Book Review: A Simple Life by Giora Amir

Title: A Simple Life
Author: Giora Amir
Genre: Nonfiction
Rating: 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by Enchanted Book Promotions in exchange for an honest review.

Autobiographic memories from the Holocaust in Slovakia

Giora Amir was born in Czehoslovakia in 1928.
When the country was divided in 1939 into German protectorate in Bohemia and Moravia, Slovakia became a country under quasi German rule, a country governed by racial discrimination and under Nazi protection. When the deportation from Slovakia to ghettos in Poland started, he escaped to Hungary – only to return to Slovakia a few years later, after the German army invaded Hungary and commenced the deportation of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz.

20th century history merges with personal memories into a gripping and inspiring life story

A simple life is an intimate and absorbing report of childhood in Slovakia under racial discrimination; the dangerous escape to Hungary and the return to Slovakia amidst the war; surviving in the woods of Tatra mountains; and, eventually, making a new beginning and a new life from the wreckage.

A Simple Life is a story about anything but a simple life. Giora Amir was born in Czehoslovakia in 1928. When the deportation from Slovakia to ghettos in Poland started in World War II, he escaped to Hungary. Once the German army invaded Hungary, commencing deportation of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz, he returned back to Slovakia.

In this book, Goria describes childhood in Slovakia under racial discrimination, the dangerous escape to Hungary, surviving against all odds, and the dangerous circumstances of war.

History comes to life in this powerful story about loss, survival, and finding the strength to go on. I truly respect everyone who lived during the war, and I’m in awe at the circumstances these people had to battle just to survive. If you want to learn more about the Holocaust and the real effect it had on people, not just people in camps but people on the run, people looking to reunite with their families, people fighting for peace, then I wholeheartedly recommend you read this book.