To Life [Paperback]

Ruth Minsky Sender (Author), Jim Coon (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2000

"WE ARE FREE!"

When Russian soldiers liberate Grafenort, the Nazi labor camp where she is a prisoner, nineteen-year-old Riva discovers that liberation doesn't mean the end of her hardship and suffering.

Cold and starving, threatened with rape by the same Russian soldiers who were her saviors, Riva makes her way to her old home in Poland, searching like so many others for family who may have survived. Strengthened by her mother's credo, as long as there is life, there is hope, and by the promise of a new love and a new life, Riva endures the long years of waiting for real freedom and a real home.

Picking up where her acclaimed memoir The Cage leaves off, Ruth Minsky Sender has written another inspirational document of the power of hope and love over unspeakable cruelty.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This sequel to The Cage follows the author after her liberation from a Nazi concentration camp. Despite flaws with the pacing, PW said, "As testament to the human spirit, this memoir shines." Ages 12-up. (Mar.) n
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6 Up This powerfully written sequel to The Cage (Macmillan, 1986) is aptly named. In recounting her experiences following World War II, Sender lays strong emphasis on life, the future, family, and especially children. The most poignant scenes in the book involve children. For all the psychological scars, for all the torment the survivors of the Holocaust remember, and the hatred and scorn they must still endure, this is not a bleak book. Riva marries Moniek, another survivor, and they start a new family. Her older brother and sisters who fled to Russia at the start of the war are found, each with their new families. After much frustration and searching, they locate distant relatives in the U.S., and in 1950, five years after liberation, Riva, Moniek, and their children are allowed to enter the U.S. Although memoirs of the Holocaust abound, there is very little written on the aftermath. Joanna Reiss' The Journey Back (Crowell, 1976) and Aranka Siegal's Grace in the Wilderness (Farrar, 1985) are two other books that deal with this period. To Life is a more immediate book, however. Told in the present tense, it brings Riva's experiences close to readers instead of shrouding them with the veils of intervening years. To Life is not just a highly recommended book, it is a necessity. Susan M. Harding, Mesquite Public Library, Tex.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Simon Pulse (March 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689832826
• ISBN-13: 978-0689832826
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #606,028 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #51 in Books > Teens > Biographies

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most inspiring book that I have ever read!, March 3, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: To Life (Paperback)

This book, about a girl named Riva who survived the holocaust and rebuilt her life, was an amazing memoir by Ruth Minsky Sender. It showed how hard the holocaust was. I was so impressed with how well written this book is. Ruth Minsky Sender's story really inspires me. This was an excellent book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A moving novel that keeps you reading!, December 7, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: To Life (Paperback)

This is a really good book.The Cage, the book that came befor this book, was really good but this one is better. It tells of what happened after Riva's concentration camp is liberated. It tells of the hardships that Riva has trying to find family...This is a great novel and its a good book to read if you loved The Cage.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars How Do I Title This Review?, July 26, 2003

By 

Allyn "pianogirl" (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: To Life (Paperback)

Some of you are probably wondering why I wrote this review and how I had the nerve to criticize a book in which a Holocaust survivor told their story. So first I must say that I am NOT belittling the horrors that Ruth Minsky Sender went through or minimizing her astounding bravery as she faced them, I am critquing the way this book was presented.

Picking up right were "The Cage" left off, "To Life" chronicles Riva's (Ruth's) life immediately following her liberation from a concentration camp. Horrors still plague Riva, and she finds that the heartache of discovering the deaths of her family member and friends and attempting to rebuild her life is in some ways as horrible as the Holocaust itself. But Riva carries bravely on, marrying fellow survivor Moniek, having children, and wondering what her future holds.

The values of hope, courage, bravery, optimism, selflessness, and love shown throughout "To Life" are totally precious and the finest aspect of this novel. While portraying the intense grief she endured following WW2, Sender also portrays her (and her family's) determination to focus on their new life and make the best of their situation. Although many of the book's settings and happenings are depressing, Sender refuses to make "To Life" a book without some happiness and much hope for the future. For its portrayal of many excellent ideals, "To Life" is to be commended.

So, as I have said before, I am not attacking the author when I discuss the less-than-perfect aspects of this book. Really, I think the "book" would have been excellent were it simply shortened somewhat and made into a final "section" of "The Cage." Many of the happenings in "To Life" were repetitive, and the happenings in the author's life shared through this book would have been even more moving and gripping if they were shortened somewhat; it would have heightened their impact.

Hopefully no one takes offense from this review. The events in this book deserve to be shared and heard, and I believe that it is important to relieve what Jews suffered AFTER the Holocaust, I just believe the author's story could have been told in a different and better format.