THE WORLD THAT WE KNEW by Alice Hoffman

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I loved this thought-provoking, beautifully written work about survival and the Holocaust. The story is captivating with engaging characters that will find their way into your heart. Hoffman, a well-known prolific writer with 30+ books to her credit, effectively utilizes Jewish mysticism and folklore to drive the story. The World That We Knew is about the lengths a mother will go to protect her child and it is also about love, loyalty, loss, survival, and hope.

In order to protect her daughter from the Nazis, Hanni enlists the help of a rabbi’s daughter to create a golem whose sole purpose is to ensure that her young daughter Lea stays alive while she makes her way traveling to safety. The World That We Knew is primarily about three women — Ettie (a Rabbi’s daughter), Lea (a young girl), Marianne (a young housemaid and farm girl).  There is also a fourth “women” — Ava the golem. The lives of these three (or four) women are interconnected and for the backbone of the narrative. These characters are strong, complex and well-developed, even the “soulless” golem. The reader cannot help but emotionally connect with these characters and fear for their safety. 

This book raises many important questions that are left for the reader to ponder. How do you fight evil? Is evil necessary to fight evil? What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to have a soul? How do you cope with loss?

...perhaps a demon was needed to fight demons. Perhaps some sins were prayers sent up to the Almighty.

If a soul was formed by meaning and purpose, did not every blade of grass have a soul, for each had a purpose.

This is what grief was, she understood that now. It was never-ending and you carried it with you. You could not stop it or regret it, you could only keep it close to your heart.

While there is sadness and a sense of tragedy that seeps through the words time and time again, there is also hope and love. Good/kindness and evil are juxtaposed throughout the story. Furthermore, love is the thread that connects these characters and their stories - love of life, love of nature, love of animals, a mother’s love, romantic love, and love for others trapped in hell.

The magical realism makes this book special and its presence helps the reader somewhat to get through some of the tragic, gut-wrenching and heartbreaking moments. Furthermore, it sets this book apart from many of the other Holocaust-related historical fiction stories. Note that the presence of mysticism does not diminish the atrocities and horrors of the Holocaust and the Nazis.

The writing itself is lyrical and magical, making me savor every word. The imagery is wonderful and the story flows beautifully.

That was how evil spoke. It made its own corrupt sense; it swore that the good were evil, and that evil had come to save mankind. It brought up ancient fears and scattered them on the street like pearls. To fight what was wicked, magic and faith were needed. This was what one must turn to when there was no other option.

He could not claim to know what a soul was, or who possessed it. But he knew that a dove mourned its young, and a dog yearned for its master, and a man who lost his wife never truly recovered, and love that was given was never thrown away.

This was how life was, tragic and unexplainable. When you were young you were afraid of ghosts, and when you were aged you called them to you.

CHASING MY CURE by David Fajgenbaum

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...“will” is that extra fight that emerges when there seems to be no more hope.

Chasing My Cure: A Doctor’s Race to Turn Hope Into Action is an inspirational memoir that follows a medical student’s harrowing deterioration from healthy athlete to a person with multiple system organ failure. Chasing My Cure reads like a medical thriller and I could not put it down. There is also a love story that I found especially moving. 

This book is an emotional roller-coaster ride that is a heart-wrenching account of a heroic and courageous man’s intense will to live that knows no bounds. David Fajgenbaum is afflicted with Castleman’s disease, described as a cross between cancer and an auto-immune illness.

I could no longer just hope that my treatment would work. I could no longer rely on the previous research. I could no longer hope someone else, somewhere would perform research that would lead to breakthroughs that could save my life. If I were to survive again—and to survive long term—I had to get off the sidelines and act. If I didn’t start fighting back to cure this disease, no one else would and I would soon die.

Frustrated with the lack of an effective treatment, David Fajgenbaum took it upon himself to find a cure.  He began by studying his charts and testing blood samples.  He also reached out to other patients, physicians and researchers and discovered that work was being done in silos, with no or little communication or collaboration.  For example, no one knew if something didn’t work because such occurrences do not make it into medical journals. 

With the benefit of a newly acquired M.B.A., Dr. Fajgenbaum forged a new path and turned the current approach to scientific inquiry and research on its head, with the goal of making it more efficient and effective. He established the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network, which brought the silos together and centralized as well as integrated all the learning and data.

Dr. Fajgenbaum successfully developed diagnostic criteria with the result that people could be more quickly diagnosed compared to the months it took in his case. This was also a major victory for drug research and clinical trials because it would remove patients that were not diagnosed correctly, thereby making the drug-testing data more reliable.

In his newly created framework for scientific research, he crowdsourced ideas and recruited the best and most competent researchers to investigate them. If only we could clone Dr. Fajgenbaum to head up research for all rare diseases. Hopefully others will adapt his framework and advance their work in a more collaborative system.

THE WIDOW OF ROSE HOUSE by Diana Biller

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The Widow of Rose House is a very enjoyable and satisfying read. It is a story of second chances and redemption. This book is a mix of different genres and multiple themes - suspense, mystery, paranormal, romance, abuse, bullying, and mental illness. Above all else, The Widow of a Rose House is an engaging romance novel with a paranormal twist. Most importantly, it has an unusual take on haunting and ghosts, which I found clever and captivating. This is not your usual ghost story by any means!

Our heroine Alva is a strong woman with a traumatic past who is determined to rely only on herself.  While Alva is a complex character, she is richly developed and very likable. She has just bought an old house that is rumored to be haunted. At the same time, she is trying to overcome her past and her distrust of other people. Alva is on a journey of self-discovery to reclaim her life and her happiness.

A perfect foil and a delightful character himself is Sam Moore, a member of a family of scientists and inventors.  His family is highly appealing  and I would love to see more stories about them, especially Maggie, who loves French fashion and explosions as well as Henry who is an honorary family member since the age of 10 and Sam’s BFF.  Sam is the epitome of the absent-minded professor, interested in inventing anything that will make life easier, such as a boot lacer-upper.  He is quirky, endearing and downright lovable, determined to win over Alva.  It also helps that Sam is very interested in studying ghosts.

There is a lot of witty banter between Alva and Sam that will put a smile on your face. You cannot help but root for this adorable couple. They make for an engaging and clever team that works well together in discovering and identifying the ghost. In fact, I could totally see a series of books featuring them as ghost hunters, solving the mysteries and freeing the ghost(s). 

As a debut novel, Ms. Biller has quickly made a name for herself with The Widow of Rose House and I look forward to reading her next story. 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press - St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for an advance reader. Opt in exchange for my honest review.

THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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I had such a great time with Evelyn Hugo and her seven husbands. But don’t let the title deceive you because it also includes an 8th person of significance — the true love of her life.  It is a very compelling read that I devoured in one day. The book is primarily divided up into chapters exploring each of the seven husbands, each one with a tag line capturing his essence. Sprinkled throughout the story are magazine stories announcing major news about this hugely popular actress. It was fun to follow the story through these clippings.

Taylor Jenkins Reid wowed me with her more recent book Daisy Jones and the Six and I found The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo to be just as compelling. It is the story of a larger than life Hollywood legend, nearing the end of her life, who wants to tell the world her true story. 

Evelyn Hugo is one of the biggest movie stars of all time. She doesn’t even have to have something to say for people to listen.

“I’m not a good person, Monique. Make sure, in the book, that that’s clear. That I’m not claiming to be good. That I did a lot of things that hurt a lot of people, and I would do them over again if I had to.”

Evelyn has chosen a relatively obscure junior writer to be the author of her life story and we are left wondering why. To be sure do finally learn why but not until the end, as if you need a reason to stay with the story, which you won’t. Evelyn is such a complex yet captivating character that will continuously dazzle you with her self-reflection and life choices. While you may not always agree with her decisions, you will admire her determination to live a life of her own choosing on her own terms. 

Evelyn is someone special with terrific insight. I found her to be likable, sincere and full of wisdom.

Sometimes reality comes crashing down on you. Other times reality simply waits, patiently, for you to run out of the energy it takes to deny it.

Guilt is a feeling I’ve never made much peace with. I find that when it rears its head, it brings an army. When I feel guilty for one thing, I start to see all the other things I should feel guilty for.

It’s always been fascinating to me how things can be simultaneously true and false, how people can be good and bad all in one, how someone can love you in a way that is beautifully selfless while serving themselves ruthlessly.

She tries to mentor Monique and impart some of her life lessons.

“When you’re given an opportunity to change your life, be ready to do whatever it takes to make it happen. The world doesn’t give things, you take things. If you learn one thing from me, it should probably be that.”

This book will stay with you as will Evelyn Hugo. I will definitely be reading more by Taylor Jenkins Reid, including all of her previous work as well as her future endeavors.

THE LIBRARY OF THE UNWRITTEN by A.J. Hackwith

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I was very excited by the concept of the Library of the Unwritten and was eager to read it. We learn that in this library, an unwritten book can wake up, manifest as one of its character and escape from the book. It was the Librarian’s responsibility to track down the escapee and return him or her to its pages. The worst thing that can happen is for the character to make contact with the author and influence them and their writing, thereby potentially changing the book and it’s direction, which may not bode well for the character’s return to its pages. Furthermore, the longer the character experiences life outside the book, the more he or she could change and as a result, no longer fit in the book.

The idea of escaped characters from unwritten books is very imaginative and my favorite part of The Library of the Unwritten was following the escapee named Hero. But I found the reading of this book to be a major chore. It took very little for me to be distracted from reading it and putting off picking it back up again. For me, the plot meandered and never fully pulled me in. I do enjoy science fiction/fantasy novels but this one just did not satisfy me. I am not exactly sure why I had so much trouble reading The Library of the Unwritten but overall, the execution of this appealing premise did not work for me. 

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group/Ace and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

THE PERFECT WIFE by J.P. Delaney

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The Perfect Wife is a fun beach read kind of a book. It will draw you in and keep you hooked until the last word. There are some great twists throughout the story that will keep you on your toes, trying to figure out the ending. Some people didn’t enjoy The Perfect Wife because they considered it to be science-fiction. I personally do not feel that it portrays some fantastical future because A.I. is in the news nearly everyday. I believe it’s closer than you think.and that is what The Perfect Wife is about — artificial intelligence. But in this case, it’s about a cobot or companion robot. And that is all I will say about it as I do not want to reveal too much.

Philosophical and moral issues arise as well as legal ones that many of us have never contemplated, which makes the book even more interesting.

The Perfect Wife also has a sub-story about childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD) or Heller’s syndrome, which is unfortunately, real. I did not know about CDD so appreciated being informed and learning about it. It is truly a horrific disorder in which the a child regresses in terms of language, cognition and social skills.

Danny has childhood disintegrative disorder, also known as Heller’s syndrome. It’s so rare, most pediatricians have never seen a case. Instead they’d tell you patronizingly that children simply don’t reach the age of four and then get struck down by profound autism over the course of a few terrifying weeks.

            

 CDD takes your child away and swaps him for a stranger—a drooling, broken zombie who inhabits your child’s body. In some ways it’s worse than a death. Because you go on loving this beautiful stranger even while you’re grieving the sweet little person you lost.

The different educational strategies for CDD were explored in the book and again, is fodder for thought as it raises philosophical issues as well.

Perhaps the real test of someone’s humanity, you think, is how tenderly they treat those like Danny. Whether they blindly try to fix them and make them more like everyone else, or whether they can accept their differentness and adapt the world to it.

CILKA’S JOURNEY by Heather Morris

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Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, has written another remarkable and important book titled Cilka’s Journey. While it is a follow-up to The Tattooist of Auschwitz, it is a completely standalone novel. Once again, Ms. Morris has done an incredible amount of research to tell this amazing story of one young girl’s harrowing journey, which began in a concentration camp and continued in the Siberian Gulag, 50 miles from the Arctic Circle. Cilka’s Journey is an inspiring testament to one women’s generosity, courage and determination to survive. While it is a novel, it is based on true events and a real person named Cilka Klein.

At the young age of 16, Cilka is taken to Auschwitz and is forced to become a Nazi officer’s sex slave. When the Russians liberate the concentration camp, they sentence her to 15 years in the Gulag for sleeping with the enemy, like she ever had a choice in the matter. 

This book serves a very important purpose in that it exposes the horrors of the Gulag and the oppression and inhumanity that many dealt with at the hands of the Russians. There are many reasons that individuals were imprisoned in the Gulag, such as marrying a foreigner, making garments for a Nazi General’s wife, etc.

Cilka is haunted by her time in Auschwitz-Birkenau and feels cursed. Death is her constant companion and is always around her. She fears she will bring it to those she befriends. Cilka also feels she loses people from her life, not necessarily by death, all too often. Eventually, her fellow prisoners in her hut become her family and help her to survive.

She has lost everything — her childhood, family, dignity, hope, and a future. Yet in the face of all this atrocity , she strives to make a difference at the Gulag and yearns to help those around her. Cilka easily overcomes any fear in order to save others. She will walk into a collapsing mine to look for survivors. 

Cilka’s Journey is sad and heartbreaking yet compelling and triumphant. Cilka is a strong character that you will admire, care about and hope for during the telling of her story.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an advance reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review.