Hiding Places: A Father and His Sons Retrace Their Family's Escape from the Holocaust [Paperback]

Daniel Asa Rose (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 27, 2002

Growing up in 1950s Connecticut, author Daniel Asa Rose had always felt alienated from his Jewish roots. Though his mother, a Holocaust survivor, told him stories of the “Not-sees,” these villains seemed as unreal to him as the ogres from his fairy-tale books. Safeguarded by American suburbia, there seemed little need to conjure up horrific stories from the past.

Decades later, feeling unmoored by a painful divorce, Rose takes his two young boys on a quest to reclaim this forgotten history. Arriving in Belgium, equipped only with a tattered diary written by his uncle, they seek out the barns, wine cellars, brothels, and other shadowy places where their relatives hid from the Nazis almost fifty years before. Along the way, Rose struggles to explain the realities of the Holocaust to his impressionable yet precocious sons. Combining childhood flashbacks, family lore, and absorbing travel adventures, this is a story of one family’s triumphant reconnection to their heritage.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Brilliant and unconventional, this account combines the tale of novelist and PEN Award-winning short-story writer Rose's (Flipping for It) childhood as an assimilated Jewish kid in a mostly Christian Connecticut suburb with another story--a search for both past and future. Rose was a reckless, religiously ambivalent kid with a passion for hiding places (reared as he was on his Belgian-born mother's vivid tales of relatives who were forced to hide from the "Not-sees"). Now 38 and divorced, Rose, struggling to bond with his sons (Alex, 12, and Marshall, 7), of whom he has partial custody, takes them to Europe to trace the journey that one of his mother's cousins took with his twin daughters in an effort to escape the Nazis (in the end, the father escaped, but the girls were killed). With little to go on but anecdotal evidence and a cryptic diary, Rose and his sons make their way by train, bicycle and on foot through Belgium, France and Spain. As they search for their relatives' various hiding places, they meet strangers who remember the escapees and offer to help guide Rose and his sons to the next hiding place. Rose's accounts of daily life with Alex and Marshall--and of his struggles to make a cohesive family unit--are searingly honest, making for sometimes painful but always compelling reading. Most remarkable, however, is his clear portrayal of the connection between past, present and future, and between self and community. He powerfully illustrates that it's impossible to outrun a bitter legacy, but he also shows how such a legacy can, when confronted, form the foundation for a sweeter future.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Rose, a freelance writer and author (Flipping for It), tells two parallel stories. The first describes growing up as an assimilated, and often alienated, American Jew, while the second recounts his trip to Europe with his two sons, trying to discover what happened to relatives who were caught in the Holocaust 50 years before. Rose's story of alienation, self-hatred, and rage may strike a responsive chord in readers who grew up in similar circumstances. Blending insightful postwar recollections with a moving tribute to his sons, Rose's book affirms that, as survivor recollections are supplemented by those of their children, the proliferation of memoir literature will continue. While it is a little troubling that it takes a trip to investigate the Holocaust to make someone more comfortable with his Jewish roots, Rose, in writing this book, completes one of the most important mitzvahs (commandments) of Jewish life: he remembers. For public libraries and Holocaust collections.
-Frederic Krome, Jacob Rader Marcus Ctr. of the American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press (August 27, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609809156
• ISBN-13: 978-0609809150
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,548,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

UPDATE! "LARRY'S KIDNEY" has been listed as one of the TOP BOOKS OF THE YEAR by Publishers Weekly, and has been optioned to be a major motion picture. Since the summer, Daniel has appeared on NPR, CNN, The New York Times Op Ed Page, and over 35 radio programs. In addition, he has read from the book in Albuquerque, Boston, New York, Detroit, Denver, San Diego, San Francisco, Houston, Miami, Tampa, Portland (Oregon), Saint Louis, and Providence. Thanks to all who turned out!

++++++

DANIEL ASA ROSE is the author, most recently, of the world's first (dark) comedy about medical tourism. "LARRY'S KIDNEY: Being the True Story of How I Found Myself in China With my Black Sheep Cousin and his Mail-Order Bride, Skirting the Law to Get Him a Transplant ... and Save His Life" (Morrow, ISBN 978-0061708701) is being called "a satisfying, hysterical page-turner that will captivate fans of travel writing and family narratives, with special interest for anyone who's helped a love one through serious illness" (Publishers Weekly starred review); "a side-splitting tour de force that will resonate with readers concerned about the plight of American patients who may be relegated for years to an organ transplant waiting list" (Library Journal); "skillful, funny, fascinating" (The New York Observer); and "one of the funniest, most touching and bizarre nonfiction books I've read. A remarkably talented writer and a great book" (Boston Globe).

An NEA Literary Fellow and father of four boys, Daniel was born in New York City and graduated from Brown University, which awarded him an honorary Phi Beta Kappa. His first short story was accepted by The New Yorker when he was 27 and he won an O. Henry Prize and two Pen Fiction Awards for the other stories in his first collection, "SMALL FAMILY WITH ROOSTER." His first novel, "FLIPPING FOR IT," a black comedy about divorce from the man's point of view, was a New York Times New and Noteworthy Paperback. In 2002 he published "HIDING PLACES: A Father and his Sons Retrace Their Family's Escape From the Holocaust" - a saga that intermingles a taut current-day search for the hiding places that saved his family in World War II with memories of the author's own hiding places growing up in WASP 1950s Connecticut - a book which earned starred reviews in both Publishers Weekly ("brilliant") and Kirkus ("remarkable"), as well as the New England Booksellers Discovery Award, a coveted place on the BookSense 76 List, and inclusion in "Best Jewish Writing 2003."

Currently an editor of the international literary magazine THE READING ROOM, he has served as arts & culture editor of the Forward newspaper, travel columnist for Esquire magazine, humor writer for GQ, essayist for The New York Times Magazine, book reviewer for The New York Observer and New York Magazine, and food critic for the past 20 pounds.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A journey of discovery for the reader as well as the writer, April 14, 2001

By 

Linda Linguvic (New York City) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hiding Places: A Father and His Sons Retrace Their Family's Escape from the Holocaust (Hardcover)

Daniel Rose grew up in Connecticut, in a lobster fishing town. He always felt different because of his Jewishness even though his family was assimilated. Later, after a fractured marriage, he wanted his young sons, aged 7 and 12 to really understand their heritage, especially in terms of the Holocaust, and so he took them to Europe to discover their roots. They looked up relatives who had survived the horror and still lived in Belgium, and from there they set out on a journey to retrace the actual events of the life one of their relatives, an ancient eccentric old man who gave them his diary as a roadmap.

In addition, in alternating chapters, we learn of Mr. Rose's Connecticut boyhood. Not only does he describe the events, but he's able to recapture every nuance of feeling that must have been difficult to dredge up from memory. He makes fun of his orthodox relatives, he battles the school bully, but most of all, he keeps coming back to the recurrent theme of the book --his hiding places.

Foremost though, is his relationship with his own sons, and the unique loving relationship between the three of them. Some of the things that they were exposed to on the trip were not pleasant, but they all came through it enriched by the experience. This was a difficult subject to write about, but somehow Mr. Rose managed to do it with humor. While I didn't laugh out loud, I found myself smiling throughout.

There's a lot of detail in the book, each one adding further insight into each of the characters. It's more than just description; the reader really feels the emotion. There's mystery here too as well as unsolved questions. And there sure is a lot to think about. Afterwards, I couldn't get the book out of my mind and I don't know if I ever will. I must thank Mr. Rose for writing it. Highly recommended.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compulsively Readable Memoir, May 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Hiding Places: A Father and His Sons Retrace Their Family's Escape from the Holocaust (Hardcover)

I began reading this book early on a Saturday morning and didn't leave the house until evening - I didn't want to stop reading. I really loved the description of what it's like to grow up as part of a tiny minority in a very uniform U.S. town. I also liked hearing about the sense of well-being and inner strength that the author felt as a boy - I actually found it inspiring, although I'm a grown woman. The author is a travel writer who obviously feels at home in the world and among strangers, and I liked being in his company during his trip back to Europe with his two young sons. More than anything, I liked the descriptions of how it feels to subtly know one is different as a child, and I liked how the author found the gumption - as a boy and as a man - to gracefully confront those who distorted the truth. I felt that this book put into words many experiences I'd had, and I myself somehow felt more understood by the time I was done reading this book. I felt my own expriences made more sense from having read this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You Don't Have to Be Jewish, May 12, 2000

By 

Bob Smith (Providence RI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hiding Places: A Father and His Sons Retrace Their Family's Escape from the Holocaust (Hardcover)

I always wondered what it is like to grow up Jewish in a Gentile culture. Now I know. This is not really a "Holocaust book." (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) It's a book about boyhood - with lots and lots of different levels. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Don't be put off by the subject matter. It's fun to read, not ponderous. Make a good movie. Bob Smith