Customer Reviews

The Cage

5 star:		(74)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The book the "The Cage" by Ruth Minsky Sender is an amazing story about the Holocaust. The story starts out with the main character, Riva, waking up in a cold sweat because of a nightmare she had about the Holocaust. While talking to her curious daughter who wants to know why the Holocaust happened she finds herself back in Lodz, Poland in 1939. Riva is the oldest child with three younger brothers. Her father died of a disease but she has a strong, loving Mama. The Jews of Poland during this time are being round up by the Nazis and brought to the ghetto. The ghetto gates are shut tight and Riva and her family like many others are trapped in this cage. Thousands of Jewish families are herded into the ghetto where there is no work, hunger, and disease. In the ghetto, Riva's younger brother, Laibele, contracts tuberculosis. In September, 1942 the Nazis are inside the ghetto taking away the sick, the old, as well as the children. Riva's mother decides to hide Laibele and suprisingly enough he is not found, however the Nazis take away Mama to a concentration camp. "I hear Mama's voice, filled with hope. A world full of people will not be silent. We will not perish in vain. She was so sure. But she perished, and the world was silent." Riva now has to be strong for her brothers' sake, for Mama, and for herself. She is determined to survive and won't let the Nazis destroy her hope. People around Riva look to her for support and hope. She lost her family to the Nazis, but she won't let them take her either physically or spiritually. I think this book is extremely well written. It keeps the reader wanting to know what will happen next. The writing is a fast paced read. I believe the story shows the truth and essence of the Holocaust. I would recommend this book to middle school students because of the issues described and because of its excellent style.

This was a wonderful book and I couldn't wait to finish it. This book would be enjoyed by any one over twelve, despite its sad theme. Being Jewish myself, it makes me feel very sad when I read about such terrible acts of hatred. Anti-semitism is a disease brought about by a lack of understanding and hatred. People should respect others even if they have differences in cultural and traditional backgrounds. Despite the terrible conditions, it was amazing to me to read the chapters in the book and get a feeling, despite all their suffering, that there was a sense of dignity and hope that they wanted to keep alive. The Jews were truly brave in their fight for life. I was so impressed by how brave Riva was and how hard it must have been for her to be thrown into adulthood with such added responsibilities. I can't imagine dealing with the loss of my mother and having a sick brother. Ruth Sender makes you feel as if you are going through all these experiences with her, She makes you feel her courage and strength. This book made me feel thankful for my family and for every day of my life! In my opinion, this book should be required reading for middle school. Soon, there will be no one alive who are survivors of Nazi brutality. Because of this, it becomes even more important to remember how cruelty, discrimination, and hatred lead to destruction and death. It is so important to confront the most shameful period in human history.

What would you do if you were a Polish-Jewish 13-year old whose life was torn apart by the Nazis? What if you had to spend all of your teenage years in a Jewish ghetto in Lodz, Poland, or three notorious concentration camp?

Well, if you were Ruth Minsky Sender (known in this book as Riva Minska) you would survive and live to tell your story in the form of an autobiography. "The Cage" is a brilliant book. After beginning with a scene where a grown Riva is remebering her chilhood and talking with her daughter, we are catapulted into her happy world in Poland in 1939. But Riva, her mother, and her five siblings could never guess what their future would hold. Their good (Polish) friends become ardent Nazis, they are forced to wear the yellow star, and the family is doomed to live in the ghetto.

In the ghetto, there is cruel punishment, little fuel and food, and the constant threat of being deported to labor camps. And after her mother is deported, Riva (as the oldest) must keep her siblings together. The ghetto is horrific, but as the corageous family hopes for a saviour, they never guessed the horrors that awaited them at Auschwitz.

There is something about this book that makes the Holocaust unbearably real. Sender expertly shows how quickly and suddenly the Holocaust took place, and illustrates simply how friends turned on them. I nearly cried when I read about Riva and her brothers in the ghetto-their for each other, their constant hope, and their hardships seemed so read to me. The fragility of life was very apparent when Riva talks aobut the concentration camps, but even then, her mother's saying, "As long as there is life, there is hope" is remembered.

"The Cage" will make the horrors of the Holocaust known to you...but it will also inspire you with the story of a life lived courageously.

I read and reviewed the book The Cage by Ruth M. Sender. It is about a young girl who spent ger childhood hiding and living in Nazi slave labor camps. This book tells how she suffered and srtuggled to stay alive during the Holocaust. It tells you what it was like for adults and children during this horrible period of time. I really enjoyed reading this book. It was very descriptive and realistic. I always felt like I was in the story instead of just reading it. I always had trouble just reading a few pages because it was so interesting. This book is the kind you never want to put down. Its a real page turner. I gave this book five stars and if you read it you will too. You will like this book if you like books about the Holocaust. A book similar to this is the book Cild of the holocaust by Jack Kuper. This boy also hid from the Nazis during the Holocaust. So read this book. I promise you will enjoy it!

I read this book straight in 3 hours! I was absolutely engrossed in the story that I could not put it down. In fact, it had such an impact on me that after I had read the book, went to bed, I had nightmares that I was actually running away from the Nazis!

This book is a real story about a young teenage girl who lived in Poland during the Nazi invasion. Her and her family lived many years in the infamous Ghettos of Lodz and ended up being deported to concentration camps. Some members survived and others didn't.

This book is very easy to read. I would guess it at an 8th grade level. Yet, the way it is written is very melodious and it grasps your attention in an unforgettable way.

This is a good book to have to pass on to future generations. I highly recommend it!

The Cage, was such a real and terrific book. The author did such an amazing job on the descriptions. This book is about a young teen girl who grew up in a Jew hating world, the terrible thing is that she was a Jew. She grew up in the ghetto with her mother and her three brothers. One of her brothers dies of a terrible sickness. In the beginning of the book her mother was taken away by the Nazi guards. Every time there was a knock on Rivas door, everyone would hold there breath hoping that they would stay together. They all try their best to take care of each other, especially when one is sick. When her mother was taken away Riva was able to adopt her brothers and be their new mother. Riva now had a lot going on. Her brother, Motele in my opinion, was the strongest character. He was also going out and breaking the laws to try to feed and save their family. Towards the middle of the book many of the Jews were taken out of the ghetto and put into camps. These camps were Nazi camps called Auschwitz. When they were taken to this camp Riva and her brothers were separated. All of the Jews got their hair shaved off and of of their belongings now belonged to the Nazis. They had nothing to call their own. When Riva gets put into the barracks she makes a whole new kind of family. All of the Jews stuck together and tried to help each other out
Riva and all of the Jews are put through extensive labor and pain. Through the end Riva makes it out alive, although she was never able to find her brothers or her mother.
This book was a great and thrilling book. I learned a lot about the Holocaust and a lot about personal experiences. This book was very well written. I got a great perspective on how the Jews felt.

This book was about the holocaust. It is just many of the stories from the war. This story takes place in lodz, Poland and camp Mittelsteine, Germany.
I liked this book because it gave me more knowledge of what really was going on in Europe during the war. I disliked all the horrible trageties that took place.
This book tells about a happy family living in Poland during the war. They are first raided then made to wear yellow stars to on whatever they wear. The Germans trick them into going to the train stations and they promise them that they will see their family members but they really aren't. What actually happens is that they are sent to concentration camps and all their belonging are taken away from them. Most are killed in a number of cruel ways. Riva's mother is taken away and she is left to take care of the kids. They all try to stick together for as long as possible. This was a very sad time and I will remember this book always. I'd recommend this book to younger people who are interested in the holocaust. This book was written for younger readers. It isn't too gruesome but it gets the point across. I wouldn't recommend this book to children under thirteen because it might be hard for them to understand what is happening. Some of the names are really hard to pronounce also. This book requires somewhat of a mature audience.

I loved this book! When I first started reading it, I couldn't stop. It is a definite page turner. It is about a young girl named Riva, living during the Holocaust. She and her family are sent to Lodz Ghetto where she loses her mother and a brother. Then they are shipped off to Auschwitz concentration camp. There, she loses her other 2 brothers. They are separated from one another. Riva must learn to stay strong and hopeful. She finds her strength through poetry that she writes about her life since the Holocaust. Riva always likes to think about when her mother told her, "As long as there is life there is hope." I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction.

The book is about a girl who gets separated from her mother and father in the Holocaust. She then had to learn the responsibilities of a mother to take care of her younger brothers. There are many things that they had to worry about while living in the ghetto. They had to worry about the food supply in the town because it was running out. They had to worry about Nazi soldiers coming and invading their home looking for certain people of a certain religion. But these are only few of many things these people had to worry about. Throughout the book all of the Jewish families in Lodz, Poland travel through a terrifying journey. The families were split up but did everything in their power to find someone they knew. Riva, the main character, tells many stories about the horrible life that she was forced to live. The Cage also describes exactly what the Jews had to go through in the camps. Riva eventually gets split apart from her brothers and is sent to concentration camps. The camps that she was sent to were too horrible to describe. They were assigned numbers instead of names. They were treated like dogs and called cows. It was awful. Though she did find humanity at the camps, she made friends and wrote poetry on paper bags from where they got there lunch and with a stolen pencil. Also, after she was diagnosed with blood poising, unlike most Jews, she was sent to the hospital, because the doctor stood up for her. In stead of staying in the sick room for just 3 days and then being sent to the gas chambers, she was allowed to stay there for 3 months. And after she got out of the sick room, she didn't go back to the factory OR the bunker. She went to help the doctor in the first aid station. Riva was very lucky and this is a powerful story.

The Cage by Ruth Minsky Sender is a captivating story about a young Jewish girl, living in the ghettos of World War II.
It's about life and death through out a family. Being betrayed by the people you trusted the most in your life. Being in these conditions the young girl makes it out alive and moves to America, where even to this day she has nightmares about the terrors of the ghettos and concentration camps.
The Cage is definitely a book you would like to read over and over. I would really recommend buying this book.