Customer Reviews

The Man from the Other Side

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mr. Orlev's charaters are fully drawn, and his writing is superb. Marek is a young Pole, living with his mother and stepfather. He is an observant Catholic in a very anti-semetic society. Although he has never had a friendship or any relationship with a Jew, he is certain that they are bad people who deserve whatever harm comes their way. On acompanying his step-father through the Warsaw sewers into the Ghetto, he comes to see that they are quite normal. His anti-semetic feelings continue until his mother reveals things he didn't know about himself. In trying to make restitution for harm he caused for Jews, Marek helps a Jewish man. He finds that it is not always reliable to believe everything you are taught, and people are different but human.

A Review by Craig
This is a story about a fourteen-year-old Polish boy, Marek, who lives in Warsaw, Poland in 1942. The book takes place a couple of years after the Nazis invasion of Poland. Warsaw is a city occupied by the Nazis who have sectioned off an area of the city called the ghetto. This area, which is basically a prison, is strictly for the Jewish people. The story follows the teenager Marek as he struggles to understand the hatred and mistrust towards the Jewish people. The book follows Marek as he helps his stepfather and becomes a member of the underground, which smuggles weapons, food, and other goods through the sewers into the ghetto. The Jewish people in the ghetto decide to defend themselves when the Nazi decide to get rid them all. Marek gets involved in the uprising and fights along side his friend that he saved from the Polish and German Police.

This book does a good job of putting the reader right along side Marek in his adventures throughout the story and to feel his experiences. The action and descriptions in this book really shows the horror of the Holocaust and war in general. "For a moment I stood there with my mouth open, listening to the German's screams grow more distant. Then there was a sudden thump in the courtyard." (p.167). Even though it was sometimes hard to read because I knew that these things really could have happened, I always wanted to keep reading. The author made me want to find out what would happen next.

The author wrote so that you could really get a feel for how he felt about the characters in the book. He wrote, "The more I imagined him, the more I had to rewrite the whole story of his life, to change my whole conception of him, starting with his childhood" (p. 38). Here he is talking about the father that he never knew well, and whom he was told lies about, but then finds out the truth.

This book got The Batchelder Award and I think it deserved it. It portrayed life during the holocaust very well through the eyes of a sympathetic teenager. On Amazon.com, they show this book at a 9-12 year old reading level, but I think you really have to be at least 12 to totally grasp the situation in this story. That's one of the reasons I recommend this book to read, because it really grabs you, and makes you feel for the people who suffered through those times.

The Man From the Other Side, by URI Orlev is a great and amazing novel. It is about a fourteen-year-old boy, Marek, who lives in Warsaw, Poland. He lived in a ghetto or an enclosed area where Jews were kept and told to stay. The nazi's would torture and kill them to rule their lives. Lucky for Marek, he was catholic, so hid not feel the pain the Jews did. You as the reader follow the life of Marek throughout the story.
I think this book is really great and fascinating. The characters are really well brought in the story. It is almost like you are actually there in Warsaw, when all of this is taking place. I think that if you read this book you will be very impressed. I think this book has a very valuable moral to life. It is that always help those in need and to not single anybody out because of their backround. It is basically saying do not discriminate anybody.

When Marek discovers a shocking secret about himself, he decides that he must help the captured Jews fight the Germans. While the Nazis are imprisoning Jews in the Ghetto, Marek is helping one Jew avoid capture. Will Marek be able to help the Jews in their fight against the Nazis? During World War II, a teenage boy named Marek lived in Warsaw with his mother and stepfather, Antony. Although Marek witnessed Nazis imprisoning Jews, he joined his friends in robbing an escaping Jew. Marek discovered he was partly Jewish and his guilt caused him to use the stolen money to help another Jew, Pan Jozek, hideout. When the Jews rose up against the Germans, Marek and Pan Jozek snuck into the ghetto to help the Jews. Pan Jozek was killed before Marek and several other Jews were rescued by Antony. After escaping from the ghetto and the Germans, Antony, Marek, and Marek's mother left Warsaw to live with Antony's sister in the country. Antony risked his life to save Marek and as repayment Marek agreed to let Antony legally adopt him. I recommend that everyone read this book about a young boy and his struggles during World War II.
The situations the characters in this book go through seem incredibly realistic. Marek had to cope with the fact that his father died and his mom had remarried. Pan Jozek narrowly escaped the Germans and had to prevent being imprisoned or killed. Marek and his parents left the busy, chaotic city of Warsaw and moved to the quieter, more peaceful countryside.
The characters are described in great detail. Marek is a fourteen-year-boy who is partly Jewish. Pan Jozek was a Jewish man who was studying to be a doctor before the war; he had gentle eyes, high cheekbones, and an amiable expression. Marek's grandmother dressed in large skirts with multiple pockets and his grandfather's old jacket.
The setting is also described in detail. Theater Square was a small area in town similar to a strip mall and park combined. The Jewish ghetto was a small area filled with many people; it was destroyed when the Jews started an uprising against the Germans. Marek's apartment was just the right size for their family of three.
I recommend this book to everyone. It is a wonderful story about the struggles of daily life during World War II. The characters, places, and events in this book are described in such detail that you can actually picture the story taking place in your mind.
~V. Newberry

This fictionalized memoir follows 14-year old Marek in Nazi-occupied Warsaw. Marek's step-father profits by smuggling items in and out of the Jewish ghetto through the labyrinth of sewer tunnels, often bringing Marek with him. As anti-Semitic feelings grow outside the Ghetto, Marek finds himself shaking down an escaped Jew along with two other boys. Wracked with immense guilt, Marek seeks to help Jozek, a polish Jew who has lost his hiding place in the city. Suddenly, the Jews living in the ghetto began an uprising, and Jozek is determined to sneak back into the ghetto to help. Marek takes him through the sewers, but is trapped on the Jewish side with one of the tunnels collapses. Faced-paced and interesting, Marek is a character whom many teenagers could relate to. He has found himself in an awful environment and feels conflict and guilt over his actions.

I like this book because it has action, it has parts that are funny, there is excitement and other cool stuff. I think this book should have won a Newberry Award. This is a story about Jews in Warsaw during WWII. It showed the torture the Jews had to go through and it showed the courage the Jews had to stand up to the Germans and fight them in the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto. I would recommend this book to a friend. It is a great book.

The Man From The Other Side
The Setting of this book is in Warsaw, Poland in 1940. The main conflict is that Marek has to help a jew who as escaped from the War saw Ghetto and is his only chance to stay alive as the German army invaded towns and tryed to send the jews to camps. Another conflict in this book is that Marek as to deal with different religions and people who may be different to Marek. The resolutions in this book are that Marek hides Jozec in his uncles house so that the nazis wont kill off all of the jews. The plot of this book is Marek and Antony walk in the underground sewers for a period of time carrying food, guns, and supplies to the jews who were living in the ghetto and needed some supplies or anything for survival. Also Marek helps a jew to escape to a safe place that he could not be harmed in any way and their is more the book says that everything went snoothly and that because of what Marek did it safed the life of one innicent jew from a bad death. I would recommend this book because it is very descriptive and gives characterization to the main charcters. I would als recommend this book because it gives man metaphors and similes in this book.

The Man From the Other Side is a well written by the author he explains the story and other details really well, I could basically see the people in my head when I read the book. This book is placed in the 1940's in Poland were a fourteen year old boy named Marek, and his step-father smuggle goods through a sewer into the jewish community. Marek finds during the book that he is half jew and decides to help another jew he meets to escape from Poland and away from the Nazi.

I would highly recommend this book to people that like or are interested in WWI because it talks about the enivorenment the jews lived in which, was really detailed by the author. Also the author painted a perfect description of the jews and the way they lived. If you want to find out more for yourself take a risk and READ THE BOOK!!!

I agree with other positive reviews of this book. It is very well written and engaging. I think one of the real highlights is that it doesn't overlook moments and events of humor in life - even in the midst of tragedy. Marek's grandmother, particularly, is hilarious! Check out how the two of them get grandpa to give up his teeth. That's worth the price of admission alone. A difficult story at times, due to the understated but impactfully-told tragic situations of human cruelty and suffering. But, thank you, Uri, for showing us some laughter along the way.

I'm a 13 year old boy and just finished this book. The characters in this book are very realistic and I could feel ther emotions whil i was reading it. I think if you are a young reader who likes ww2 books you should pick up a copy of The Man from the Other Side.