Remember This Dream (Paperback)

by Harold Gershowitz (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
A Jewish clan battles hardship and upheaval in America and wartime Poland in this sprawling historical epic. Like many Polish Jews in 1911, Anna Appelavitch can't wait to leave the grinding poverty and anti-Semitism of the shtetl behind... Alas, after a horrendous crossing in steerage...the grim factory city of Baltimore proves anything but a promised land. To make ends meet, Anna and her eldest daughters follow Yakov into the garment industry for long hours of backbreaking labor at meager wages, a plight they feistily resist by helping to organize a union. Decades of want and insecurity, drawn with a sharp realism by the author, ensue, poisoning Anna's marriage...and threatening the family with dissolution. Still, bad as industrial America is, it isn't Poland, where war, famine and persecution stalk Anna's sister Dvoyra and her family. They persevere through a series of crises while debating Zionist politics and agonizing over whether to stay or go as the threat of Hitler's Germany looms; staying too long, Dvoyra finds herself in a ghetto where she bears witness to Nazi arrogance and atrocities. At times the novel seems like a pageant: battles and elections pass by in the background, historical figures walk onstage for brief cameos and major characters die off abruptly or disappear in the tide of events. Fortunately, Gershowitz peoples the story with lively characters torn between the desire for a better life and the pull of family roots; their travails feel real even as they drift along in a flood of calamity. A meticulously reconstructed, moving saga of Jewish life in a terrible and hopeful century. --Kirkus Discoveries

Product Description
Meticulously researched history is woven into an extraordinary family saga. 1911, a time of continuing upheaval for Polish Jews, an era of exodus¿when the poor and proud seek new lands of promise across vast seas...bold dreams are followed toward a brighter future. The turbulence of the times separate sisters Anna and Dvoyra. On a ship teeming with fellow immigrants bound for America, Anna journeys with her children to join her husband in Baltimore only to have her highest hopes dashed and her deepest passions aroused. Dvoyra, who longs to join Anna in America, is forced to remain in Poland with her family. For nearly half a century and half a world apart, clinging to the dream that someday they will be reunited, both families summon astonishing courage in the face of great adversity ¿ Anna in the grip of relentless poverty, and Dvoyra amid the horrors of anti-Semitism, war and captivity. Ultimately their most heartfelt dreams are fulfilled in the lives of their children.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 428 pages
• Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (August 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439203032
• ISBN-13: 978-1439203033
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 4.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,408,170 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Remember This Dream, August 6, 2005

By	Karen Rothaus Rosenthal (Upper Saddle River, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Remember This Dream (Mass Market Paperback)

Very powerful. The author uses a fictional family to correctly & historically portray the plight of the Jews from the early 1900's through World War II. The book addresses the background and reason for the mass exodus from Europe and Russia to the United States during the early part of the twentieth century - why some had the courage to leave and why others chose to stay. And then the author - using true historical figures, events and facts describes the fate of those left behind. Simultaneously, the author depicts life and the political atmosphere in Europe and the United States. One immediately becomes involved with the author's characters. This book is a fast read. I could not put it down.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, if you can overlook certain things, December 6, 2008

By	Julie C. Gilbert (NJ United States) - See all my reviews

(What's this?)

Other reviewers have mentioned that there are inaccuracies. I can't speak with any authority on the validity of that claim, but you do have to suspend your disbelief greatly at times. Most of the intimate scenes were handled with tact and delicacy, emphasizing the beauty of the moment, but occasionally, (including the 1st), the scene comes off almost as if the author forgot he needed to put in an intimate scene. To that end, I would not recommend a book like this to the younger of the YA crowd.

The version I got was terribly tiny and they certainly packed in the words. You get used to this, but it is annoying to have to strain your fingers to spread the book's pages so far apart just to see the words.

At times it seemed like the author got bored with his own characters, for you spend several chapters getting to know a character then it switches over to another one and doesn't really come back.

The last page is completely predictable, but nonetheless, satisfying. I'm not sure why there are soldiers on the back of the book though b/c you barely see any of the Nazi soldiers, let alone the fighting of WWII. Some chapters are completely irrelevant to the storyline, but overall, the book flows nicely. It didn't take me too long to read, maybe a week or so. As usual these days, there are several errors (grammatical or typographical), but for a 413 pg book, the half dozen mistakes is a minor nuisance.

If you're into historical fiction and don't have too much knowledge of WWII or early 1900 jewish immigrants, you should like the book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Many details/scenarios completely inaccurate, December 2, 2008

By	J. Kelley "dahozho" (Mid-Atlantic coast) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

(What's this?)

I chose this book thinking it was more along the lines of a fictionalized account of the author's family story (Such as the interesting work "My Father's Paradise"). It isn't. It isn't even "meticulously researched." If it was researched, the results were either ignored or the scope wasn't there to begin with. Ok, perhaps I misunderstood "family saga" as in "fictional family saga." My bad.

This is a 'romance' novel, with a big pro-labor stick beating you about the head and shoulders more often than I find absolutely necessary.

The author ignores how a married woman from a Polish shtetl would act, and despite protestations of "rich historical detail" refuses to acknowledge this gap in matters of halacha. Despite his eagerness to have his characters secularize, a married woman from that place & era would not have her hair loose or uncovered. A married woman from that place and era would not be alone in a room with another man, let alone engage in physical relations (the mere idea of the talk and shaming from the community would ensure that, and there would be that on the ship). A married woman living in crowded quarters would let a stranger not her husband or relative into her home when she was alone. Whether she was 'religious' or not, she'd never even consider it. For a character who is presented as a good woman, adultery would have really torn her apart, coming from her small shtetl world. Shabbat candles are NOT BLOWN OUT. They are mekutzeh until Shabbat ends (ie, following Havdalah). And etc. There is little in the way of community scenes/celebrations, no scenes of simchot (such as brit milot or namings) which would have been a part of life, even if the family was falling away from being more observant (the part about not sitting shivah in that time, due to employment, is sadly accurate). Too much treif. I won't be finishing it.

Very, very disappointing. Two stars for the writing, which if I wasn't so taken aback by the complete absence of no character seeming to have knowledge of Jewish family laws, is a bit better than standard romance writing. If I could change my star rating, this would be a one star book now.

Suggest rewriting the book description, at least to include the words "political" and "romance" near the word "novel."