Customer Reviews

The Memories We Keep

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I could not put this book down. For Mr. Zacharius to have written such a poignant book about something we should all forever be aware of is amazing. The depth of his characters is "major". The chilling facts of the death camps and Hitler's terrorism against an innocent race should be understood by each and everyone of us and NEVER FORGOTTEN. I commend Mr. Zacharius for his compelling story and wish he had more books out for us to read. He gives hope to all aspiring writers as he has proved that it is never too late to follow a dream and write your book.

This is a reprint of the book "Songbird", so check it out if you want to read the reviews when this was first published.

In 1975 Mia Levy lives the simple life of a kibbutz farmer near the increasingly hostile Lebanese border having fled her homeland and a radically different life over three decades ago. However, now her past has caught up to her as clarinet player Vinnie Sforza sends her a letter stating he saw her in a Pathe newsreel working in the Israeli fields and by the time she reads his note, he will be airborne to see her so that they can remember the good but short time together in Brooklyn or perhaps be kicked out by her.

Mia looks back to fleeing Poland where in 1939 she went from a talented teenage pianist to being "that Jew" forced to play Hitler's Wagner instead of her beloved Chopin. Her father sold diamonds to get the family passage to the allies, but they were betrayed and placed on a train to Treblinka. As far as she knows only she escaped by fleeing to America where she met Vinnie. Unsure whether she can truly love someone again, Mia, obsessed with her family probably dead in the death camp, leaves Vinnie for Paris as an undercover operative helping the allies by becoming a dominatrix servicing Nazi customers. Now Vinnie is coming to see his true love.

The description of life in Poland in the late 1930s and early 1940s is incredibly detailed, vivid and harrowing as readers will wonder how people can do this to other people in the name of God and Hitler. Just having Chopin replaced by Wagner symbolizes how much the Nazis cleansed impure races especially the Jews. The small segue in New York is also deep as the impact of the horrors on Mia's soul overwhelm her love of music and of Vinnie. Though the Paris take turns too raunchy, historical readers will appreciate this powerful reminder that any form of human cleansing is an abomination. Note this is a reprint of SONGBIRD.

Harriet Klausner

AS A PERSON WHO HAS READ EXTENSIVELY ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST,FICTION AND NON-FICTION I FOUND MOST OF THE THINGS THAT HAPPENED TO THE "SONGBIRD"(ORIGINAL TITLE),MIA LEVY AFTER SHE SOMEHOW GOT OUT OF THE LODZ GHETTO TO BE REALLY STRETCHING IT! ON MANY LEVELS TOO.
FIRST OF ALL THE DISTANCE FROM LODZ TO SWITZERLAND WOULD HAVE BEEN OVERWHELMINGLY DIFFICULT FOR ONE WOMAN TO TRAVERSE SAFELY! UNFORTUNATELY,AMERICAN INTELIGENCE WAS NOT A ALL CONCERNED WITH WHAT WAS HAPPENING SO FAR AFIELD AS IN POLAND WITH JEWS IN 1941. THE MASS KILLINGS DID NOT START UNTIL AFTER THE WANSEE CONFERENCE IN JAN. 1942.
I CAN'T IMAGINE A PERSON OF JEWISH HERITAGE WORKING SO CLOSELY WITH GERMANS AND NOT BEING QUESTIONED. ESPECIALLY WITH MIA'S DARK LOOKS?????
THE FACT THAT SHE ENDS UP IN A BROTHEL,DOING BEATINGS WITHOUT DOING REGULAR TRICKS IS REALLY PUSHING IT!
THE ENTIRE 2ND HALF OF THE BOOK MADE ME THINK I WAS READING A DANIELLE STEELE NOVEL.

Once I started this book, I couldn't put it down! I read for six hours straight. The believable plot line of a Poland girl before, during and after the holocaust both enchanted and terrified me. Her struggle to keep her true self unchanged throughout a series of historical, ungodly events captivated me. There are some raunchy, disturbing parts that would be wrong to look past as everything about the holocaust is. I highly recommend this book because even in drought there is a silver lining.

This book posed many questions and lends itself well to book club discussions. It was a rather quick read as well.