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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Frost in the Night, November 25, 2003
"A Frost in the Night" "A Frost in the Night" is a book about a young girl named Eva who is Jewish. It is the year 1932 during the time when Hitler is rising to power. Eva hears many things in which she doesn't understand, which makes this book even more breath-taking. She is shipped away from home where she lives with her mother, father, grandfather, aunt, and cousins. She goes to Ettington and stays with her Grandparents for part of the summer. Eva, a loving young child, is exposed to many things that she doesn't understand. She lives with prejudice all around her, but doesn't really understand why. Nothing makes sense to her. Her grandfather seems to be the only person who believes that she should know what is happening, since even Eva's own father believes that the horrible things that are happening are "not meant for the ears of a child." After returning home from the summer holidays, Eva is branded by phases such as "...only real Germans are allowed..." Along with problems with hatred, economical problems start to arise with the people around her. Jobs are lost and food slowly becomes more sparse as Hitler gets stronger and stronger everyday. However, Eva doesn't experience this personally because her family has their own shop and money to fall back on. How will this child react when and if she finds out about all of the problems in the community? I would recommend this book to higher levels of readers because of intense detail. This book is a slower book to read, but there is a reward for taking all of the time to read it. I would give this book four stars. If you love to read a good story, read A Frost in the Night.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Times They Are A'Changin', October 10, 2006
This review is from: A Frost in the Night (Paperback)
"A Frost in the Night" sets itself apart from other literature that focuses on the Jewish experience, the Holocaust in general. The plot takes place during the final days of freedom before Hitler came to power and the Third Reich reigned. It is a gently paced story of young Eva, a Jewish girl learning to cope with the changing tide of fortune and the labels she will be branded with as the coming war changes those around her.
This autobiographical novel follows the change of the seasons throughout one year. Readers are drawn into a quaint portrait of a loving family that thrives upon tradition and faith. Respected and rather well-to-do in the hometown, Eva's family is among the lucky ones who aren't immediately forced into dire straits when power shifts party hands. Through various perspectives, especially the main character's awakening to maturity, readers understand how each family member is affected by and reacts to the problem of Hitler.
The novel only hints at the hard times to come, ending on the bitter note of Hitler's rise to the chancellorship, and a vivid premonition of the blood that will later be shed. For that matter, it is a teaching book, offering insight into the Jewish lifestyle prior to WWII, with child-friendly renderings of the troubles to come. Yet at times, the novel reads as if there were no direction in sight; as if readers are meant to amble along with Eva as she experiences this one year, not knowning what the next day holds. However, Edith Baer offers a unique voice to her main character and crafts a stark and vivid fictional account of real-life events.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Poetic and poigniant story of coming of age in 1930's Germany, November 7, 2010
Edith Baer was born in Germany and escaped to the US in 1940 in her mid-teens. The rest of her family was murdered in the Holocaust. This novel is heavily reminiscent of her own experience growing up in 1930's Germany, watching the rise to power of the Nazis.
Eva is a young girl on the cusp of adolescence basking in the love and security of her middle class family. Located in a small city, Eva lives in her grandfather's house with her extended family. At first, Eva's world consists of games with her cousins upstairs, school, and helping her father in the family bookstore. In the summer she visits her maternal grandparents in a rural enclave where her family has lived for generations. Many in her family believe that their long roots and high standing in the community will prevent any of the Nazi rabble-rousers from influencing their way of life.
As the events of 1932-33 unfold, Eva becomes increasingly aware of "the troubles" that the adults talk about only when the children are out of hearing. Schoolmates begin teasing and turning away, her American cousin begs them to move to America, and brownshirts become more vociferous in the streets. Hitler is no longer silly, but threatening somehow. Finally, Eva is the subject of a diatribe that makes her understand the personal nature of the persecution of the Jews.
The power of this short novel is in the innocent description of Eva's childhood as it gives way to understanding of the growing ugliness in the adult world. A palpable tension grows in the book, and I found myself wanting to shout for them to flee will they still can. I sorrowed for the inevitable loss of life to come and by the end of the book was worrying about which characters would die: baby Eli? staunchly confident Grandfather? beautiful Sabine, longing to embrace life? Perhaps most poignantly, I mourned the loss of innocence that would befall them all.
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