Fascinating but fictionalized "memoir".
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 43 people found the following review helpful
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080229/ap_on_re_us/holocaust_book_hoax
Writer admits Holocaust book is not true
By MELISSA TRUJILLO, Associated Press Writer Fri Feb 29, 5:12 PM ET
BOSTON - Almost nothing Misha Defonseca wrote about herself or her horrific childhood during the Holocaust was true.
She didn't live with a pack of wolves to escape the Nazis. She didn't trek 1,900 miles across Europe in search of her deported parents, nor kill a German soldier in self-defense. She's not even Jewish.
Defonseca, a Belgian writer now living in Massachusetts, admitted through her lawyers this week that her best-selling book, "Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years," was an elaborate fantasy she kept repeating, even as the book was translated into 18 languages and made into a feature film in France.
"This story is mine. It is not actually reality, but my reality, my way of surviving," Defonseca said in a statement given by her lawyers to The Associated Press.
"I ask forgiveness to all who felt betrayed. I beg you to put yourself in my place, of a 4-year-old girl who was very lost," the statement said.
[...]
Follow the link for the full, sordid story.
Writer admits Holocaust book is not true
By MELISSA TRUJILLO, Associated Press Writer Fri Feb 29, 5:12 PM ET
BOSTON - Almost nothing Misha Defonseca wrote about herself or her horrific childhood during the Holocaust was true.
She didn't live with a pack of wolves to escape the Nazis. She didn't trek 1,900 miles across Europe in search of her deported parents, nor kill a German soldier in self-defense. She's not even Jewish.
Defonseca, a Belgian writer now living in Massachusetts, admitted through her lawyers this week that her best-selling book, "Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years," was an elaborate fantasy she kept repeating, even as the book was translated into 18 languages and made into a feature film in France.
"This story is mine. It is not actually reality, but my reality, my way of surviving," Defonseca said in a statement given by her lawyers to The Associated Press.
"I ask forgiveness to all who felt betrayed. I beg you to put yourself in my place, of a 4-year-old girl who was very lost," the statement said.
[...]
Follow the link for the full, sordid story.
35 of 39 people found the following review helpful
This is a fascinating story. But it's not a true story. The author finally admitted that she made it all up. The truth is after the author's parents, non-Jewish resistance fighters in Belgium, were arrested in World War II, she moved in with some relatives who treated her as a traitor. This made her "feel Jewish" and she made up her story to feel better about herself. A shame, an insult and an affront to all those Jewish people who truly suffered. (But nonetheless quite a moneymaker for the author who, before her confession, got a judge to award her tens of millions of dollars from the publisher for unpaid profits from the book.)
59 of 71 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Uplifting and entertaining though this story may be, it is impossible to tell how much of it is true. Let's face it, no-one has ever been brought up by wolves, beautiful idea though it is. I would love to believe that wolves would take care of children, bring them up and feed them, but they don't.
There aren't any properly documented examples of wolf-children. It is an urban myth. Most of the "examples" can be traced back to some carnival barker trying to sell tickets to see somebody like "Pogo, the dog-faced boy". Just because a 19th century carny hustler says that a kid was brought up by wolves doesn't make it true.
I'm afraid that Misha either has a faulty memory or is telling an untruth here.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Unbelievable
I've known for years that this book had been exposed as a fraud by several enterprising forensic genealogists.
But I recently read the work anyway. Read more
But I recently read the work anyway. Read more
Published on July 28, 2009 by Alyssa A. Lappen
1.0 out of 5 stars
If It Sounds Too Good To Be True......
This is a work of fiction from a person professing to be many things that she wasn't.
On February 28, 2008, Misha Defonseca admitted to the hoax in an interview with the... Read more
On February 28, 2008, Misha Defonseca admitted to the hoax in an interview with the... Read more
Published on December 29, 2008 by County Lineman
2.0 out of 5 stars
Recent discussion
Readers may be interested in these letters that appeared about the Defonseca saga in the Globe:
[... Read more
[... Read more
Published on March 23, 2008 by Susan J. Davidson
1.0 out of 5 stars
A fake memoir (NY Times)
A story in the March 3, 2008 edition of the New York Times (culture section) reveals that this book is a FAKE. The author has admitted as such. Read more
Published on March 4, 2008 by Fan Chongyi
2.0 out of 5 stars
We were somewhat fooled
Here is the article, published yesterday, where the author recants the story. Below, you will find my letter to the Editor of the St Petersburg Times, commenting on the article,... Read more
Published on March 4, 2008 by Marianna R. Steriadis
1.0 out of 5 stars
Deceived by the author but I don't need to be attacked!
I would like to say that I have known Misha personnally for over 20 years and I could not be more hurt and deceived. Read more
Published on March 3, 2008 by Valerie Sullivan
2.0 out of 5 stars
You should refund all money
I found this book at the library yesterday after I heard the news (I wanted to see it without paying for it). Read more
Published on March 1, 2008 by Wesley Mullins
1.0 out of 5 stars
Fiction
Just because someone states that this "autobiography" is fiction, that doesn't mean they're jealous they didn't write it. Get real.
Sad the author felt the need to lie. Read more
Sad the author felt the need to lie. Read more
Published on March 1, 2008 by Zoooma
3.0 out of 5 stars
One Thing Is True
I met Misha and read her book several years ago. Misha felt Jewish because she had shared the fate of Jews: her parents were murdered by the Nazis and she was raised as an... Read more
Published on March 1, 2008 by Ben Arkada
4.0 out of 5 stars
WHO CARES!
Who cares if this story isnt true..if its good to read then it doesnt matter! I think people are just jealous they didnt think to write it first. Read more
Published on March 1, 2008 by S. Shank
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