break, the loss.

This is the story of a man and woman, a blessed couple, who spent their time together, hand in hand. This is a song about joy, togetherness, and deep faith. This is a story of love that survives separation by illness and then death.

This is a love story. A bigger- than- life love story. This is a story about a love that is resilient and pure in the face of crisis, disappointment and unimaginable health challenges. This is a story of heroism; spirit reigning over the body and its realities.

This is a story of how the movement of life provides us with opposites and how we grow from polarities such as:

Death and Life

Darkness and Light

Spiritual Distance and Closeness

The Hidden and the Exposed

Desperation and Hope

This is a story of dedication, light, the good, grace, hope, faith, confidence and love – Always With Me.

Always With Me is an inspiring memoir about love, faith, about a couple’s dedication toward one another. The book tells the, at times heartwarming, at times heartbreaking, story of author Ariela Ben Ari and her husband Moshe.

The story is very touching, and I certainly recommend reading this for anyone who has ever dealt with the loss of a loved one. As Ariela recalls her life with her husband, and then describes her life without him, you can feel the pain very vividly. I hope that writing this book worked cathartic for the author, and that it made her feel better, even if just a little. I sincerely hope the book helped her with the mourning process, and I can imagine it will also help people who are in a similar situation.

Very touching, very tragic, and brought tears to my eyes more than once.

 

Filed Under: Memoir, Memoir, Non-Fiction, Reviews Tagged With: ,

Book Review: Anything But His Soul by Moshe Bomberg

June 3, 2019 Leave a Comment

Title: Anything But His Soul
Author: Moshe Bomberg
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Rating: 5 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Meeting his brother in Auschwitz, he understood that they are all alone

A young boy’s world falls apart! He can trust no one and does not know what his tomorrow holds or if he will live to see it.

Poland 1944, Mjetek finds himself in Auschwitz after taking part in Zionist underground activities trying to fight against the Nazi occupation of Warsaw. He meets his brother and understands that their entire family has been massacred and that their days are numbered. Mjetek decides to not give up and says he is a blacksmith, though he has never worked with metal. At work in one of the factories, a melted piece of iron falls and burns him. He manages to go back to the camp and his brother takes care of him, selling his golden tooth for medical supplies. Staying in the “clinic” was supposed to be the end of Mjetek but this is actually what saves him. When his brother is marched to his death and they have to say their final goodbye.

Mjetek’s story of survival is marked with small miracles, determination and unbelievable bravery. This memoir will leave you breathless and heartbroken, yet, inspired.

In 1944 in Poland, Mjetek is captured and brought to Auschwitz, the most famous of the horrible Nazi death camps. He’s still just a young man at the time and life at camp is very tough for him, never knowing whether he will live or die, getting through each day while living in constant fear…

When he meets his brother at the camp, he realizes his entire family has been massacred, and he and his brother are the only ones left. They try to take care of each other, but when Mejtek is forced to stay at the “clinic”, he believes his days are well and truly numbered, although it might turn out that this might be his one chance at survival…

This is a heartbreaking story, to say the least. Mejtek is a survivor in every sense of the word, and it’s just horrible what he and his family had to go through. The book is actually authored by his grandson, based on a recording made by Mejtek / Moshe. The story is an inspiration, and shows the strengths of humanity, especially in the face of what can only be considered true evil.

 

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Book Review: When I Fall, I Shall Rise by Dan Shtauber

January 11, 2019 Leave a Comment

Title: When I Fall, I Shall Rise
Author: Dan Shtauber
Genre: Memoir, Nonfiction
Rating: 4,5 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

It all began in 1944 when the Germans occupied Hungary. This is when Risa Shtauber’s life turned from an ordinary life to one of surviving unspeakable horrors.
Risa was shipped together with many other Jews to the Oradea Ghetto and from there to the Plaszow Labor Camp and later to the Ober-Altstadt Labor camp. And even this was not enough… Risa was sent to the Auschwitz Death Camp to be slaughtered!
But, she survived!
Having survived, she met her husband – Mordechai Tzvi and they created a family which included 4 sons, 22 grandkids and 34 great-grandkids!
At the age of 94 and living her life in Israel, she still feels victorious when remembering those horrible years!
This book is a special gift given to Risa Shtauber during an emotional event, in the presence of all of her descendants: sons, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

I’ve read quite a few memoirs of holocaust survivors last year, and although the subject matter is harsh and depressing, I still enjoy reading them – for in every story, there’s a glimpse of hope, there’s a portrayal of hidden strength that allowed the author to survive and perhaps even more astonishing, that allowed them to live, to continue on living life, even after all the horrors they have witnessed.

Risa Shtauber is one of these survivors, a brave young man who was shipped to the Oradea Ghetto, along with many other Jews, and then was later dispatched to the Plaszow Labor Camp and Ober-Altstadt Labor Camp and eventually to arguably the most famous camp of them all: Auschwitz.

The fact that Risa survived is nothing short of a miracle. In this book, Dan Shtauber interviewed his grandmother, Risa, and was able to write down her experience through these harrowing, traumatizing years. The book was a gift from the grandson to the grandmother, and that alone already makes it unique and inspiring. Risa is truly an awe-inspiring woman, and she definitely deserves such a thoughtful gift. It’s heartwarming to know that, even in the most terrible darkness, the strength of a human soul can survive and hold on to the light. When I Fall, I Shall Rise is a fitting, inspiring title for this memoir.

Filed Under: Memoir, Memoir, Non-Fiction, Reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Book Review: The Girl From Scorpions Pass

October 21, 2018 Leave a Comment

Title: The Girl From Scorpions Pass
Author: Miri Furstenberg
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir, Autobiography, Historical
Rating: 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Five-year-old Miri is left for dead in a brutal terror attack that kills her parents!

On a desert night a little girl lies shivering under a dead body near a bullet riddled bus too frightened to cry. The violated body of her mother is strewn nearby. Her father, the bus driver, sits slumped over the wheel; his blood has mingled with that of twelve dead passengers. She cannot see her older brother.

Rescued by soldiers hours later, the horror of that night remains locked in her heart…

A few hours later an army patrol stumbles onto the scene of what the morning newspapers will call “The Massacre at Scorpions Pass.” Miri Furstenberg was five-years-old, and sixty years would pass before she finds the courage to write about that horrible night.

Until its secrets and her amazing life story are finally revealed in these pages

Miri and the State of Israel were both born in 1948, and her story is bound together with evocative scenes from the country’s own. From Tel Aviv in the austere 1950’s, to the relative comfort of kibbutz life, helping unearth Masada, and serving in uniform during the Six Day War, the author’s vivid memories and stark self-reflection make riveting reading.

The Girl From Scorpions Pass begins with a tragic, dark story. Five-year-old Miri lay shivering under a dead body never a bullet-riddled bus. She was too scared to cry. Her father, the bus driver, was dead. Her mother wasalso murdered during the massacre. All passengers were dead. Her brother ended up in a coma during this terrible event. , which would later be deemed “The Scorpions Pass Massacre”.

Five years old, and already scarred like that, it took Miri sixty years to pen down her experiences of that dreadful night. Of course there’s a lot more the author describes in this book about her life, from describing life in Tel Aviv in the 1950s to her service during the Six Day War, and much more – but it all begins on that fateful, life-altering day.

It’s horrible to think about massacres such as this one, about terrible tragedies befalling people all over the world, and it’s even more terrible when it happens to people this young. I can’t even imagine. Reading this book will no doubt bring tears in your eyes; it even made me cry. The author has a lot of vevacity and courage, and her strength shows through every page of this book.

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Book Review: Heaven and Hell by Yair Dori

October 20, 2018 1 Comment

Title: Heaven and Hell: An Inspirational Biography of a Man’s Victory Against All Odds
Author: Yair Dori
Genre: Non-Fiction, Historical, Autobiography, Memoir
Rating: 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Yair’s heroic life story will inspire and transform you!

Yair’s generation suffered the Holocaust, and his story merges with that of the State of Israel. This autobiography is the living record of a generation, crisscrossed by the personal history of a family and the most intimate fibers of Yair’s being. It is an exemplary human response to dire straits. The recurrent theme “Run, Yair, run!” is repeated throughout the book.

Run with Yair as he confronts the unspeakable and emerges triumphant

And yes, Yair Dori ran! He kept on running with indefatigable spirit for the innocent victims of the Holocaust, the dreams of his suffering people, to maintain dignity in the worst conditions, and to overcome his near-fatal physical and emotional injuries. As Yair confronted his own mortality in an Egyptian prison, garnering the strength to grapple with the most atrocious circumstances, he remembered his father’s words: “Be worthy of your life and your death.” Yair’s response: “Heaven and Hell – I regret nothing!”.

In this autobiography, Heaven and Hell, Yair Dori describes his life as he was born in Argentina and then immigrated to Israel, believing that to be the only nation where his people, the Jewish people, could truly live freely and securely. He was then drafted into the Israeli army and served in an elite infantry brigade.

In 1970, in a bloody battle with Egyptian forces, Yair was injured severely and captured by the enemy. Spending 10 months in captivity in Egypt, he went through a harrowing ordeal. His right hand was amputated, he was left blinded in his left eye. Eventually, he managed to return to Israel as part of a prisoner exchange agreement. Yet, Yair did not lose spirit. Despite the hardships, he stayd strong – he studied philosophy, got married, had children.

This is an inspiring memoir about never giving up, about looking fear in the eye and overcoming it. Yair is a strong person, and it shows through every page of this book. The writing is sublime, pulling the reader in from the first page. The story is at time harrowing, at times heart-warming, but always inspiring.

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Book Review and GIveaway The Immortal Seeds: A Tribute to Golden Treasures

July 5, 2018 Leave a Comment

Title: The Immortal Seeds: A Tribute to Golden Treasures
Author: Sambath Meas
Genre: Family Memoir
Rating: 4,5 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by Enchanted Book Promotions in exchange for an honest review.

This is a story about a father’s dream of escaping a war-torn country in search of stability and freedom, so that his children can live and thrive.

Sarin Meas, who was born and grew up in a remote village in Trangel, Kampong Chhnang, drifts from one place to another in search of a purpose, and a better life. In Pailin, a small town in western Cambodia known for its richness of gemstones, he meets a poor and uneducated girl whose daily life, from dusk until dawn, is strained by hard work: selling fruits and vegetables at the local market, along with cooking, doing laundry and cleaning up after strangers and relatives whom her aunt has taken in. If she doesn’t do her chores correctly and one of them tells on her, her aunt, a woman whose mood changes like a person suffering from a split personality, hurls foul language at her and beats her with any heavy object in sight. Sarin realizes that this young woman, whom everyone calls Thach, will die if she continues to live like this. So he marries her out of compassion. His compassion turns into love. Sarin and Thach form a family.

Tragically, after fifteen years of peaceful existence and independence from France, Cambodia gets sucked into the war of idealism between the world’s super powers—America, China, and the Soviet Union—by way of the Vietnam War. Cambodian leaders and people take sides. The Khmer Republic (backed by the United States) and the Khmer Rouge (backed by China, the Soviet Union and Vietnam) fight each other acrimoniously. After five years of battle, the relentless Khmer Rouge soldiers emerge victorious. Sarin has an opportunity to escape to Thailand with his family, but chooses to remain behind out of fear of the unknown. Soon he realizes the victors don’t know how to manage the country. Fear, paranoia and revenge turn them and their supporters into a killing machine.  Sarin, through cleverness and luck, helps his family navigate the horror of communism. When a second opportunity arrives, like thousands of other surviving Cambodians, he takes the chance to venture to the unknown—to find freedom, opportunity, and a better life for his family.

The Immortal Seeds: A Tribute to Golden Treasures is not only about the continuing of a family’s life cycle; it is also about a father’s idea—a purpose—that gets passed on to his daughter. In turn she hopes to pass it on to people not only within her community but also around the world.

“King Grandfather would like to wish that your memoir The Immortal Seeds will become successful.”

—Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia

“The Immortal Seeds is a story of war, love, and the unbreakable bonds of family. Touchingly told, Sambath pays homage to her family across the generations, and shares how they helped the Meases to survive the war and thrive in peace.”

—Loung Ung, author of First They Killed My Father and Lucky Child

“The Immortal Seeds exhibits a memoir’s emphasis on highly personalized, if not fully contextualized, experiences.”

—The Phnom Penh Post, Cambodia’s Newspaper

I’ve read a lot of Holocaust memoirs before, and in a way, The Immortal Seeds: A Tribute to Golden Treasures, although set in a different era and a different part of the world, reminded me of that. Of families torn apart because of war. Of children’s lives destroyed because of tragedy. Of people fighting against all odds, finding hope in the smallest things.

Khmer Rouge was the name given to the followers of the communist party, the regime thatt ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. It was a harrowing time, especially for Sarin Maes, a young man who is simply looking ofr a better life. He meets a young girl called Thach and initially marries her out of compassion – a compassion that soon turns to love. But when the Khmer Republic (backed by the US) and Khmer Rouge (the Communist Party), some fifteen years later, start fighting, Sarin’s life takes a turn for the worse. Still, he’s clever and resourceful, and guides his family through some of the toughest times in Cambodian history, showing skill and determination, and then passing it on to his family.

This was an inspiring memoir / family history set during turbulent times, that manages to show the strengths, not just of a family, but of a community as well.

 
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Book Review: $950 Million in 40 Minutes

January 21, 2018 Leave a Comment

Title: $950 Million in 40 Minutes
Author: Meshulam Riklis
Genre: Nonfiction, Memoirs
Rating: 4 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

What makes a world-class financial genius tick?

Enter the mind of a financial mastermind who started from scratch to build a world-wide business empire. Meshulam Riklis invites you on his amazing roller coaster ride to meteoric heights, providing valuable tips for life, for success, and for survival.

A billionaire shares his secrets

In his story, Riklis shares with you the business techniques that he perfected; “how a small fish eats a big fish,” his magic formula for mergers and acquisitions based on his thesis; “the effective use, or rather non-use, of cash in financial transactions,” and the unshakable beliefs that allowed him to found and run some of the most desired brand names in the world such as Elizabeth Arden, Faberge, Cartier, Carnival Cruise Lines, Playtex and the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

But it’s not all roses, right?

Riklis also reveals the personal price he had to pay: three marriages, endless girlfriends, and the relentless loneliness that shadowed him daily. Join Riklis as he rises to the top of the business world and sinks to the oblivion of despair as you draw on his inspiring ability to overcome crises.

In $950 Million in 40 Minutes, Meshulam Riklis tells the rreader his life story, of how he became one of the richest people in the world and built his own business empire from scratch. It’s an inspiring read about never giving up, about always fighting on, no matter what the odds are.

The book also explains several of Riklis’ business techniques, which offer some interesting insights into the mind of an entrepeneur extraordinaire, but it also details the high price of this financial success: three marriages, an endless line of girlfriends, and despite all that, a sinking loneliness that can’t be overcome.

This is an inspiring memoir but also an honest, heartfelt one, and it showcases success as well as failure. Yet, it also shows that no matter how many obstacles you have to overcome, there’s always hope.

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Book Review From Compton to Congress by Walter Tucker III

January 17, 2018 Leave a Comment

Title: From Compton to Congress: His Grace for my Race
Author: Walter Tucker III
Genre: Nonfiction Memoir
Rating: 4,5 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by Enchanted Book Promotions in exchange for an honest review.

From Compton to Congress reveals shocking criminal charges, based on an FBI Sting, that send Congressman Walter R. Tucker III reeling, and changes his life forever. Against the great odds of overcoming the tough streets of Compton, young Tucker fulfills his goals of becoming valedictorian of Compton High School, graduate of USC with honors, graduate of Georgetown Law School, passing the California State Bar, and filling his father’s vacant seat as Mayor of Compton—all by age 33. During his meteoric rise in the political arena, at age 35 he becomes the youngest African-American from California to be elected to a U.S. congressional seat. However, the U.S. Attorney’s federal indictment against him shocks the nation. Tucker’s choice to fight the charges against him thrusts him into a criminal trial that tests the condition of his human spirit and provokes us to reflect on every man’s plight versus every man’s fight.

Let me start by saying that I was deeply moved by Walter R. Tucker III’s story, in From Compton to Congress. The odds are against him as he pursues his dreams: first of becoming valedictorian in his high school, then graduating USC, then Law School, passing the bar, and eventually becoming mayor of Compton, the town he grew up. As he rises lightning-bolt fast in the political arena, he becomes the youngest African-American from California to be elected to an US congressional seat by the age of 35.

However, his dreams are shattered when a federal indictment is launched against him. Tucker decides to fight back, and the charges are brought to trial…which might be Walter R. Tucker’s most difficult battle yet.

It was inspiring to read how, even early on in his life, Tucker always fought on, no matter how tough the struggles, no matter how immense the challenges, and how he held on to that fighting spirit despite everything. The book brings to light some of the darker sides of politics, and of the criminal justice system.

This book was a thrilling, inspiring rollercoaster ride that made me feel very sympathetic toward Walter R. Tucker III and his family. An outstanding, intriguing read.

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Book Review: A Girl Called Renee by Ruth Uzrad

November 6, 2017 Leave a Comment

Title: A Girl Called Renee
Author: Ruth Uzrad
Genre: Thriller
Rating: 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Terrified after her father’s arrest by the Nazis, Ruth flees to Belgium.

This is the unbelievable autobiographical story of Ruth Uzrad, a Jewish teenager whose life was turned upside down by the Nazi regime. After her father was arrested one night from their Berlin apartment by the Gestapo, Ruth’s mother sends 13 year-old Ruth and her two younger sisters out on their escape route across Europe by train to the safety of Belgium.

But then the Nazis also reach Belgium, driving Ruth into the French Jewish underground…

Later, when the Nazis conquer Belgium, Ruth and one of her sisters escape to France, leaving the youngest sister behind to be taken in by a Belgian foster family. Later, Ruth joins the Jewish underground movement in France and takes on a false identity and a new name, Renee. As an underground fighter, she participates in special operations aimed at rescuing Jews in danger. When the German police set out to arrest her, she manages to cross the border into Spain and eventually makes her way to Israel, where she makes her home and spends the rest of her life.

I was so excited to start reading A Girl Called Renee because part of the book takes place in Belgium, the country where I live. The story certainly didn’t dissapoint, and I was really impressed by Ruth, and how strong she stayed in the face of so much evil.

So, first of all, this is an autobiographical book, meaning that the events happening in the book, actually happened. Although while you’re reading it, it’s hard to believe so much horror can actually be true, but we all know how horrible and devastating world war II was for so many people. Anyway, Ruth Uzrad was a Jewish teenager back then, and her father got arrested in Berlin by the Gestapo. Scared of what would happen to their family, Ruth’s mother sent 13-year-old Ruth and two young sisters away from Germany, and to the safety of Belgium.

Yet, the unthinkable happens, and the Nazis conquer Belgium. Ruth and one of her sisters manage to escape to France, where Ruth joins an underground movement and takes on a false identity and name – Renee. As an underground fighter, she participates in several operations to save endangered Jews. When the Gestapo are on her tracks, she flees to Spain and eventually to Israel.

This story is heartbreaking, often brought me to tears, but it’s also very inspiring. It shows strength and courage, it shows how people can survive the unimaginable, and even try to help others when the world seems to have sunken into chaos and despair. It shows hope, that lives on when everything else has left already. It shows humanity’s triumph over evil. If I read Ruth’s biography correctly, she has since passed away, and I’m very sorry to hear that, and give my condolences to her family. Reading this book, Ruth was truly an amazing person, the kind of person who makes this world a better place.

 

Filed Under: Memoir, Non-Fiction, Reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Book Review: Two Princes and a Queen

October 24, 2017 1 Comment

Title: Two Princes and a Queen
Author: Shmuel David
Genre: Memoirs, Historical
Rating: 4 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Imagine having to flee for your life from the Nazis on a rundown river-boat!

Hanne is the teenaged son of a well-off Jewish family living a comfortable, sheltered life in Yugoslavia. In the face of persecution against Jews, Hanne and his parents joins a harrowing voyage down the Danube River, eventually meant to reach pre-State Israel. The passengers aboard the three creaking river-boats are constantly torn between hope and despair in their attempt to reach safety.

A dying father implores his son to uncover the truth about his past

On his death-bed, Hanne implores his son, Alan, to find out what became of his first love, Inge, whom he was forced to leave under tragic circumstances during the river journey. Alan becomes inexorably drawn to delving into the past. He pores over his father’s journals as well as other survivor diaries and letters, together with recorded interviews with Erica, the one survivor left in NYC, and learns the bitter truth contained in Inge’s death camp diary.

A devoted son discover a little-know story that must be shared

Bit by bit, Alan uncovers the horrendous story of the young lovers’ harrowing voyage down the Danube River along with Hundreds of other jews attempting to flee the Nazis for Israel in a historic fiasco that came to be called the Kladovo-Sabac Affair. While focusing on a touching love story, this historical novel also tells the ill-fated, real-life stories of other people who shaped the journey.

In Two Princes and a Queen, Shmuel David creates a touching love story about Hanne and Inge, two young lovers during the Holocaust who are forced to flee from prosecution. Hanne and his parents are forced on a voyage down the Danube River, meant to reach Israel, but the journey is far from easy. Meanwhile, Hanne falls in love with Inge, but is then forced to leave her under tragic circumstances during their journey across the river.

Years later, on his deathbed, Hanne implores his son, Alan, to uncover what happened to Inge all those years back. Alan, in the mean time, grows deeply involved in his father’s story, and the tragedy he went through. Set during some of history’s darkest times, the book sketches the characters and plot well, and creates an astonishing plot that moves swiftly yet touches deeply.

Fans of historical fiction set during the Holocaust should pick up this book and give it a shot.

 

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