A Polish Son in the Motherland: An American's Journey Home [Hardcover]

Leonard Kniffel (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Kniffel is the editor of American Libraries magazine, and his delightful, colorful, and poignant book is the result of a stay he enjoyed a few years ago in Poland, from where his grandparents emigrated just prior to the outbreak of World War I. Loaded, along with a computer and clothing, with all the stories he could remember hearing his grandmother tell, Kniffel established himself in temporary residence in the area in which she was born, his object being not only to absorb the old country that is his roots but also to establish contact with relatives who, chances were, were still living in the region. Kniffel bought a used car, found a place to live in busy businessman Adam's house, and, speaking passable Polish, did an amazing job of becoming, in a short time, part of the community. In an easy, comfortable, and humorous narrative voice, which reflects his perceptiveness, Kniffel takes readers along with him on this sustaining voyage of self-discovery, a story brimming with vibrant characters who could have come right out of a good village-life novel. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

". . . a charming and novel-like memoir . . . filled with interesting characters." -- Library Journal, September 2005

"Kniffel's keen observation is ultimately a measure of the depth of his feeling." -- Stuart Dybek, author of Coast of Chicago

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 246 pages
• Publisher: TAMU Press (March 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585444200
• ISBN-13: 978-1585444205
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,014,344 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An inspiring tale of the search for family and the sense of belonging, November 17, 2005

By 

Sarah - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Polish Son in the Motherland: An American's Journey Home (Paperback)

Leonard Kniffel grew up in Michigan with a Polish grandmother who immigrated as a young woman. This instantly resonated, as my grandmother also immigrated from Poland as a child, and many of his memories of large Polish family gatherings, Polish mass, and family life rung so true to my own. At twenty-five, I am finally embracing my Polish heritage, in no small part inspired by this book. Leonard lands in Nowe Miasto Lubawskie, the town near where his grandmother is born, and quickly makes a network of local friends: Adam, a local entrepreneur and his new landlord, the elegant and sensual Pani Wituchowska, with her memories of grandeur before the war, local journalists Ryszard and Grazyna, the mayor, and innumerable relatives that he discovers on his quest to trace his grandmother's roots in Sugajno. The touching narrative is filled with bittersweet images of modern Poland, of its Communist legacy and strong will to survive, fervent Catholicism, and the legacy of Jewish indifference: a good part of the novel traces the author's struggle to divine what happened to the headstones in the local Jewish cemeteries, and he is shocked by how the Polish Jewish history seems to have evaporated into thin air. Most importantly, he reconnects with his Polish roots in a visceral way, embracing Polish cuisine (hunting for wild mushrooms in forests with Adam's mother), culture, and storytelling. A wonderful tale of family, friendship, being a stranger in a strange land, and rediscovering the important things in life. Dziekuje bardzo!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A model of its kind, June 1, 2005

By 

Arthur Plotnik - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Polish Son in the Motherland: An American's Journey Home (Paperback)

When does a personal journey make for beautiful reading? When it tells a remarkable story in language that stimulates the very feelings that moved the author. Kniffel's journal is such a book, a model for any similar attempt. The story, though it happens to be about a modern Polish-American seeking lost family connections in Poland, is the universal one of a stranger's quest in a strange land. Its language is deftly lyrical, never too much for the situation, almost always on target, so that the "strangeness" is allowed to speak for itself. And to an American reader the particulars are wonderfully strange -from the coughing, stalling Maluch automobile the author uses in pursuit of back-country relatives, to the phallus-shaped mushrooms eagerly gathered to feed the American guest (the feeding is hilariously incessant). Kniffel's discovery of lost family is touching and remarkable in itself; but even more impressive is how, as a child in Michigan, he remembered almost every word about the old country spoken to him by his beloved mother and grandmother. Those words became keys with which Kniffel unlocked his lost world, and, it turns out, a missing part of himself.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolutely wonderful read!, January 25, 2006

By 

Joe Dora (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Polish Son in the Motherland: An American's Journey Home (Paperback)

I loved this book which was given to me as a gift. I've visited Poland nine times since 1972. Leonard Kniffel captures the communist and post-communist Poland very accurately. His observations are honest as he discusses the good and bad in present day Poland. Needless to say the good far outweighs the bad!