The Garden [Hardcover]

Carol Matas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1997

As the United Nations prepares to vote on whether the Arabs and Jews should be separated in 1947, Ruth Mendolsohn, a Haganah member, finds her family life paralleling the outside world as her brother, an Irgun member, also prepares to fight.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up. In After the War (S & S, 1996), Matas related the story of a 15-year-old concentration camp survivor, Ruth Mendelson, and told of her journey from Poland to Palestine. The Garden is set in and around Kibbutz David, where Ruth now lives. It is November 1947, and the United Nations is preparing to vote on a plan to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab lands. Ruth describes the difficulties the kibbutzniks face as British troops stand by and Arabs attack. She struggles with conflicting feelings about armed confrontation and longs for peace and security. Ruth is a courageous, sensitive young woman whose actions, ideas, and ideals are genuine and thought-provoking. Her first-person, present-tense narration is engrossing and unaffected. The other characters are well delineated, particularly Ruth's wisecracking boyfriend. The Garden is a riveting, relevant novel that raises tough questions?and provides no easy answers. It will be useful in units on war and conflict, but it's also a truly good read.?Ann W. Moore, Schenectady County Public Library, NY
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 7^-10. In this sequel to the fine docunovel After the War (1996), 16-year-old Holocaust survivor Ruth Mendelson is on a kibbutz in Palestine in 1947, caught up in the war against the Arabs, a reluctant combatant--and killer--in the guerrilla conflict. Ruth's first-person, present-tense narrative tells of brutal action, including massacre by Arabs and Jews. She tells it quietly, trying to be fair to different Jewish views about the war, caught herself between her brother's extremism and those who fight only in self-defense. She is trying to make a home, trying to forget ("All I want is to live in peace"). This is not as strong as the first book. Each character seems be here to represent a viewpoint, and the story is purposive, more political warfare than fiction. Hazel Rochman

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing; 1st edition (April 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689803494
• ISBN-13: 978-0689803499
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #362,082 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Young holocaust survivors build the state of Israel., May 17, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Garden (Hardcover)

During the last four or five years, so many books with Jewish content have dealt solely with the subject of the Holocaust that juvenile Jewish reading is getting a bit depressing. Although some books about the subject have been notable like Number the Stars by Lois Lowry and The Devil's Arithmetic, by Jane Yolen (both Jewish authors), should this be the only subject matter for Jewish children?

Surprisingly enough, The Garden, by Carol Matas goes beyond the atrocities of the Holocaust into the spirit of rebirth as the state of Israel becomes a reality. Unfortunately, The Garden is not without it's bloodshed, but this time it is for a noble purpose -- a place to call Home.

Written in the present tense takes a little getting used to, yet it makes the reader feel like a real participant in the struggle for independence made by these gallant youth. Many of the "soldiers" of this unofficial war were young people between the ages of 15 and 25. Some of them had already been forced to grow up very fast because of their Holocaust experiences and felt that with this fight they had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Woven into Matas' story are the contrasting philosophies of the Irgun and the Haganah as well as others who had strong feelings either for or against "partition" which, suggested by the UN General Assembly on November 29, 1947, would have divided Palestine between the Jews and the Arabs.

In case the reader is not Jewish, all Hebrew transliteration is converted to English translation and the glossary at the end of the book provides the reader with much useful information.

The garden referred to in the title of the book belongs to Ruth who is a Holocaust survivor. The garden is both therapeutic and symbolic. It is her way of putting behind her all the pain and losses of the Holocaust as she looks optimistically toward her future in this new land.

After being a witness to an innocent girl's senseless death, Ruth explains to us how the garden helps. "I'd tried to blot out those memories -- lose them in the fragrance of my flowers." Although Ruth realizes that more deaths will come during this struggle to give Jews a place to call their own, she looks to the memory of those garden flowers to give her the strength to cope.

The graphic references to some violent scenes make this book more suitable to a child old enough to understand that sacrifices needed to be made for the cause of independence. The recommended reading level on the book jacket is ages 12 and up. Personally, 12 seems a bit young for all the gory details of this book and the underlying love affair. Perhaps a young adult of 15 or older would be more suitable an audience. Adults would get much from this book also as many of the details of the 1947-48 period are made quite clear in the simple text.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Internal conflicts prevail in the need for freedom, March 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Garden (Hardcover)

This story depicts a, now, sixteen-year old Ruth Mendenberg who is forced to fight Arabs in Palestine to hold onto the little piece of independence she has experienced at Kibbutz David. Ruth endures many intrapersonal conflicts throughout her journey to freedom. She knows that she has to fight in the war but worries if she can do this in a fair manner, without disappointing her fellow Jewish comrades. Ruth does not want to disppoint herself, for she knows that she is the only one who has to absorb the guilt of killing another human being. At times, Ruth becomes so frustrated by all of the violence, she wonders if she knows the difference between right and wrong anymore. The temptation is thrust under her nose to kill those enemies who killed the ones she loved. "An eye for an eye" is one of the many radical ideals her brother, Simon, proclaims as he fights with the Irgun soldiers. Ruth is torn in making the decisions that will affect her life forever. Will she do what she believes is right and just during this tumultuous time? All she knows for sure is that she wants to return to a time when she planted her beautiful garden which brought her heart peace. This story is full of thought-provoking questions relative of all of our lives.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Key To Understanding Current Conflict in the Middle East, May 31, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Garden (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a wonderful book, the sequel to AFTER THE WAR. THE GARDEN is much longer than AFTER THE WAR. It sheds more light on the life of Ruth and her family when they get to Isreal.
I read this book without knowing it would help me understand Middle Eastern conflict of today. Confused about Yassir Arafat and Sharon? Than read this book. It is the root struggle of the conflicts of Isreal today. This book will make you feel compassionate towards both Isreali and Arab peoples - I reccomend this to people who can understand both sides of a conflict without a bias opinion.