Books and other stuff I feel like discussing
By education and experience - Accountant with a specialty in taxation. Formerly a CPA (license has lapsed). Masters degree in law of taxation from University of Denver. Now retired. Part time work during baseball season as receptionist & switchboard operator for the Colorado Rockies. This gig feeds my soul in ways I have trouble articulating. One daughter, and four grandchildren. I share the house with two cats; a big goof of a cat called Grinch (named as a joke for his easy going "whatever" disposition); and Lady, a shelter adoptee with a regal bearing and sweet little soprano voice. I would be very bereft if it ever becomes necessary to keep house without a cat.
Mood:
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A truly unique book
I keep a log of books I've completed as I finish reading them. The date I finished, title, author, reason I chose it, and a brief phrase summarizing the idea of the book. As I go through the year, I mentally compile a "5 best" list, and usually by now I've got the five chosen. But every now and then, as the year draws to a close, I encounter an experience so unique and thought provoking that my previous list of five must yield a place. I also keep a "best of" list since I began my log in early 1999 - and this year's book which upset the apple cart will have a place on that summary as well.
About three weeks ago I was in the car running errands and heard portion's of an interview on NPR's "Fresh Air" with Daniel Mendelsohn, who is a professor of classics at a small New York College. He is from a large, far flung Jewish family, all originally from a small town in the Ukraine. In the early 20th century, most of his grandfather's generation came to the US. Two brothers remained in Eastern Europe. One married a staunchly Zionist wife and left for Palestine. The other built up a meat packing and distribution firm, with two trucks (!) and raised four daughters in the 1920's and 30's. Disaster overwhelmed them in the Second War. In his grandfather's wallet, after his death, Mendelsohn found one side of an extended correspondence in which the family in the Ukraine pleaded for help to escape the Nazi torture and oppression. He became intrigued with the snippets of facts he heard from his mother and other family, and set out to find out what happened.
The book is THE LOST, A SEARCH FOR SIX OF SIX MILLION, published by HarperCollins.
Mendelsohn followed hints and clues virtually around the world and in this remarkable book, he records the story of his travels, enriched by insights from Greek and Roman tragedies and by contemporary and medieval commentaries on the books of the Hebrew Bible.
The unanswerable question of the late 20th century, which in fact endures today, is "how could the monstrous events of the Holocaust have happened?" Mendelsohn doesn't seek to answer that one cosmic question. Instead, in search of the answer to a more specific personal query, he traces the history of his own family beginning in mid 19th century Austria-Hungary, relating misunderstandings, tragedies, betrayals, along with loves, romances, travels, and emigration. Turning as well to the Biblical stories of Cain and Abel, of Noah and the flood, the wanderings of Abraham, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the author brings home the tensions and estrangement which can arise among family members. When a Ukrainian woman Mendelsohn meets on his first trip to the small village describes the town as "just like a family" I felt a chill.
Almost any family will find snippets of their own history in the early chapters. It's self evident that as the tragedy builds in later chapters, most readers will find the events of Mendelsohn's family moving into an arena of greater and indeed, unspeakable horror. But that's the lesson we carry away from this remarkable book.
From Ukraine, to Long Island New York, to Israel, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, and back to the Ukraine, the reader follows Mendelsohn on a long, emotional, and deeply personal journey. Following stories he hears from a small group of persons who lived in his family's village and who survived the Second War, he eventually has the entire truth.
I was deeply engrossed for nearly a week. While not easy going, THE LOST is quite readable. I've found an email address for the author at his faculty office and I've written to him. I'll report back if he responds to my message.
About three weeks ago I was in the car running errands and heard portion's of an interview on NPR's "Fresh Air" with Daniel Mendelsohn, who is a professor of classics at a small New York College. He is from a large, far flung Jewish family, all originally from a small town in the Ukraine. In the early 20th century, most of his grandfather's generation came to the US. Two brothers remained in Eastern Europe. One married a staunchly Zionist wife and left for Palestine. The other built up a meat packing and distribution firm, with two trucks (!) and raised four daughters in the 1920's and 30's. Disaster overwhelmed them in the Second War. In his grandfather's wallet, after his death, Mendelsohn found one side of an extended correspondence in which the family in the Ukraine pleaded for help to escape the Nazi torture and oppression. He became intrigued with the snippets of facts he heard from his mother and other family, and set out to find out what happened.
The book is THE LOST, A SEARCH FOR SIX OF SIX MILLION, published by HarperCollins.
Mendelsohn followed hints and clues virtually around the world and in this remarkable book, he records the story of his travels, enriched by insights from Greek and Roman tragedies and by contemporary and medieval commentaries on the books of the Hebrew Bible.
The unanswerable question of the late 20th century, which in fact endures today, is "how could the monstrous events of the Holocaust have happened?" Mendelsohn doesn't seek to answer that one cosmic question. Instead, in search of the answer to a more specific personal query, he traces the history of his own family beginning in mid 19th century Austria-Hungary, relating misunderstandings, tragedies, betrayals, along with loves, romances, travels, and emigration. Turning as well to the Biblical stories of Cain and Abel, of Noah and the flood, the wanderings of Abraham, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the author brings home the tensions and estrangement which can arise among family members. When a Ukrainian woman Mendelsohn meets on his first trip to the small village describes the town as "just like a family" I felt a chill.
Almost any family will find snippets of their own history in the early chapters. It's self evident that as the tragedy builds in later chapters, most readers will find the events of Mendelsohn's family moving into an arena of greater and indeed, unspeakable horror. But that's the lesson we carry away from this remarkable book.
From Ukraine, to Long Island New York, to Israel, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, and back to the Ukraine, the reader follows Mendelsohn on a long, emotional, and deeply personal journey. Following stories he hears from a small group of persons who lived in his family's village and who survived the Second War, he eventually has the entire truth.
I was deeply engrossed for nearly a week. While not easy going, THE LOST is quite readable. I've found an email address for the author at his faculty office and I've written to him. I'll report back if he responds to my message.
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