Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very interesting; skillfully written., July 4, 2000
This review is from: The Iron Furnace: A Holocaust Survivor's Story (Hardcover)
The book is unique among survivor's stories that I have read for its clear, straightforward writing style. The story, while frightening, is told in a mannner that does not terrorize the reader; this book should therefore appeal to a wide audience. The author's survival of these events is as surprising to us as it was to him, and marks with compassion the many of his fellow men and women that did not survive those awful events. His subsequent enlistment in the US Army is a heartening testament to human stamina and determination. Bravo!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Powerful, absorbing first-person account, June 16, 2000
This review is from: The Iron Furnace: A Holocaust Survivor's Story (Hardcover)
Reading "The Iron Furnace: A Holocaust Survivor's Story," you experience practically the entire repertoire of human emotions. In January 1939, the author was a 15-year-old Jewish boy living in Warsaw. When the Nazis invaded Poland, they turned his and his family's lives upside down. His schooling ended, he and his family were interned in the Warsaw ghetto (except for George's stays in two German work camps), and then they were all shipped to various concentration camps. George was the only one in his immediate family to survive. After his liberation by the U.S. Army, he volunteered to serve (without pay) in that army and did so with distinction. He then went on to lead a rich, productive life. The reader feels horror, revulsion and fury at the hideous acts of the oppressors, described in chilling detail; admiration for the courage, intelligence and quick wits displayed by the author; deep sorrow at the sad plights of so many; wry enjoyment of the black humor that appeared even in the direst of circumstances; respect for the author's prodigious memory for events, conversations and people (whom you come to know intimately in these pages); awe at his ability to retain his religious faith throughout his journeys into Hell; inspiration at the demonstrated indomitability of the human spirit; jubilation at the author's rich subsequent life; and gratitude to this historian for having given his testimony so powerfully that it has to silence anyone who dares to deny that the Holocaust took place.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Compulsory reading for any decent human being, April 19, 2001
This review is from: The Iron Furnace: A Holocaust Survivor's Story (Hardcover)
This book is both brilliant and hideous. It is brilliant in its clarity and writing style; it is hideous in the unfortunately all-too-true events that it depicts. This book tells the story of the author's life from the outset of the Nazi domination of Poland until the eventual liberation 6 long years later. It is a story told in a deceptively simple style, eminently readable, revealing beneath the horrible picture of what evil truly is. It is a book that everyone, whether a student of history, humankind or good and evil, should read. The author comes across as a remarkable man. And this is a remarkable book.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
