Customer Reviews

After the War

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

By concentrating on one group of children who have survived the Holocaust, Matas' treatment of a painful subject is narrow enough for a reader to grasp an emotionally harrowing subject. Fourteen year old Ruth has no hope and is frozen in despair, until she is asked to help get orphans to Palestine, via an underground movement. The children are heart-rendering - they know how to be perfectly quiet and to do without food, warmth or shelter, but they do not know how to play or study. They melt Ruth's heart and give her a reason to live. The book is short, taunt, and thrilling.

Ruth Mendenberg survives Auschwitz concentration camp, but has nothing to live for with the death of 80 family members. Then she meets Saul, a Zionist Brichah organizer, who sends her on an assignment that changes her life. She, along with a few other Zionist leaders, must take a group of 20 children from Poland to the new Palestine.

The simple writing style, while appropriate for a young audience, may bore older audiences. The book is written in the present tense which causes the author's voice to resemble journal entries. The reader must listen to the narrator summarize the story.

This exciting story will attract middle school students, but lacks the depth that older audiences require. The beginning of the story lacked conflict and character development. Ruth's meeting with the Zionist group is very shallow with, other than Nate, Miriam, and Saul, all the characters in the group dropping out of the story.

Other than the slow start and the inherent weakness of writing in the first person, I think After the War is a good read. It was an aspect of post WWII life I new nothing about.

This book is about a girl named Ruth. She returns to her home town after WWII expecting to find some of her family members. Instead she finds a guy named Saul who wants her to lead a group of 20 orphans to Palestine. She accepts and the adventure begins. By reading this book you learn about what children who were in the Holocaust had to go through and what is was like trying to make the journey to Palestine as illegal immigrants. Ruth goes through many adventures and finally learns to show her true feelings.
I liked this book because it taught me what really happened to Jews during WWII and how they escaped. I always learned that Hitler just killed Jews I didn't know how he did it or what the Jewish society went through.

This book, to me, wasn't all that clear on what happened after the war. When I first picked up the book, I was expecting to know what society was like once the war ended, but instead, I got a story just about a girl and her life after the war. In a way, it is a great book, because you get to know and see what she saw while trying to get the other children to safety and away from the violence. I personally don't think that I could have done what she did. Taking all of those other kids, even ones younger than herself, and traveling all over the place just to get away from gunshots and slave hunters. I highly recommend this book to anyone who just wants to get a first hand insight of what this young girl went through after the war.

The book makes you feel the emotions of the main character. The girl in this book is one of the few survivors of the Holocost in her family. She volunteers to help take other young survivors to Palestine. They think they will be free there. However, the Arabs there hate the Jews and much fighting erupts between them. Some one that is dear to her may or may not die. She may die herself! If you want to find out the answer to those mysteries, you will just have to read the book yourself. If you like the book, you can read the sequel- "The Garden".

When reading this book, I suddenly realized what being one of these victims felt like. The onslaught of tragedy after tragedy suffered at the hands of the Nazis was enough to make anyone turn numb inside. The main character's pain at her losses was much to great to bear, but for her to have to suffer through collecting other victims' tragedies was even too much for me. This is what brought tears to my eyes.

"It is quiet, almost peaceful. Then the ship begins to roll, just a little. I am not sleeping, I'm staring up at bunk above me, Zvi beside me, holding my hand. I am desperately trying not to think of Auschwitz, but I'm not doing too well."

-Excerpt Page 90-91

"After The War" a historical fiction novel by Carol Matas, is a great read about the Jewish conflicts in the time after World War II. In this novel, fifteen year old Ruth Mendenberg must overcome challenges in leading a group of Jews throughout Europe to Palestine. At this time she is also looking for her family who is believed to be of the many Jews who lost their lives in the war. Matas, the talented author, creates great theme and conflict in this novel. She has also published the sequel called "The Garden". I am sure this too would be a great book.
Theme in this novel is very evident. Many lessons have been learned in reading this, not only by the reader but also by the main characters. One of the main themes would be that anything is possible if you try, but if you don't try then you could put yourself in a bad situation which may keep getting worse. Ruth proves this in "After The War" by how she handles the many difficult situations that she stumbles upon, on he way to Palestine.
Another theme, which is more tied into the plot of the novel, would be that sometimes you have to lie to survive. Ruth must lie numerous times about her name, her age, where she came from, and anything else that may link her to being who she really is - a Jew. She does all this and more because it is her only way to survive. If she doesn't lie she might not be able to live her life of freedom.
Conflict is another literary element. It is defined as a struggle between two or more people, between a person and his or herself or between a person and nature. All three types are found in this novel. Obviously, one of the main conflicts would be that of the Jewish and British disagreements about Jewish entry into Palestine. Another less obvious would be how Ruth struggles in the boat because of the swaying due to the wind. This would be an example of person vs. nature conflict. Lastly, an example of person vs. self, or internal conflict would be how Ruth struggles with herself about what and how she should think and feel.
Overall, "After The War" was a very good novel. I think anyone, especially young adults who enjoy historical or historical fiction novels will think the same, however, I recommend this novel to anyone and everyone.

The main character returns to her home in Poland from surviving a concentration camponly to discover her family all dead. She is recruited to escort orphan Jewish children to Israel and in this task finds the reason for living.

Ruth Mendenberg is trying to get away from the Nazis. She thinks the Nazis have killed her whole family. When Ruth goes to an agentcy to find out if her parents have been found, and man asks her if she wants to help start a Jewish community in Eretz, Isreal They have to overcome many hard tasks, like exaping a German camp and making it back to there ship which is taking them to Israel. British troops try to take over the ship but before they can capture the Jewish people in the ship, they make it to Isreal.
Overall i think this was a great book. It also taught me alot of things about the war.

There are not many books that I don't like but this book belongs in the top ten on any booklist. The truth behind the words are what really captivated me. I strongly recomend this book.