Customer Reviews

The Border of Truth: A Novel

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I enjoyed this book, and will recommend it, but with some reservation.

The story is a juxtaposition of two threads: The first is a series of letter written--but not sent--to Eleanor Roosevelt by a teenage refugee on a ship off Virgina from which he hoped to gain entry to the US in 1940. The second is a third person account of his daughter's attempts to penetrate her father's past to provide a family story in anticipation of adopting a daughter forty-three years later. The letters progressively reveal more of the "truth", while in the daughter's story she slowly ferrets out the same facts.

So far, so good. The interplay and pacing of the two parts is excellent, and the general approach works. Only some details bother me. The letters become more adolescent in the middle of the story, although that might be argued to be understandable in terms of the stress the boy was under. Some of the daughter's actions are harder to accept. Professor about to adopt a baby finds happiness with the furniture repair man? Well ...

Ultimately it was a good story, but I finished it not understanding either the father or daughter. The author never provided a sufficiently compelling psychology of either of her protagonists to answer the question "why?". It would have been less of a problem had the novel been less ambitious and the author obviously less talented, but I'm left with the feeling that Redel should be capable of more.

I do think she's an author to watch.

I loved this book. There are so many different layers of stories here - stories one tells one's loved ones, stories one tells the public, stories one tells oneself, stories one tells one's reader - and there are so many different ways these stories are told - through letters, conversation, translation, and more. Redel weaves different narratives together seamlessly, getting us caught up in the emotional truth of each one even as we learn, bit by bit, that things are not at all what they seem.

There are many ways we learn about big historical events. While this author obviously fictionalizes characters and events on this ship's journey, her characters help us understand how people make sense of what becomes history in their every day lives, and the enduring psychological imprint historical events leave on us - and our children.

A beautiful, haunting, and deeply engrossing read!

Melinda Fine, Ed.D.
New York University

One of those rare stories, beautifully written and totally absorbing. What do we really know about our parents, and choices they faced before we were born, in a different world? Victoria Redel's novel works on mulitiple levels, her characters are vibrant and alive. I can't wait for her next book!

This book is an excellent take on a very different Holocaust story. Taking into account the impact that that time and place had on the future generations of a survivor's family. A hopeful and sorrowful story wrapped into one.

Sophisticated and at the same time very approachable, Redel's writing style and the innovative structure of this book make for an easy and yet gripping read. Hard to put down, but also broken into small enough chunks that you can pick it up for just a few minutes of guilty pleasure.

I just finished reading this book and was so emotional, I had to wait until I stopped crying to write my review. I can't exactly say why it brought up such deep emotions, but I got so wrapped up in each of the stories. The way the book was written kept me turning the pages, so I could get back to letters or back to the present, and yet, there were times, I would read a letter or a passage over again, just to "listen" to whichever character I was reading at the time. Ms. Redel is a wonderful writer. I read one review where the reviewer said he felt he did not learn about the characters or about their motives, I have to totally disagree. Ms. Redel said more about a character in one sentence than most authors can say in a paragraph. And each letter revealed more and more about Isaac. It is just a wonderful book, that in a very different, quiet, way, tells a story about a holocaust survivor, and a survivor's family, who of course have different issues to deal with. I am not a good writer myself, so I am having a hard time explaining this book and the emotions it stirs....but I highly recommend it.

The Border of Truth: A Novel
yes, for the ones that can't read in between all these different components of the book, it migh seem boring or confusing, Victoria is not only talented, but this book projects all fears, moments and parts of history that sometimes are hard to understand in one human brain. Loved it, will read and re-read again.

I wanted so much to love this book -- the story had great potential. However, there was just too much left unexplained. I didn't quite understand the father's reluctance in keeping the truth from his daughter while being open with the housekeeper and uniting with others from his past. I didn't quite understand the daughter's relationship with her lovers -- either one. I agree that there just didn't seem to be enough of a connection between her and the furniture repairer for a lasting relationship. And, at times, I felt the switch back and forth between the letters to Mrs. Roosevelt and the present were too much of a jump.

I thought the ending was the best. Family memories are never quite what the reality was and every family member has a slightly different version. And every immigrant has a story to tell. I don't want this to be a totally negative review as there was much to offer. The book had a wonderful premise; I just wish it would have connected with me a bit more.