Customer Reviews

The Polish Woman: A Novel

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The Polish-American experience is a complex one and there is a vast disparity in that experience between if one is a Jew or a Catholic. I am neither of the above, and I am not Polish.

"Americans are not interested in Poland," she concluded as though this were a foreign conclusion. "Why should they be? When our artists and intellectuals leave, they go to Paris or Prague and live with respect as émigrés. Only our poor go to America where they become refuges - which Americans make sound like a dirty word."

As an American my interest in Poland derives from a business partner of some 20 years whose mother was from Poland, living in Williamsburg-Greenpoint, Brooklyn amid the Polish community (before it became fashionable to live there), in the construction business of historic preservation employing Polish mechanics over many years, several Polish friends (particularly Misia Leonard, deceased, a Polish born actress who became an architect), and lastly a friend who has been gracious to bring me to visit his homeland on several visits. One of those visits in connection with the desire to reconstruction a 17th century log and timber synagogue near to Bialystok.

Mekler's novel, a romance, explores not so much the Polish-American experience, though it is certainly evident in very subtle and striking details, as she explores the very difficult relationship between Polish Catholic and Jew.

"So this is how you will decide?" Meyer grumbled. "Over coffee and a danish?"

It is an incredibly bitter relationship full of emotional land mines and deep scars of distrust and hatred, and has to do with the Holocaust and how it was played out in Poland, and continues to play out in the lives of the characters. It also plays out in the lives of my friends, a few of whom have distanced themselves from me as I have become increasingly interested in the richness of the culture of Eastern Europe, and in particular the Polish facility for heritage restoration.

The novel takes place in the late 1960s, prior to Solidarity when Poland was under Soviet domination, and prior to the assassination of Martin Luther King (an historical detail I throw in for benefit of the disinterested American). Since the 1970s Poland has gone through a whole lot of changes in politics, I suspect though that the land, the trees, the rivers, the birds have remained pretty much the same. My personal forays have been with a look in a range of the 1300s, or earlier up to the current post-EU Poland. What I can say, and this from visits to a variety of synagogues, churches and mosques is that the Catholic-Jew relationship is not as volatile in Poland today as it was in the late 1960s. It did no help anyone that in Poland the history and memory of millennia of Jewish culture was repressed by decades of Soviet domination.

"The Soviets would bleed the country dry before letting the Poles succeed in anything but growing potatoes..."

Karolina Staszek is the female protagonist of this novel. She is a sculptor, works with stone, and she has come to New York from Warsaw as a young artist. In the unfolding of the plot she is faced with the quandary if she was the child of a Jewish leatherworker who was harbored during the Holocaust as a child by a Catholic farmer and his wife. If her father was the Jewish leatherworker he subsequently survived the Holocaust and moved to America where he became wealthy as a construction contractor. Karolina becomes enmeshed in seeking out the truth of her background, if her identity is as a Jew or a Catholic. Along in the plot there are various emotional and romantic attachments, and for those needing it some very pleasantly subtle sex scenes. Oh, yes, and there is a Jewish lawyer involved.

There is also much beauty to the Polish-English language of the dialogue of this novel, a particular breaking down in translation that often creates new measures of understanding between cultures.

"Good," Karolina said. "Soon you will speak like a native."

Philip broke into a grin. "Yeah?"

"No," she said, without breaking her stride. "But I wish to encourage."

Written by Eva Mekler, The Polish Woman is a haunting novel about tragedy and love. Set in 1967 New York, The Polish Woman follows the story of Jewish lawyer Philip Landau, charged with handling the estate of a holocaust survivor, when a woman appears on his doorstep and identifies herself as the survivor's daughter, long since presumed dead. Even though she remembers certain details that suggest she could be the missing daughter, the situation appears suspicious, especially with inheritance at stake, yet Philip is dutifully obligated to meticulously research and examine her story. In the process, and in spite of professional etiquette, he falls in love with her. In a trip to Poland, a nation rife with postwar anti-Semitism, the two of them uncover the full truth that will forever change their relationship. A poignant and emotional tale of terrible repercussions that last a lifetime.

Marvelous book. Brilliant! What a perfect story to subtly tap into all the emotions, Jewish & Christian surrounding the Holocaust. And so beautifully written. I could not put it down. The ending ties everything together magnificently while complicating every thought the reader has had up to then. Genius! Excellent group of characters, each one more believable than the next. And their relationships were so well depicted that I felt I was actually there. I am insisting that everyone I know read it, starting with my husband.

This elegantly written page-turner has a lot to offer. It has mystery: Is Karolina the long lost Jewish child who was hidden by her father, Jake Landau, with a Polish family during the Holocaust or is she a conniving Pole trying to gain the recently deceased Jake's inheritance?. It has international intrigue: The Landaus assign Jake's cynical, skeptical nephew, Philip, to unearth the truth of Karolina's story which takes them to Poland where they meet surprising resistance from both the Catholic Church and the Communist Party. It has romance: Can the strong attraction between Karolina and Philip blossom into a love affair despite their enormous differences in background--she brought up as a Catholic in antisemitic Poland, and he, a New York Jewish lawyer who was brought up to believe that the Poles were as bad as the Nazis? And it has moral significance: Can a Jew and a Pole overcome the terrible history of suspicion and hatred that has characterized their peoples for so many centuries? Most readers will, I believe, be moved and enlightened by this book, and have a good time along the way to an ending that is unexpected, even shocking, yet true to the lives we've come to know so well.

My book club read and discussed this book. In general we found it to be simplistic in its writing but, none the less, interesting and in parts even compelling. However after it all we were left puzzled by the inconsistencies that remained after the problem of "The Polish Woman" appears to be resolved in chapter 30. We concluded that, despite the sharpness of Karolina and, particularly, the analytic ability, astuteness, and suspicious nature of Philip, they ignored the facts that are painstakingly presented during the story and accepted an incorrect conclusion.

Since part of the appeal of this book is the resolution of Karolina's heredity I will not spoil the ending for those intending to read the book. However, for those REALLY, REALLY wanting to know how the facts fit better into different interpretation you can write to me at <coren10@comcast.net> and I'll return mail the answer. I do not intend to get involved in any detailed discussion of the book so PLEASE don't write me a whole magilla.

This book really perturbed me for several reasons. While the plot was interesting, the portrayal of the characters was very stereotypical and one dimensional. Stereotypes of Poles, Jews, artists, Catholics, were abundant but the worse part was, how the author shamelessly depicted the Polish people in a negative light. It is obvious she depises the Poles and their nation and if what she wrote about them was written about any other group of people, there would all ready be a lawsuit to stop publication of this book. The nicest thing she can say about the Poles is that although they are poor, they are clean. Parts of the story were absoulutely unbelievable esp. when the main character Philip decides he has fallen in love with Karolina, the woman who is searching for her identity and who could be his first cousin. Come on now-does everybody sleep with their first cousin when they think they are just money hungary and trying to con their family?

Also, while I wasn't expecting the ending, I think its pathetic that the author twists this tail to blame a six year old gentile girl for being responsible for another six year old girls death because she wanted to play hide and go seek. She blames the Poles for this death instead of the dastardly Nazi's who terrorized not only the Jews but the Poles. The only thing I liked about the book is on the cover it says it's a novel-hopefully, people will realize it is fiction by a very biased author.

I found this book to be written rather simply -- many instances of "telling" and not "showing". Stilted dialogue, reads like a first attempt at a novel. The author's own bias against the "Poles" is stark -

The "Poles" are slovenly, cook poorly, lack any grace, while the Jewish

characters are portrayed as heroic, sophisticated, and all-knowing. Also interesting that "The Polish Woman" chose to stay in Poland after she realized her own betrayal -- a fate worse than Hell, eh?

I could not put the book down. The author does a fabulous job of writing from the point of view of all of her characters. I really felt that I "knew" the members of the Landau family. The views expressed by the older members of the family were the views of the older members of my own family, especially their comments about their Polish neighbors, "and the Poles were the worst."

The only justification for a work of fiction is that it better than "the facts" can explain a difficult concept or event. Polish-Jewish relations during WWII and after are not easy to discuss or understand. This novel, with its suspense and historical accuracy, conveys a reality which a mere historical study cannot. It justifies itself entirely.

As for accuracy, there are some minor errors. All Polish cities are given correct spellings, except for Koromov and Rovno, which are given spellings obviously transliterated from Russian or Ukrainian. They could have been given in Polish, even though Rovno is now in Ukraine. I have no idea where Koromov might be. Maidanek was a concentration camp; there was no Maidenek. Perhaps there are also a few others. But no matter.