Customer Reviews

That Year of Our War

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although 15-year-old Sharon Grossberg's mother has just died of leukemia, and her doctor father is serving in the Army, she feels responsible for everyone else in her life. Rather than taking care of *her*, Sharon's relatives allow her to be the support they need in their own lives, such as her 20-year-old cousin Beth, newly married and pregnant as she anticipates the return of her soldier husband; her aunt Dina, a new mother whose husband Robert cheated on her and left her; and her 16-year-old cousin Heidi, who can't bear to tell her mother how miserable she is, practicing the piano she knows she just isn't good at.

All the while she is attending high school and doing normal teenage things, Sharon grieves...for the mother who left her so abruptly, for the father she fears may be dead, for all the Jews in Europe, left to die under such unspeakable cruelty. It's only a matter of luck, she knows, that she and her family are in America.

While Sharon is just aware, however, her cousin Heidi becomes obsessed with her guilt of being a survivor. She allows herself to grow gaunt and malnourished, as are the death camp prisoners; she refuses to allow anyone to buy her new clothes, as death camp prisoners don't get any. Although everyone else in the extended family either ignores or is oblivious to Heidi's obsession, it's soon clear to Sharon that Heidi is quickly slipping away, over a point of no return.

No matter what happens, Sharon believes it's up to her to hold everyone else together. But what happens when her own life spins out of control?

I was about the same age as Sharon in 1944-45. I can certainly identify with the times... This is the first book by Gloria Goldreich that I have read, but it will not be the last.... Most people today don't really know the unrest that all people felt during the WWII battles. I can understand how the Jewish people felt and how awful it was for the people in Europe at the time as well as the Pacific area....This story is about a large Jewish family in New York during the last year of the war. It shows all the wonderful togetherness experienced by this family and how strong they were. I still remember them even after I have finished reading the book and feel as if I know this family very well... I do remember the songs of those days as well as the ration stamps. These were times of hardship as well as great patriotism by all living in the USA at that time.............. I recommend this book to anyone. Well written!